The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-24

| naQ lueeS or prOprietys did Mary. /
/ was a-paperin' and a-fixin' the old
| house Up. and she was a-sewin',
/ though I'd loved her jest as Well if she
| hadn't brought nothin' with her 1 was
piannin' on havin' a hoss-rake, and
/ then wouldn't be such hard work. and
/ l could have more time to home; but
one day as | was putterin' around a
man come along and he says, Want 10
| buy a melodeon?'
And I says. I dunno; how much be
they?
| And he says, IN set one right up
| and yer'l wonder how yer ever got
along without it, and it sha'n't cost yer
much. either
! We'll. / knew 'tWa'n't no use to think
] Of the hoss-rake after that, so about a
| week from that time / druv over TO
I Mary's, and I says, I've somethin' to
show yer Mary
so she came alongside of me, sing
| in d little song, and pointin' out every
/ flower and fern on the way. and !
] showed her into the house and then
| she saw that. She jest put her arms
around IL minute and then run right
at me, and hid her face on my shoulder,
and all she says was, oh. Rael,' and l
could feel her a-cryin'. She didn't
never know about the hoss-rake Amt
been nOthin' / could get that l amt
tried 10 give her.
Well. June come aud we had real
pretty weddin', Plenty OF flowers, and
the neighbors come and had a good
time. Had some hymn-tunes, too
| 'Blest Be the Tie that Binds and Come
Ye that Love the Lord Mary liked
things done in style, though l didn't
sense nOthin' but her shinin' eyes and
/ the white dress And then when it was
all over, and the folks had gone, !
hitched up and we drove home through
the twilight. The sky was ali pale and
I the stars were a-cOmin' out, and the
frogs down in the marshes were singin',
! and we didn't say a word till we
reached home. / stopped the horse at
the door-our door; and when ! see her
sittin' there SO like a lily, so trustful
and white, great lump come up in my
| throat to think of her belOngin' to a
lump of clay like me. And I held her
close as l lifted her down. and then
somethin come over me, and / says,
/ Honey, air yer sure yer amt gOin' 10
be ashamed of yer husband?'
And she looked right up at me with
her great eyes so believiu', and says,
| I amt goin' to be ashamed of my hus-
band, Rael.'
And 1 says, Please God yer never
shall Then We went in and shut the
door.
Two years went by and Mary was
as happy as a lark. Keepin' the house
fixed up and the pOSies CROWN, and
runnin' out 10 bring me a dOughnut or
/ a dab of dough, and to be sure the
/ bread was riz jest to me likin'. Playin'
on the melodeon. and comm out 10 set
with me under the big elm tree in the
corner of the yard, and singin' ana
smilin' all day. But by and by she be-
gun 10 set quieter, and she'd look at me
so Wistful-like out of her great eyes,
and then we'd set and talk, and look
toward the mountains that stood be-
fore US like the words of God, and the
old tree would wave its arms over US
like it was bessin' US. / was husband
and mother both, those days, and III
say. This is the way the Lord meant
il, Mary, and it's all right The new
book Of motherhood shone deeper and
deeper in her eyes, and then one day
in the fall I said:
d" Honey, the doctor says as how he'd
like to come up here for day or two.
! if 'tWOuld be convenient to have him
round. He wants to go gunnin' with
me UP on the mountain, and as there's
plenty of good food cooked up, and
there's some one to stay with you, |
told him right off to come
"She mid her face on my shoulder aud
( said, Oh, Rael,' jest as she did over
the melodcOn, and ! never let OH that
I'd been a-savin' toward $40 all the
summer, to make him want 10 come
jest at this time. But somehow she
misuustcd. You don't need TO tell
woman everything; they know athout
the telliH'.
Eve named the baby Peace; we VAS
SO glad 10 have her safely here. Seems
If Mary couldn't be happy enough
f7.V hal Ia. nd I'm,
that all the time. Who she was ,.oin'
10 look like aud how her eyebrows vas
comm, and how she was learuiu' 20
put her thumb into her mouth. and
there was so much baby and so little
me, that | begun to feel kind If left
out. 'TWant sensible. 1 know, and /
wouldn't have had Mary know it for
anything. Was too 'shamed of II my
self-a great hulkin' thing like me
Wantin' 10 spoil Mary's happiness with
her baby. ] thanked the Lord after
ward that l didn't say nothin'. But
you sec Mary herself had alters been
my baby, and now she didn't seem TO
care nOthin' about it. But one nisnt 1
was tim in the doorway a-lookin'
of at the fields. and she come of her
own accord and says. 'Raei. / want go
come home And she put her heal
down in the old way on my shoulder,
aud then | knew she want changed n
mite. and / thought what an old foot
I'd be=n; a mean. ungrateful creeter.
But Mary was UNKNOWN OF all this.
and want I glad, She wouldn't have
thought much OF me II she had. a-feel-
IN put out because / wasn't the only
one that was bein' made of. The baby
stayed with Us till May-and I guess
We won't say nothin' more about that,
There come a day when | had TO face
that / couldn't do nothin for Mary;
that we was jest children IN the hands
OF the Lord, and I could only stand by
and help her bear Il. / couldn't take