Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1907-11-27
rTSHE day is done, and as we are
too tired to think, We take up
our fayorite paper, or live over.

our faYortte paper, or live over
= again the days that are dead, -
and this dwelling upon memory's pic
lures has both It's sad and its sunny
side. This day, of all others, belongs
TO the family-home-gatherings, fam
lily reunions, meetings and greetings
of friends, and feastings about the
old home-board, amid the old home
scenes from which the. young feet
went out into the restless world be-
yond, never to come back quite the
same. They carried away with them
something the worlds warfare
wrenched from them, and for which
1t has no recompense to bestow.
Home was indeed home in those old
days, when father and mother bore
the burdens and buffetings Of the
rude old world for their children's
sake, and the dear, Scared hearts
grieved bitterly when at last the
nurslings found their wings and flew
away.
But at Thanksgiving time the
children" come trooping back, and
father and mother, grown DINNER
eyed, greet. them with warm hearts,
seeing little change, despite the.
troops of little folks the wanderers
bring back with them from the world
\ Are they all here? All the boys
and girls that went away? The faded
eyes glisten as they count the faces,
cleaning down the row. No vacant
chairs in the staiwart men and
graceful women the old eyes. see but;
the fehil ldren, of their love. Father
wipes his spectacles, smiling still:
sand looks down the row to where
.sfnothers, lovely viii te-haired moth
er, sits btihind the cups and saucers:i
To him she is unchanged. He has
seen her: every day and she bat grows
dearsr with the passing years. But
the children: as you grow aecusi
toned to their presence, you feel
family that there; something wrong.
You. look at mother, and you see a
iWistful slook in her patient eyes, and
yol-know that she. too, is looking for
something she does not see. Atsher
right hand sits bright-faced matron,
whose fair hair recalls the golden
curls. ofylittle Ella, but the quiet, So
ber face beneath it lacks the Ching
dimples that Ella always carried, and
the smile that lights up her face is
little like the abandon Of merriment
that always hung about Elias atmos-
phere. Yet, as she calls across the
table to. "Tom," she flashes her saucy
eyes, and her graceful hands have the
old, gleeful gestures, The voice has
the same sweet ring, yet there is
something plaintive in its cadences.
You look at "Tom," and the rich
deep voice thai answers iss little like
the high-keyed treble you listen for,
and instead of the rrddy, sboyish face
of the memory picture, you see So
ber-eyed, serious man whose lips only
smile e-Tom used to laugh with his
eyes. You look at him with a startled
realization of his length of limb, and
wonder whether he could get into the
lslow-ceiled garret, or ifs-he could lie
comfortably, or sleep as dreamlessly
in the low bed up stairs, from which
;he ran away one winters morning,
long ago. What has he done with
his old, boyish appetite? How list
lessly he handles his knife and fork,
OF. nibbles at thercake mother made
so much of because Tom always
liked 1t. And you see, too, that his
hands are larger and winter; they
were small and scrubby in the old
days, and Tom never did take kindly
to soap and water. He catches your
| eye and smiles-yes, it is Tom, but
there is something gone.
Tom lives. in the city now, and con-
trolls large manufacturing plant
and men count him king In
finances, but this morning he caught
the dear, faded old mother in his
arms and kissed her, just as he used
to do in the old, old days.
"A shrill, merry challenge pipes W
from the pathway outside, and 20,
turn. to call Charlie, but 1t is onl!
Charles boy, so like his old self
skurrying down the walk, with hands
and mouth full of pantry stores ant
in full pursuit Of the young rogue
is 1t mother? No, mother sits befor,
you, smiling. 1t must be Fanny, bu
you had forgotten that Fanny wa
middle aged. And then you remem
Der that Fanny has daughters of he
own, and lives just over the ridge
and that1her nomesis famed for it
hearty hospitality and WHOLESOME
good cheer.