The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-05-26
BABY BROUGHT PEACE
By EUSTACE LIVINGSTONE.
Copyright. 1915. by w. G. Chapman)


81 have thought till my brain is
weary and my heart is sore. have
decided-it is the better way"
every well,' said John Randall. "go
the road you have chosen. l will take
mine. There need be no scandal
you are lady, I try to be a gentle
man. Remember, though, neither will
ever turn back to retraverse the mis-
taken path"
The woman put out her hand as If
moved by some pleading influence, but
the man was gone. Before nightfall
the home they had shared for eight
years was in the hands of carpenters,
mSsons and decorators. Before a
week had passed by partition, roof
high, divided the big double house into
two parts. On one side lived the wife,
on the other the husband. Then peo-
pie began to talk.
There's something under the sur
face" spoke Mrs. Judge Bascom to
her husband-"some dark drama"
Get it out of your mind, wife," was
the blunt retort. There are no two
better people in the world than my
worthy friend Randall and his wife"
Then, why"
Pride. Neither will seek to remove
the barrier they have raised in their
own self-willed natures. Mrs. Randall
would die by slow fortunes before she
would unbend from what she consid-
ers to be true womanly dignity. Her
| self-centered consciousness has re-
PEELED Randall and has made him be-
| lieve she no longer cares for him. One
good heart-to-heart talk would settle
| everything-s as you and l en-
gage in when we're not fighting our
usual family battles!" and tho good
natured Judge laughed in his whimsi-
cal way.
The old jurist was correct in his sur
misses, but he had not gone deep
, enough into the proposition. When
John Randall married Betty Morse
they had been very much in love one
with the other. Then there had been
disappointment. No children had
blessed their family hearth.
The judges wife was distressed at
the news that came to her Once the
Randalls had been close friends of the
family. With woman's ready wit
she delved deeper into affairs than her
happy-go-lucky husband. Within her
own mind she framed up q plan to
remedy the outlook. 1t Nigh; prove
an experiment, but she hoped for the
best.
One cold winters night John Ran
4 - to l.; oI,1 a,,+ Sy-
ing-room, gazing stolidly into the bla8-
ing CRATE fire. He knew that on the
other side of the partition his wife
was probably passing her time in the
same spell of gloomy reverie.
What is that?" suddenly exclaimed
Randall.
It was a hard, harsh sound, as OF
someone pounding with a club or
stone on the front porch. Randall
arose and went to the door and opened
it, first turning on the porch light. He
fancied he saw woman's figure sour
!, rying past the gate He looked down
to note a basket containing a blanket
and Counterpart covered with filmy
scarf. STOPPING, his heart beating
rapidly, he knew not why, as he drew
this aside.
"a baby!" he xclaimed-"aban-
! doned!"
At that moment the next door
opened. Mrs. Randall, too, had
heard the noise on the porch. She
came into view, she caught glimpse
of the child in the basket. A great
cry of pity, yearning, love burst from
) her lips. With hungry heart, jealous,
enwrapt in possession, quickly Ran
4 dali snatched up the basket.
G. 81 saw it first" he cried, almost
, freely. 1T is mine!"
j. Then he went in with the child and
closed the door against the longing
woman. He stirred Up the fire, he
S turned on all the lights. Suddenly a
new motive for living found birth in
his heart He felt as one intrusted
with a great treasure. Planning the
many things he must do with the
morning-secure nurse, buy an out
, fit for the baby, provide for all its
, care-Randall hustled about, The
2 child woke up. 1t began to cry.
l The door opened. For the first time
in two years Mrs. Randall stood with
in the room.
ooh, joint" she cried poignantly, 4"
can't endure it! The cries Of this
dear little child"
He relinquished the child to thost
tender, loving arms. He sat in a nev
O warm haze of contentment, watchin!
$ his wife as she quoted the babe in ;
. motherly way, Fastening into her owl
a apartments, returning with bottl
of milk, and soon had the little on
cooling contentedly in it's downy nest
AS the child fell asleep, husband an
wife stood leaning over the slumbel
ing cherub.
john she said, 'T was all in tn
wrong. I've known it for long timt
. but was too proud to speak"