Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1911-05-12
Nehemiah
Nu99ins' Charity

shutting up, going home and sneak
ing into his bachelor quarters. 1t
was fine array that he surveyed.
Goldfish, kegs of nails of various as
sortment, boots and shoes Of every
size and style, hanks of fax, old as
the pines that sobbed and sighed
along the hillside back Of the storeI
violins without bridges, needles in
boxes mixed with thimbles, sealing
wax, envelopes and babies sucking
bottles, old hats, caps, bonnets with
plumes and without, face-powders.
plows, harrows, rakes, shaving-soap,
razors, fruit-cans, coils Of rubber hose.
cycle tires, monkey wrenches, gum
rubbers, fish-poles, hooks, lines, pos
tage stamps, jars of peppermint can
dy, and many other things too numer.
GUS to mention.
''Ten per cent. less than cost! No
wonder l have to pinch. and scrimp,
and half starve."
But he did not figure that all this
was his, his to own, to sell, to give
away. His-and it never cost him a
cent for the whole entire outfit Of
the store.
To-day he sold a harrow. Boys
grown up to manhood had carved
their names upon the handles. Daily,
year after year-in season, of course,
that harrow had been dragged out
upon the low porch. 1t had been
beaten by the rains of years, and was
dusty with the touch of time; 1T had
been nibbled by the mice, gnawed by
the rats and abused in general. To-
day he sold it,
How his tender, susceptible heart
Quivered as he saw the old, familiar
thing tossed into a farmers wagon!
All! and how quickly he hurried back
into his little den, yanked down his
slab-desk from the wall reached for
a certain book and examined it close
ly. 1t had been all well and faithfully
kept. the old stock by his father who
had slept for twenty years under the
pine-needles of summer and the crys-
talline crusts of winter
And Nehemiah sighed as he laid his
lean, yellow finger upon line. He
shivered from head to foot, and a
tear oozed from his watery eye.
"Sold for fifteen per cent less than
cost! No wonder times are bad, men
are poor-and have TO save. pinch,
starve and look out to make both ends
meet"
Carefully replacing the old book in
its place, he next lifts his poor desk
to its place on the wall fastens 1t
there with a button, and, rising, he
leaves the den.
The store will be closed in two min
utes; all is we'll within. The Goldfish
will not nibble at the hooks, the fly.
sucked sticks Of licorice will not mix
with the paris green, the fine-cut
chewing will not absorb the fulminat-
ing gun caps, the razors will not
shave the whiskers off the moth-eaten
yarn mittens, the needles in the show
case will not prick the toy gas bal
looms, the monkey wrenches will not
chew the Jumps of gum-so all is we'll
for Nehemiah Nuggins to close up, go
home and to his bed.
But he didn't close up and he didn't
Nehemiah"
He started as he stood there with
his hand upon the latch. He started,
not because of fright, for he had lived
too long among the ghosts of old
things to be frightened. No; it was
not fright that startled him.
1t was because the voice was IA
ha
of one long since dead and gone, and
laid away under the pines in the
battle-ground upon the hillside back
of the store.
Down the narrow stairs clambered
a figure; he could not see it, but he
could hear 1t. 1t came in sight. Yes;
the same old face with the sharp lines
about the eyes, and the pucker of the
lips. The spare, bent figure walked
to the end of the counter, with that
same limp Of twenty years ago. 1t
leaned one arm upon the showcase,
filed with the countless odds and
ends of stores stock of notions; the
hand drummed upon the glass as nerv-
ously as of old, and the sound Of rat
ting of the finger nails came to Nehe-
miah's ears as plainly as Of yesterday,
though he had not heard 1t for years
and years. The other hand fumbled
with the stiff stock encircling the
long, lean neck, with its little line Of
fabby skin reaching from chin to
Adams apple. How familiar the cid
chap looked! not speck more Of
dust upon his shiny coat, not a hair
more gray in the fringe about the
high, narrow forehead; the eyes were
as bright and keen as ever, and when
the thin lips opened the voice was
just the same, sharp, clear, distinct:
Nehemiah, son, are you glad to
see me back again after my long jour
ney?"
shudder passed over the other;