Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-10-03

from the depths of the closet where
she is selecting baby's clothes, kiss
Carl instead, that will do as well. l
don't doubt you think q good deal
more of him than you do of me any.
way" with ~perversely bitter intona.
ton.
If she thinks he will hasten to her
and coax her out of her pet, she is
greatly mistaken; he is not used to
any such moods in his bright little
helpmate, so does not know how to
take them. There is a sudden silence,
then she faces round just in time to
see him give baby Carl one long kiss,
and he turns away mute and hurt, and
is gone. She hesitates a moment, too
proud to call to him even then, till
at last her heart conquers and she
runs after him; but 1t is too late;
he has passed out Of the side-door,
gone down the walk and is just step.
ping on board the waiting horse-car.
How heavily the day passes after
this, only a tender-hearted woman
mastered by the same failing can
know. Never before has she spoken
such words to the husband she loves
so dearly; never before since their
w~edding-day have they parted for
even a few hours without a kiss and a
loving word.
Theirs has been a very happy mar
riage, too. having in it all the ele-
ments of prosperity and content.
Charley Burt is a house-carpenter by
trade, a first-rate mechanic, sober, in
dustrious, earning good wages and
constantly advancing at his work.
They have a cozy little home, a pref.
ty cottage in the suburbs.
To-day she goes about the pretty
rooms tidying everything IS usual,
and for the first time takes no pride
or pleasure in them.
She gets through her routine-work
somehow, doing all she thinks of or
finds time for, because to leave any.
thing undone would only add to the
suffering of a mind i'll at ease; but
there is a heavy weight of misery at
her heart.
Will night ever come-and bring
her Charley home? At last every
thing is done; she has prepared a
most inviting supper for her good
man." saying to herself:
I'll take baby Carl and run down
to the gate and meet him when he
comes-then we'll kiss and make up"
Still he does not come, and, it is
quite past his usual hour. She sits
patiently holding her boy, her face
growing all the time more white and
drawn and anxious.
"Oh, howl wish | had said good-by
just as ever to-day" she whispers for
the twentieth time; then as the slow
minutes creep along, Il am afraid
oh, so afraid something has hap
pened," for though he is sometimes
a little late, 1t is very seldom that his
time of coming varies a half-hour-
and now it is two hours, and her
vague presentiments of evil are grow
ing to a dreadful certainty.
She gets up and walks the floor,
tired out as she is; another hour
passes, and in the extremity of her
distress and terror she is about to
run across to her nearest neighbor,
when a mufied tramping approaches
and stops-"the feet of them that
ham bipo ara az hic ratios - #
1t seems to Nellie Burt that she
dies a dozen deaths in that moment,
while she stands rooted to the spot
and sees them bring in the man she
loves, senseless, bleeding, broken;
then she rouses herself, and it is her
ready hand that arranges the bed and
smooths the pillow under the Door
unconscious head.
Not dead-no-that would have
been a punishment greater than poor
Nellie deserves, and more than she
could bear; but there has been an
accident-a~ scafolding has fallen, and
among the h~alf-dozen men killed or
injured Charley Burt has Jared best
Of any--only a broken arm, a dislocat.
ed shoulder, and some cuts and
bruises. He has been we'll cared for,
too, and only conveyed to his home
when the attending surgeon has decid.
ed that there are no internal injuries,
and that he car safely be moved.
But the dread might have BEEN
stands out before her then so clear
and plain that it leaves it's impress
on her very soul; and in all the rest
of her life it helps to teach her the
great lesson Of patience and self.
control.
So matters might have been much
worse, after all; as it is, Nellie Burt's
bad day ends with a perfect recon-
Citation between husband and wife.
and a most grateful thanksgiving to
God from one tender heart that she
has been spared that sharpest pang OF
all-the utter misery of knowing that
for this world her penitence has come
too late.