The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-12-08

/
time are all a man can be expected t
meet. l hope in the next, l, for one
may have a litt,a easier time"
The good wife sighed deeply, and
| said no more.
At last the winter of 1901 was upon
them. There had been little change in
| the family or the father True, the
world said: Hatch is drinking again
what a Pity" Is there a minister OF
layman in the city OF his adoption
who can say, Il endeavored to save
| him." Not one. Still he lived under
| the sound of a minister's voice, and
| could, from his own door, hear him,
| from Sabbath to Sabbath. expound the
| Word of God to his hearers, and with
out adding dessert or side dishes in the
form of pastoral visitation, or kindly
interest through the week, gave them
until the next Sabbath to digest his
thoughts, or lay them on their souls
until they created moral dyspepsia.
One week ago today We saw our
neighhor as he passed our window, with
plane and rule under his arm as he
went home to dinner. The wind blew
and howled; snow fell as though emp
tied by the basketful, instead of the
sleepy, lazy way it usually comes
down.
The children were all at home. There
was no pleasant converse at the table.
for these days the father was surly
and i'll natured. Those little serpents
he drank into his stomach had ascend
ed to the brain and their writhing
made him irritable. Today, as he
arose from the table, some strange ten
derness stole into his breast, for as he
passed the chair of his youngest child
he stopped and kissed her. This I'M
usual tenderness ON his part embold-
ened her to say:
Father, want geography"
The strong coffee was having q
counteracting effect; he was SOLDERING.
The son said, as he mufled himself to
60 out in the raging elements:
where are you working tOday?"
Il have to go away up in the upper
part Of town, to look after some men
I have on a job up there"
Mrs. Hatch, so pleased to see him
once more himself, brought his big
fur mittens, then the scarf the girls
had made for his New Years gift. She
wrapped this with tender hands around
his neck, and said:
please remember tea and sugar
when you come home tonight"
eyes, tea. sugar and a geography"
leaving the inmates with a glad new
hope in their hearts.
At three o'clock we looked from our
window and saw crowd of men bear
ing a heavy burden slowly and SOL
EMMY along. They stopped at our
bell. We could plainly see our neigh
boris wife at side window busily en-
gagged running her sewing machine.
Again the door bell is pulled vigorous
ly. This time she hears, steps to the
the glass, smOothes her hair, takes off
her house-apron, and hastens to the
door. She steps back when she sees
the crowd-steps farther back and
grasps the dOorknob, when they push
forward with their burden. AS length
she gasps:
Gentlemen. you have made mis-
take. This is the wrong house"
Doesn't William Hatch live here?"
eyes. Who is it? What is it,"
They slowly raised the cover that
concealed the form, and there was her
husband-dead!
Did she faint? No; she grew strange
ly white from lip to brow; not a tear
or sob. Passing her hand across her
eyes, she asked:
where am I? Who killed him."
Has the romance of life faded out at
fifty? No; here was the man she had
loved and welded when young mai
den, loved through all these bitter
years of trial, dead!-he who had left
her only few hours before in seeming
good health. She remembered even
then the little commonplace errands
he was to do for the household. Could
he never attend to those things again?
They laid him down. The children
came in from school, and we're wild
in their fright and grief. Then amid
this great sorrow the mothers love
asserted itself. She tried to comfort
her children.
How did 1t happen? Some little chill
dren, sliding their way down from
school, discovered near the abutment
Of the old canal bridge. the dead body
Of man almost covered with snow.
The alarm was given. People seem to
spring from the very ground at such
times. and In . few moments a WON
dering, gaping crowd was looking on.
At last some one identified him. He
had walked OF the old bridge. going