Okolona messenger., 1908-12-23
Her Child
o. dreams

the dneiofs despaifed ~ Mrs Man
! aaf1s ilfa Motherhood bad meant ~
hufh ~ her
Then had cDme me efnei ieauns
aphfi The wfonoiihf ~ b0Hds. which
no human hand could have snndofod
The dnli thud. ihud ~ Earth 0n ~
tle CONN. ana then fuf u tlmp The
dhfhness ~ utter Oblivion Amer
wards had come terrible timc ~
fever and dellfium fof 'he mother,
whose motherhood WAS bat u momofy
The fever passed.. bat IN lts flacc
waH terrible wcatnoas over which
lhe doctor shook hi head giayely
/ II have tried every thin IN my
? power but to no avail She pays not
the alielueat attention 90 anything I
mas pro- ose."
Ana thcI- when every one had al.
most q tai up hoie-camc Child q
Dreams
lie ca"o NJ a time when the world
yaa W. led in slumher lie todllod
INTO f.s hanl5rd's ntelit chamber
ard " b eager baby sters hurried to
.a t.a who're tlo woman lay with her
Hsufa'ul eyes. which would not sleep
fixed ON the glinting freight He bun
9-wed waru little face into the list.
IS iaad, hen ra a'scd two love filled
rate, mu2sle Baby heepy."
Ess NSnsard Ga heIed the little
.ctI into the warmth of her bed, cud.
ding he tiny feet and hands and
pressing ardent kisses on The toused
baby head. There was no surprise in
any action Of hers. Why, no He
had been sent back to her. for God
was sood and had understood. Not a
real baby, of course, but a precious,
comforting thing-one that was all her
own and of which no one else should
knew.
Dee, she whispered, 'just you
ard ne Not even father must know,
fer he would not understand. Darling
Child o Dreams"
The baby drowSily burrowed his
head under her arm and murmured in
his sleep.
Tie days wore on and Mrs. Man
savd improved with a rapidity that was
as ou11.ng. She ate and slept as she
had no; done since her collapse, and
gained strength. The color once more
came into her cheeks, and her hus-
band fondly anticipated the time when
she would again be her own happy
self, and in hundreds of little ways he
endeavored to fill the void which had
been left by the death of the baby.
But underneath all the joy he felt at
the rapid convalescence of his wife
there was a puzzled feeling of unrest
and pain.
He noted that even when he was
reading to her or talking to her she
seemed scarcely to hear him. She
would lie with Parted lips, her ex-
pectant eyes fixed on space. At a |
question from him she would start, |
then answer quickly -apologetically, it |
he would regret having
spoken. Something intangible was
between them. and because 1t |
was intangible the knowledge of it was
all the harder to bear. They two had
been so much to each other at one
time and she was so dear to him-so
dear. Alone in the stiffness of the
nights he suffered as strong men
only can suffer But his wife never
guessed, for the face he brought to
her was always cheerful In choosing
her life partner Margaret Mansani
ID chosen well.
But though the mothers ears we're
deaf to all save the prattling of his
own little voice, the echo of the fa-
theirs suffering found its way to the
of Child O. Dreams, and
one night with grave little face he
asked for "Favver."
He's sleeping, Child O Dreams, re-
urned the mother with a strange lit
lie resentful note in her voice. Isn't
mother enough?" she added, unable to
'estrain that jealous contraction of her
heart
Child O. Dreams looked at her with
great, reproachful eyes. The mother
vas startled out of all inertia by their
gaze.
Baby. Child O. Dreams!" she
,ried Don't look at mother so.
Don't you love me, Child O. Dreams?
Don't you?"
The baby nodded slowly. Then his
ips quivered' "Yove favver, too. Fav-
rer kyin," he said.
And then a great wave of compre-
lension passed like a cooling hanu
,ver the brain of Mrs. Mansard. The
ace of Child o. Dreams seemed to
yrow hazy and far away, and in its
,lace was the one of the man who had
,een so much to her and to whom of
ate she had been so little. A thou
and things flashed over her memory.
low unfailingly patient he had been.
low tenderly his arms had Graded
Ter pain-racked body. How carefully
le had shielded her from each and
very annoyance. And how had she
epaid him?
She had shut him out from all
lights of confidence. She had hidden
rom him the dearest secret of her