The Green Forest tribune., 1910-10-21


 plodded along with his set of books at Bennison'5 for ten years. He had come there when he was 25. Now the hair was thin at his tenn ples and a little gray. And he no longer hid from himself the fact that there was 8 small bald spot on hls crown He did his work well, but he had become a fxture-he made no headWay. They had raised hls wages twice in the first four years he had been there, but no raise had been mentioned since He dared not mention it because they might refuse it, and his pride could not let him remain after that. But he could not lose his job. There was the ol6 mother at home, bedrfdden for years. And, year ago. she had died. He had not yet paid all the doctors bills And there was a bill at a drug store. Akers was honest, and paid installmentS as he could.
 When he was almost 30, the year his mother first took to her bed, there had been a girl She was pretty and gentle and sweet, bill ing clerk in the office, but born homemaker. Her smile was a com fort and though she was not much past 20 she mothered everybody in the store impartially, from the skalling, smoky cat to Akers. She seemed to understand. Nobody made love to, and everybody loved her
 Akers walked up one morning-one morning after he had been up all night with his mother and had been told that her case was hopeless, but that she might live many years-to the fact that he loved Amy Bart lett, After that he kept away from the girl lie could not bear to be near her and remember that common decency and honor kept him from saying: T love youo
 so Ills life became a starvation, fer hearts must be fed-and minds. He no longer found time to read any thing, or even to go to church, or eyer to the theater-he could not af- ford the latter. And, he found he must sleep when he could. lest he be so weary that his office work suffer. From doing his work confidently, gladly, it became drag and a trouble. He might make a mistake and lose his place
 It was about a year after he had feacaed this point that Amy came to hin. moment one day when he was feeling so tired and blank that the hgufes were mere daZe. She had not said more than a casual word for months, and now her nearness brought feeling akin to hysteria to his throat
 T just thought I'd ask you-if I had offended you in any way?' she said rather timidly. I'm so careless of what I say, and you've-well, we used to be friends, and l thought | might have said or done something that hurt you or" This was more than he could bear, but he managed to I1e very steady and formal, and to speak with a set little smile.
 No, indeed, Miss Bartlett. not at all. You've always been very good. I've only been busy-my mother is sick at home, and I've had to be up niGhts-and Pm sure you've never said anything" And then, because he knew he could not bear her ques- tiors of sympathy about his home life, he turned from her to answer the sen'or partner who was about to ask hin something. The girls eyes were pit.ing and pitiful, but she went away.
 few weeks after that she took a position in another store, and he never saw her-not even on the street
 Then his mother grew much worse -ahd much more trying, and he was up more at night. and the bills be- core more frequent. And his work -h,S one effort was to do his work well, and it was done No fault could be found with that. but all human spontaneity left him. He had lost step. The girls did not smile at him ana throw jokes and slang his way. The partners called him MT. Akers." not the jovial John" he had been fer the first years.
 One day he heard the girls in the ofice talking about a party the force vas to have His name was men, tioned. They were not even careful lest he hear them One of them wanted to invite him, but another carelessly remarked that he was "a thousand years old-and entirely out of the running He realized this.
 And then the mother had died. The firm gave him two weeks off, on par, and perfunctory condolences. They liked Akers. He was faithful. He went home and managed the fu- neral. made the few distant rela- lives who could come as comfortable as he could, wrote letters, faced an empty house. Then he knew that, trying as the half-insane. peevish unloving old woman had been, her absence was terrible thing. His