The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1907-02-28
The Sunrise
BY Jennef johnson
Copyright. by Joseph 3. Bowies.,

The man let the tiller go and
dropped both hands on his knees. The
boat slid back and in toward the kelp
bed again, slowly, obstinately. For
ward his wife was wrapping her damp
jacket around the little girl who
showed signs of slumber. The boy
was moving restlessly about. eager
to help his father and in the moon
light his thin little body looked elfish
and unreal.
IT'S no use," the man said, 'the
tides going out too strongly and
there's not a breath of wind In this
confounded place!"
she looked away quickly with tight
ened lips. The boat was drifting
along the kelp edge now, and they
heard the soft scrunch of stalks un.
der the keel. A faint stir of air came
from the brown blnffed shore and
rougheued ever so slightly the still
ripples under the moonlight.
Wen have to tie up to the kelp."
the man said. "and wait for the tide
to turn. II must be about IL now and
| II will turn at Eve" The tone said
make the best Of It," but the woman
lung up her head rebelliously.
They sat in the cold moonlight with
Iurmur of the water and the slap of
The kelp The boy began to shiver
and yawn and his father wrapped him
in his coat offering his shoulder as a
| pillow The dampness came strange
| ly silently. powerfully, like the moon
light. and cut into their very bones
| The woman sat upright, refusing
sleep and bending over the baby curls
in her lap She was full of feelings as
hard. as cutting cold as the moonlight
| itself
She glanced at her husband pulling
at his empty pipe and staring ahead
II had been so like him-moved on
impulse to take moonlight sail-not
| ignorant of the wind or tide, but
| trusting gaily that the ebb would not
begin nor the ocean breeze die down
until they were back in the channel
again! And IL the children should
take cold! The boy had been Ill; they
had come to the shore for his sake!
She bit her lips In misery. She
should not have consented. She
should have firmly forbidden the sail
at the first. But 1t was too hard to
put out the eager pleasure of those
childrens eyes-to play the part of
Reproof, Reason, Unpleasant Author
lty! Already, she felt, the children
came to her fearfully for permission.
They loved her, yes, but she wasn't
the person to enjoy life with! The
burning realization came to her that
they felt she was necessary for their
living, but not for their loving That
one was the father, the happy-go-
lucky Boy-father. who could devise
picnics In a moment and whose pock.
cts yielded harvest of sweets and
toys every evening after dinner.
They loved him for the same humor
and charm that had blinded her to
the real man (or lack of real mani
on their first meeting.
She remembered that day perfect
ly; the originality of It all that had
fascinated her into thinking that It
was the beginning of the greatest
epoch in her life
She remembered her delight at the
wedding journey-how they had
slipped away to the station and seated
themselves in a remote corner, sans
tickets. sans plans and sans respon.
sibility. AS special favor. she re-
called. he had allowed her to pick out
their Responsibility, tanned fellow
in tweeds with a leather tackle.box
and rod case.
There" she had whispered, "go
just behind him. Teddy. and get two
tickets to the place where he is
going"
The weeks in that lovely trout
country had been perfect All, why
could not life go on calling for moth
ing but humor and appreciation?
But the next chapter-Disillusio
had come speedily. When the boy
was born she had been In the Self
disguised chapter, and now she had
reached Rebellion.
In these seven years she had had
to admit that she had married the
humor of the man and that humor
was not one of the bigger things.
Indeed she decided that she had lost
her sense of humor
Now she said TO herself with a grim
humor. that II they had been poorer
their marriage would have been one
of those which are a synonym for
taking In washing She was worn
out with those years as provider,
father, mother. teacher-everything
but playfellow-she blamed him for
letting the double responsibility crush
out her fun, her humor; she blamed
him for taking all of the children's
love; she blamed him for everything
that her active brain could call up In
those seven hard years. She shut her
teeth tightly and clenched her cnld