Middletown transcript., 1906-10-13
rcoNrrNURD FRoMlLAsT wEEKl

almost to suffocation, 1t seems SO
good to see him again.
Ruth, whispered the woman,
looking like ghost in the moon.
light. I'm SO troubled that / can
not rest. The moon shines in at
the window and upon your
fathers face. and he looks SO
different sleeping. So pale and
thin. How hard he has always
worked, and all for nothing
only money in the bank and the
bare necessities of living. She
paused and laid her hand on
Dandy's head, who looked up as
if surprised, it was SO seldom
that she found time to give him
q caress. But then, he seemed
to understand that the neglect to
do so had not been caused By in
difference or lack Of love.
Yes, Mother, Ruth whispered,
/ know father has always been
his own worst enemy. The
trouble is that he could not live
such a life without sacrificing
you. I had to go away, and did,
and I have worked till it is pos
sible to rescue you, and so all is
right. If he had not turned me
out, to go to work, as lie thought,
I might have been here still with
nothing done toward your de-
liverance, for It seemed to me. q
cruel thing 10 leave you alone
with ell this dreadful drudgery.
Why, the thought of it has
hanBted me perpetaally. and
spurred me on to work harder,
So that this time might the soon
er arrive.
The thin, work hardened hand
toyed refectively with Dandy s
sillxen ears, and Laura Pieyce
looked out upon the shornAand
smooth meadows, now glinting
in the silvery moonlight
The expression Of her mothers
worn face startled Ruth, and she
looked al her with anxious in
quiry in her deep. dark eyes,
waiting for her to speak.
Something in his face to night,
as he lies there, troubles me, she
said at length. / never saw it
look so before. The hardness is
ali gone out Of it, and he looks 80
helpless.
Ruth regarded her mother
fearfully.
Mother, she said atlength, you
are not going to fail me? Is he
not as strong and well as usual9
He win not stay here alone. You
know Aunt Jane stands ready to
come here and take charge of
things, and she is hard and close
like him, so she is the very
woman to take the place.
But Laura Pierce seemed not
to hear her daughters voice.
Her sunken eyes seemed looking
back into the past or down into
her own soul, searching search
ing for perfect justification Of
the step she had been about to
take, finding the search vain.
Yes, chad been;' it had come
to that, and poor Ruth read the
truth plainly in her mothers joy
less expression.
Each moment seems TO weaken
my resolve to go away. just
now / remembered something he
said once, long ago, when we
were first married. Remember,
Laura, he said, whatever comes,
/ love you. And Ruthie, you are
all the better and stronger for
what you have done, and have
been happier away from this
treadmill.
While respecting her mothers
mood, and to a certain extent
sharing her scrnples in spite OF
her resentment, Ruth could not
believe that love had instigated
the treatment her mother had
always received at her father S
hands; but she refrained from
saying so, and, indeed, from say.
ing anything, waiting, in dumb
disappointment, for her mother
to speak again. She rose al
length and turned with a whisper
to Ruth.
Come down, she said, and see
him, and then you will under
stand. And Ruth arose and
followed her.
As they neared The room where
the weary man slept, they heard
his deep, hoarse respiration, and
something in the sound caused
them 10 turn, with eyes fun oil
troubled inquiry, 10 search each
others faces.
The mother laid u restraining