The Tucumcari news. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1906-05-12
The Balm forAu
Commissions
by LEW VANDERpooLE
Copyright, 1909, by Joseph y, BowlesI

In the far New Hampshire hill coun.
try stands a lone farmhouse which has
weathered more than a century.
The age OF the owner, though. was not
so well concealed as that Of his house:
for every one of his so years had set
Its mark upon him in passing. Still
his back and shoulders were as
straight as those of a boy, and there
was neither halt nor falter in his
steps.
As she met him at the door, on a
certain August noon. his wifi" glanced
h~alf-timidly through the b~ell-shaped
naples toward the highway.
Yes he said, its pretty nea"
time the boy brung her. | heard the
cars more'n half an hour ago. It's
awfully funny. though. how skeered
you be O Kit, You'll like her on
sight. Everybody does. Shucks, You
oughter know how many o them air
fellers down in New York wanted to
marry 'er. T'want no use. She's all
farm. Never'll wean her from that.
Can't make nothin' but a farmers wife
out o her. Yes, in course you'll like
her"
AS ii overcome by a sense OF her
W righteousness she for a moment
laughed lightly. in partial unison with
his heartier mirth, then said, gravely:
But, you must remember, | am
your second wife, and not her mother.
That makes a difference"
Just then there came the sound Of
wheels, the barking Of dogs, and a
shuttle Of swift feet across the kitchen
foor. BY the time Mrs. Whites eyes
we're clear her husband and a tall and
beautiful girl we're clasping each other
closely, h~alf.Iaughing and half-crying.
alternating little choky shouts Of
Daddy" and Kit" and ~punctuating
the brief intervening s~ilences with re.
sounding kisses.
Mrs. Whites heart beat tumultuous.
~ as she and the girl first faced each
other. In the single second Of silence
which followed a mutual chord of ten
der sympathy was struck between
them; their hands met, and then
their lips.
You are my new mother" said the
one.
Yes. dear" answered the other.
The old man, satisfied, went smiling
~ out TO his work.
His wife and daughter were chat.
ting cordially when he returned in
doors, and II seemed TO him that the
Immediate meal was the best he had
ever tasted.
That afternoon he and Kitty visited
every spot for which she had cared in
former years.
From her earliest infancy the farm
had been TO her as one of the gardens
of Paradise, ministering 10 her every
need. and furnishing her endless
amusement. Whenever there had been
iulls in the outdoor work, her fancy
had feasted on the tales Of social and
adventurous life, with which the
book shelves Of the neighborhood
abounded.
SO it had ever been. up to her lf-
teenth year, when she had reluctantly
gone TO a distant seminary; but
neltneT lHdI nor IOuI years bClINlly
in a New York publishing house,
dimmed any of the northern luster.
At %, her employers sent her abroad
for a year.
Scarcely had she landed in France
when the news came that her mother
had suddenly died. Though a long-ey.
pected sorrow, this Frustrated her for
a time, but the speedy outcome of 1t
was to make douA!y precious to her
the farm and its associations.
On the way to bed that night she
passed through the parlor, whose pre-.
cincts formerly had been so sacred
hat she had only gone there with
hushed breath and lishtest tread Now
1t was all so mean and c~hSap-the