The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-24
LOVE NEVER FAILETH-By Annie

coffee syrup with sugar, and the cooled sausage formed the next course. Then Patsy noticed the butter again and rose to pay tribute to 1t 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 actfv- ity. Patsy stretched out in 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 retracing his steps homeward Mat ters of business, such as the exchange of a piece of chalk and penny 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 prin- cipal.
 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. It'll be the last, or you'll get phwat you de- serve the contints 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 corner of his cot in a moments sullenness but by the time Maggie had peeled the potatoes for dinner and put them over to boil, he was on the floor again, snapping marbles at sundry bits of coal.
 Maggie was not thinking of him as she sank into the rocker, arms relaxed and far-away look in her eyes. The disap pointment that had kept her awake or tossing in 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 instinctively 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
 
 as herself, 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 illuminated her face for an instant suddenly died out and she returned home with troubled look 'Id right to ketch 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 vi- tality of her big, wholesome nature. She left herself no time for brood ing. except at night. when she would say. q do be too wore out wid the fatigue to fret" It was typical of her that she went to lady for whom she sometimes worked, directly after the funeral of her first born. and begged to begin house cleaning at once, al though it was a month too soon. The way it would take up me mind she explained.
 When the potatoes were dished and Maggie had poured herself and Patsy each bowl of long-steeped tea, which she cooled from the bottle Of milk, they drew up to the table. The re- maining sausage fat in the frying pan gave an extra relish to the potatoes 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