The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-13
HIS NEW MITTENS

TO move down his cheeks. He snfffled
HIS heart was black with hatred. He
painted in his mind scenes of deadly
retribution. His mother would be
taught that he was not one to endure
persecution meekly, without raising an
arm in his defense. And so his dreams
were OF slaughter of feelings, and
near the end of them his mother was
pictured as coming. bowed with pain
TO his feet. Weeping, she implored
his charity. Would he forgive her:
NO; his once tender heart had been
turned to stone by her injustice. He
could not forgive her. She must nav
the inexorable penalty.
The first item in this horrible plan
was the refusal of the food. This he
knew by experience would work havoc
in his mothers heart. And so he grim
ly waited.
But suddenly 1t occurred to him thai
the first part of his revenge was in
danger of failing. The thought struck
him that his mother might not capt.
ulate in the usual way. According tc
! his recollection, the time was more
than due when she should come in
worried. sadly affectionate, and ask
| him If he was i'll. 1t had then been his
custom to hint in a resigned voice
| that he was the victim of secret dis.
ease, but that he preferred to suffer
in silence and alone. IL she was obdu
rate In her anxiety, he always asked
| her in a gloomy, low voice to go away
and leave him to suffer in silence an6
alone in the darkness without food. He
had known this manoeuvering to result
even in pie.
| But what was the meaning of the
| long pause and the stiffness? Had hi:
old and valued ruse betrayed him? Al
the truth sank into his mind, he SUI
premely loathed life, the world, hi:
mother. Her heart was beating bach
the besiegers; he was a defeated child
He wept for a time before decidins
upon the final stroke. He would run
away. In a remote corner of the world
he would become some sort of bloody
handed person driven to a life of crime
by the barbarity of his mother. She
should never know his fate. He would
| torture her for years with doubts anG
doubts, and drive her impIacably to q
repentant grave. Nor would his Aunt
Martha escape. Some day, a century
hence, when his mother was dead, he
would write to his Aunt Martha, and
point out her part in the blighting OF
his life. For one blow against him now
he would. in time, deal back thou
Sand; aye, ten thousand.
| He arose and took his coat and cap
AS he moved stealthily toward the dool
he cast a glance backward at the
pickle He was tempted to take it, but
he knew If he left the plate inviolate
| his mother would feel even worse.
A blue snow was falling. People
| bowed forward were moving briskly
along the walks. The electric lamps
hummed amid showers of flakes. As
Horace emerged from the kitchen, g
shriIi squat drove the flakes around
the corner Of the house. He covered
away from it. and its violence illum-
| ined his mind vaguely in new dfrec'
lions. He deliberated upon choice OF
remote corners of the globe. He found
that he had no plans which were defin-
tie enough in a geographical way, but
without much loss of time he decided
upon California. He moved briskly as
far as his mothers front gate on the
road to California. He was off at last
| His success was a trifle dreadful; his
| throat choked.
But at the gate he paused. He die
not know If his journey to California
would be shorter If he went down Nj
agara avenue or off through Hogan
street. AS the storm was very cold
and the point was very important, he
decided to withdraw for reflection &c
! the wood shed. He entered the DARK
| shanty and took a seat upon the ole
chopping block upon which he was sup
| posed 20 perform for a few minutes
every afternoon when he returned from
school. The wind screamed and shout.
ed at the loose boards. and there was
| rift of snow on the floor to leeward
| of a crack.
| Here the idea Of starting for Cali
fornia on such night departed from
his mind, leaving him Illuminating mis-
erably upon his martyrdom. He saw
nothing for it but to sleep all night
| in the wood shed and start for Cali
| fornia in the morning bright and early
Thinking of his bed. he kicked over
the floor and found that the innumer-
able chips were all frozen tightly
bedded in ice.
Later he viewed with joy some signs
of excitement in the house. The flare
of lamp moved rapidly from window
to window. Then the kitchen door
slammed loudly and a shawled figure
sped toward the gate. At last he was
making them feel his power. The shiv-
ering child's face was lit with sa-
turnine glee as in the darkness of the
wood shed he gloated over the evil
dences of CONSERVATION in his home.
The shawled figure had been his Aunt
Martha dashing with the alarm to the
neighbors.
The cold of the woodshed was tor
menting him. He endured only be-
cause of the terror he was causing
But then it occurred to him that, II
they instituted a search for him, they
would probably examine the wood
she'd He knew that it would not be
manful to be caught so soon. He was