The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-05
TIE EVENING STORY
The silence.
(By John Barton oxford.

selves on either side in defiance or ali
natural laws fat bearded, complacent,
stalked a. herculean Moses. Behind
him trailed the children of Israel, look
ing very like a mob of German peas
ants; while en- the horizon the Egyp-
tan hOsts-sadly out of perspective
We're threatened on every side by curl
ing waves of gigantic proportions.
1t had hung there in the same place
Tor years, but it was only since the DAY
he had been brought in from the barn,
his right side useless from a stroke OF
paralysis, that Daniel Crosby had given
the ancient, smOke-streaked Wooocut
more than a passing thought. lie flad
been aware of its existence in q vague
" familiar way; if it had been taken
down, he would have missed it. He
knew, from the title underneath, 1t
was supposed to represent the passage
of the Red sea by the Children OF
Israel but heretofore he had never
taken the trouble to notice further de-
tail, save that it was yellowed by age
and badly sTnirched in places by smoke
from the adjacent kitchen.
But now it was different. AS he lay
there on the bed practically helpless
and the June days went by in NOM
otonOus succession, he found himself
examining thte picture minutely dur
ing the long, wakeful daylight hours
when the breeze fluttered the chlntz
curtains at the windows and the bees
droned among the blossoms Of the
/ syringa bushes just outside.
1t came in time to have an UNIV hole
| some fascination for him. He began
to wonder just how many children OF
! Israel were represented in that cut
and to satisfy himself on this point ne
tried time and again to count them;
beginning with the two patriarchal
gentlemen just behind Moses; but al
ways at the thirty-fOurth the heads re-
! solved themselves into a blurred mass
that defied further enumeration. Day
after day, hour after hour, ne counted
patiently. and steadily his anger at ms
own helplessness in the matter ana
/ his resentment of the blurred heaos
/ grew stronger. Try as he would to
! divert his mind to other things, 1t
always returned pertinaciously to tAe
picture and the all absorbing quesJoh
] of how many children OF Israel thefS
would be if he could once succeed in
! counting them all. He grew by SLOW
| degrees to. hate that picture, yet with
this hate the fascination was no WHIT
/ lesSened. Indeed, the stronger grew
his hate the more frequent became his
/ countings until at last he realized ne
could know no peace OF MIND untl the
picture was taken from the room
1t seemed the simplest OF matters 70
have a picture removed from the walls
of a bedroom, but in Daniel Crosby
case there were complications, and
| these complications lay in the TACT
that the only person to whom he could
suggest that the picture be taken down
was his wife, and between Crosby ana
his wife there had existed fourteen
years of stubborn, unylelding silence.
It had come as the climaxof numer-
Gus petty differences They mad
wrangled long and fercely- At the
I end of it Abby Crosby had burst into
a flood of bitter. rebellious tears
you can rest assured of one thing,
DanI Crosby, she had sobbed
wretchedly. II won't never. never
open my mouth to you again s long as
/ livel''
He had smiled in superior fashion.
& "a
suit me perfectly. An III see 10 it you
amt troubled with any remarks from
me-
And from that bitter day. fourteen
/ years before, they had lived together
/ in silence with never so much as
word passed between them. Not even
/ this paralysis. which had stricken him
/ in his advancing years, could shake the
stubborn pride of either of them. He
/ had wondered vaguely, that day the
| neighbors had borne him into the
house and laid him on the bed if
/ perchance in the excitement of the
moment she would forget herself and
| speak to him; and he was rather
/ proud of her self restraint when she
1 had not.
Silently she prepared his meals and
/ brought them in to him; silently she
massaged n and used the battery as
the doctor had directed. He wa
/ her ndrrs. Wy Cay by DAY, all his long
/ ing for cOmpaniOnship in these hours
of his helplessness carefully CON
/ cealed oeneath cold exterior.
IF anyone speaks first, it'll be her"
1 he told himself over and over.
! So day after day, as his wife came
! silently into the room and went silently
/ out, Daniel lay feebly lingering the
sheets with his LETT hand, striving to
/ conJure up some scheme which might rid
4 him of the troublesome Israelites who
4 refused to be counted above the thirty
/ fourth At last in desperation-he had
| been counting, counting all day long
] he decided to take the matter into his
/ own hands. In the early dusk when he
! heard Abby go out the back door to
/ shut up the barn and the lighthouses
/ for the night, he managed, by the use
/ of his sound left arm, to slide himself
/ out of the bed onto the floor
/ Slowly. painfully he contrived to reach
/ the corner where an old cane with
/ crook handle leaned in the angle of the
walls. Then with indomitabIe patience
4 he WOrned his way along the floor until
1 he was beneath the picture. After sew
! eral unsuccessful attempts he managed
/ to hook the handle of the cane securely
onto the frame, and throwing his whole
weight upon it, he dragged the picture
! crashing to the floor.
He listened for a moment, half ex-
pecting to hear his Wife's footsteps on
I the back steps, but no one came He
! dragged himself into the kitchen, push
/ ing the picture before him The cellar
4 door was aiar. Thither he made his
painful way and pulled it wide open.
The mingled smells Of damp earth and
! last seasons vegeta bles greeted his nos
4 trils. Without a pause he thrust the
picture through the doorway, and list
ened with many delightful chuckles as
/ the children of Israel went humping
( downwards. Half way down the frame
stuck fast That would never do. He
pulled himself back to the bedroom to
get the cane. With the aid Of the cane
he was sure he could reach down and
/ complete the descent.
He had scarcely regained the bedroom
when he heard his wife come in He
lay on the floor spent and breathing
hard Perhaps she was going out again.
He would iay low and wait He heard
her moving briskly about the kitchen
for time; then a door sq9Ie1ked rauc-
ously on its hinges. III ere WIS only Gre
l..nl,e. tlaat ..l.a.I-na >