The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-24

bread had become too diminished to absorb and render again the succul-
 elnce of the frying-pan. Black coffee
 syrup with sugar, and the cooled sausage formed the next course
 Then Patsy noticed the butter again and rose to pay tribute to it
 by swallowing as large a lump as he could conveniently transfer to his mouth on the end of a knife.
 A full stomach is not conducive to activity. Patsy, stretched out in a chair, hands In pockets like the men he had seen in hotel office windows, almost forgot school time. He truly had meant to go, as was shown by his frantic use of a comb when he did think of it. But soon after g o'clock, instead of being in his seat in school he was retraclng his steps homeward. Matters of business, such as the ex- | change of piece of chalk and a pen ny for two fried cakes, had detained him by the way until it was too late | to go to school. unless one aspired to an interview with the principal
 His mother found him squatting in the middle of the kitchen floor when she came in. At the unexpected sight she broke out:
 Home from school! Phativer's the cause? It's not the first time, ayther. 1t'l be the last or you'll get phwat you deserve, the contlnts of the rod. Come out O that!' and she promptly raised him from the floor by a bit of his sleeve pinched between her thumb and fingers, and set him down hard on his feet.
 Patsy leaned against a corner of his cot In a moments sullenness, but by the time Maggie had peeled the pota- toes for dinner and put them over to boil, he was on the floor again, snap ping marbles at sundry bits of coal. Maggie was not thinking of him as she sank into the'rocker, arms relaxed l and far-away look in her eyes. The disappointment that had kept her awake or tossing in a light sleep all night had not bereft her of hope. She had not been able to go to work that morning. Instead she had gone in- stinctively to the scene of last nights meeting. There, where all had been quiet and peaceful, and the moonlight | Altering through the branches had traced soft shadows on the pavement she found herself in the midst of the noise and hustle of everyday. She walked among men and women all seeking something as eagerly as her. self, whose faces she scanned only to search for one that she did not find. When she came to where Tom had tried to kiss her, her heart throbbed. Then the light that illumined her face for an instant suddenly died out and she returned home with a trou- bled look. "I'd a right to ketch 0 holt O his hand an bring him wid me-" she thought, as she reused her. self to test the potatoes.
 She stood close to the stove, her hands, with fork in the right one, crossed before her. Now and then she thrust the fork critically into the pot, turning away from the steam. No one would have suspected from her fresh round face, frank blue eyes, and general air of youthful vigor, as she stood waiting, that she had any burdens to carry. Poverty, anxiety over her husband, and sorrow at the loss of all her children but one, had not left the usual trace. AS long as there was work to be done, Maggie | Egan could throw into 1t all the vital | ity of her big, wholesome nature. She | left herself no time for breeding ex- cept at night, when she would say, T do be too wore out wid the fatigue to fret" It was typical of her that she went to a lady for whom she some times. worked, directly after the fun eral of her first-born, and begged to begin house-cleaning at once, al- | though 1t was month too soon; 'The way 1t would take up me mind" she explained.
 When the potatoes were dished and Maggie had poured herself and Pat sy each a bowl of long-steeped tea, which she cooled from the bottle of milk, they drew up to the table. The remaining sausage-fat in the frying ran gave an extra relish to the pota- toes and both mother and child ate them with genuine enjoyment. Then Patsy yielded his head to wet brush in his mothers firm grasp and his nose to a corner of her apron. Mind don't find you in it again phin schools kapin'!" was her only allu- sion to his shortcoming, as she gave him a resounding kiss on the mouth and pushed him out at the door.
 When Patsy was gone, Maggie sought relief from anxiety, as was her way, in work. All the afternoon she