Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-02-25
PEG O. MY HEART
By j. Hartley Manners
Title
Illustrations from Photographs Play

I'VE loved her very much. father.
didn't ye!'
He nodded. II loved her with al
the heart Of me and all the strenetA Of
me.'
Peg sat quiet for some minutes; then
she asked him q question very quiekly
and hung in suspense on bis answer:
do We love me a. much . We loved
her. father?'
Its different. Peg. quite. quite diff
ferent.''
why IS iti'' She waited.
He did not answer.
"Sure. love Is love whether ye feel
it for a woman or q child" she per-
sisted.
O'Connell remained silent.
did We love her betther than We
love me. father?'' Her soul was in her
great blue eyes az she waited excitedly
forS the answer to that. to her, mOmen-
tOus question.
why do We ask me that?" said
O'Connell.
Because always feel a little sharp
pain right through my heart whenever
We talk about me mother. Ye see, To-
Their. I've thought all these years that
| was the one We really loved
"Ye're the only one have in the
wurrld. Peg
And ye don't love her memory bet
Their Than ye do me?"
O'Connell put both OF his arms
around her.
Yer mother is with the saints Peg.
and here are you BY me side. Sure
there's room In me heart for the mem
Org Of her and the love Of. you.''
She breathed little sigh Ut salts.
faction and nestled ON to her fathers
shoulder. The little tt OF childish jea,.
ousy of her dead mothers place IN her
fathers heart passed.
She wanted no one to share her H.
theirs affection with her. She gave him
all Of hers. She needed all OF his.
When Peg was eighteen years old
and they were living in Dublin. O'Con.
nell was offered quite 4 good position
in New York. 1t appealed to him.
The additional money wonid make
things easier for Peg. She vas almost
a woman now, and he wanted her to
get the finishing touches Of education
that would prepare her for a position
in the world IL she met the man she
felt she could marry. Whenever he
would speak Of marriage Peg would
laugh scornfully:
who would l b afther u,arryin', I'd
like to know2 Where in the wurrld
would l find man like you?'
And no coaxing would make her car.
~ on the discussion or consider It's
possibility.
1t still harassed him to think he had
SO little to leave her u anything hap
pened to him. The offer TO 60 to Amer.
lea seemed providential. Her mother
was buried there. He would take Peg
to her grave.
Peg grew very thoughtful at the idea
Of leaving Ireland. All her little likes
and dislikes, her impulsive affections
and hot hatred. were bound up In that
country. She dreaded the prospect OF
meeting number Of new people.
Still, 1t was for her fathers good, so
she turned brave face to It and said:
Sure 1t is the finest thing in the
wurrld for both Of uA"
But the night before they left Ire.
land she sat by the little window in
her bedroom until daylight looking
back through all the years OF her short
life.
1t seemed as il she were cutting Oh
all that beautiful golden period. She
would never again know the free. care
less, happy-go-iucky. living from day
to day existence that she had loved ~
much.
1t was pale. wistful, tired little
Peg that Joined her father at break
fast next morning.
His heart was heavy too. But he
laughed and joked and sang and said
how glad they ought to begging t.
that wonderful new country ana. by
the way. the country Peg was born in
too! And then he laughed again and
said how fine she looked and how well
he felt and that it seemed as II 1t were
Gods hand In It all.
And Peg pretended to cheer up. and
they acted their parts right to the end
until the last line Of land disappear
ed and they were headed for America.
Then they separated spd went t. tAe3T
little cabins to think of all that had
been. And every day they kept up tho
little deception with each other pntil
they reached America.
They were cherries days at first for
O'Connell. Everything reminded him
Of his first landing twenty years be.
fore with his young wife-both 20 full
Of hope. with the future stretching out
like some wonderful panorama before
them. He returns twenty years oldsl
to begin the Eight sgaiD-this time foe
his daughter.
Ills wife was buried in 4 httle Cath
Ole cemetery a few miles outside Nep
York city. There he took Peg one day.
and they put flowers on the little
mound Of earth and knelt awhile In
prayer. Beneath that earth lay NOT
only his wife's remains, but O'Con,
nell's early hopes and ambitions weff
buried with her.
Neither spoke either going to or re.
turning from the cemetery. O'COa.
nell's heart was too full. Peg knew
what was passing through his minf
and sat with her hands folded In her
lap-silent. But her little brain was
busy thinking back.
Peg had much to think OF during the
early days following her arrival II