The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1917-06-22

her of throwing away twenty-five
dollars, "Women are not mt TO nan
die money!" he went on. Give me
the other twenty-five to take care OIL
for YOU" 10 have
heard; she had gone INTO one ol onU
bare little rooms, locking the uooa
behind her, and when she haG CONF
ont she carried small bundle anu
wore her sunbonnet and little black
shawl. She had passed Pa Garner
On the sagging steps. Il told you
I'd leave You if you sent back the
stove, and I'm going to johns was
all she said. Then she hau go b',
down the little path, beaten nara by
the footprints Of years, ana tuIH 1Ss q
up the valley road that led over inc
hin, and he had sat on the steps
waiting for her. -. :, on 4bo+
! nipht-the belief that she Would
come back growing fainter and tam
ter as the hours passed. he N wen
in at last, shutting through the darn
and throwing himself across the nara
bed without removing his cIothes3'
sleep wouldn't come, but Ma Garner S
tired face kept coming before NM
thin and lined, a look of fear IN hef
faded blue eyes. 81.
When the cold light Of dawn stole
into the curtainless room, Ia Lar
ner lay staring at the bare, walls
the old makeshift furniture, the fad,
ed rag-carpet for which he had
grudgingly bought the warp-lt was
worn and old; Mary had made 1t for
the best room when Lucy had hrsII
grown up-Lucy, who ran away ana
married her first beau. An ola
"what-knot," made Of spools, stood
in one corner-Pa Garner remember
ed that jamie had made Jane,
their youngest; she, too, had lett
them early-but not to be married
she had run away to the big
wicked city, and he had forbidden her
name to be mentioned in the house.
He had not allowed himself to think
of her in years, but now a mental
picture Of her flashed before him
a picture of her in the fields, hoe
ing side by side with the boys and
hired men. her long brown oraldS
falling almost to her knees. lie
gave a little groan.
Gone. all-all of them gone! Not
one child left! Mary gone"
He got stifffy up and Went slowly
out to the little kitchen. There ne
made a fire in the old stove and set
about cooking a bite Of breakfast.
The stove smoked, and he couldn't
find any vessels to cook things in.
The cotfee-pot had lost its handle;
there was only one frying-pan, and
it had a great gap in one side. He
thought of all the good tools in the
barn, and wondered how Mary had
ever cooked without anything to cook
in or on. He had a feeling of nau
sea when he thought of the new stove,
and when he carried the few things
he had managed to cook and placed
them on the old rickety homemade
table with it's ugly red oil-cloth
which he had bought for service, he
couldn't eat. Things crowded in on
him. For the first time he saw how
poor and mean was the house he eX-
listed in.
He pushed the food away untasted,
and went out to feed and milk Most
of the well-to-do farmers had hired
men to milk for them, but Mary had
always done the milking. Pa Gar
ner went about it awkardly. There
were four COWS, and his hands ached
before he finished No wonder Ma
~ had often been tired and cross
when she came in from milking,
He wondered what to do with the
milk. Mary had churned it, and
he had carried the butter to town
and sold it; the money had gone in
to the saving fund. He finally de-
cided to give the milk to the pigs,
and going back to the house, he wan
dered restlegsly from room to room.
"Not fit for anything but to set on
fire." he muttered at last. All Of
his neighbors had good houses-and
he had more money than any Of
them.
In the best room, which had been
closed for years, he found an old
yellowed household journal; it bore
the date of twenty years before, and
on the upturmed page was the pic
ture of a house-a real house. He
picked it up, and carrying it over to
the light, studied the picture earn
estly. On the opposite page were
photographs Of furnished rooms-the
interior Of the pictured house. 1t
might be oId-fashioned by now, he
thought at last, noting the date, and
Mary was the kind that would want
the best or nothing-the up-to-date
range had shown him that.
Scales seemed to fall from Pa
Gamers eyes. The household jour
nal had the mark of small finger
prints on the margin-"Maybe Ta-
MES" he thought. "Mavbe the
children wouldn't have been so ann
ious to leave him if he had done the
right thing by them" Tears trick.
led down his cheeks for the first time
since his mother died, when he was
Just a lad; a great wave of regret
swept over him-"If no could o,,I..