Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-08-04
HER REWARD.
Time is the great adjuster.

HER REWARD. !
Time is the great adjuster.
Patience-patience-all We weary-
laden ones; time will work out the
problems now distressing you. ii you
are true.
The sting of today's sorrow, regret
or injustice renders you dull tc the
truth of this ancient admorition.
doesn't it? You don't want 70 be
preached to-eh?
Well, will you listen to the story
olive shall call her Lydia. She was
true and patient and time has adjust
ed all for her.
Lydia was truly beautiful girl.
A dainty figure, brown curls framing
bring and radiant face, she pos.
sessed a manner both winsome and
graceful. Her paramount glory was
in her eyes, golden brown, wide and
glistening. There is a photograph of
Lydia as girl of 16, or thereabouts.
which rather dims those of the movie
stars we see all about US these days.
The old lady who showed us the pho
tograph and told US this true nara
tive the other day is confident that
Lydia, rs or 80 years ago, was one of
the most beautiful girls in America.
From the shelter of a small town
in the middle west Lydia was sudden.
ly forced into the open of great
city. Her mother had died and her
father was wrecked by whiskey. She
started to earn her own living. Alone,
thirsting for companionship, she
quickly met the man-the wrong man.
His hideous cruelty robbed this
charming girl Of her innocent content
ment and her prospect of the normal,
the useful and the happy life, as wife
and mother. 1t was as If satyr had
crushed a butterfly. Unprotected, un.
schooled in the worlds way, respond
ing to the impulses of love, real to
her, but false in him, little Lydia
presently faced the blacklist situation
that can come into any womans life.
The girl made her decision.
She would not try to right wrong
by adding wrong. She was not a cow
ard. The primitive instinct of moth
erloodS dominated her-for she was
good. The fluttering of the life to
come was precious. Lydia fled to
distant, city and there the boy came.
There are few-just a few-who
know today how bravely the mother
fought, during the years. BY her toll
she kept her son with her, clothed
him and fed him and instilled into
his soul a sense of goodness and love,
abundantly flowing from the break in
her heart.
What do you think he did," ex-
claimed the old lady who told us the
story. "He won university scholar
ship at IS. His mother went with
him, kept house for him and for the
first year continued to earn for them
both. Then he began to write col
lege sports for the newspapers and
he earned enough for them both to
live on. That wonderful boy gradual
ed third in his class. He had done
some remarkable writing and the day
he left the, university he had saved
more than III 900 from his earnings.
"He went into business. He il ris.
Ing magically. He soon made a beau
tiful home for his mother. One night
he came in, beaming, Mother, they
have sent me to Europe, FOR three
months he cried, clasping her in his
arms. Never a night in his life lad
he slept under a roof that did not
also shelter his mother. This was to
be the break, but she was happy. She
would write to him every day. It
was his great opportunity. And then
under her plate at the supper table
she found the envelope containing
long, green, steamer ticket for her.
And he laughed, and she wept and
laughed
''They are like lovers. She has
grown as young and fresh and inter-
esting as you see her in the photo
graph-almost. The boy knows the
whole story, Of course. Not for that
reason, but because he adores his
mother, he is compensating her in
full measure. The house becomes a
bower OF flowers on her birthday.
She is his theater companion, his
church fellow and his business con-
fidant and guide. The jewels that one
man forgot to place upon her hands
the son has placed there in manifold.
The fearsomeness and the drudgery
Of the early years can scarcely be re-
membered by Lydia today, in the
whirl Of gayety and life that her pros
pering son INDUCES for her sake. And
she is so happy" said the old lady.
Patience - patience weary-laden