Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-03-22
Kiss
By EVELYN MAY
Kcopyrisht. 1917. Western Newspaper Union

6Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union.)
the face Margaret Blake could not
have been more startled, amazed and
s%pelbound. For a moment she fairly
crumbled back. Then it seemed as if
a sudden glory ~pervaded the little mar
row hallway. For the first time in
thirty years John Blake had kissed
her.
"Oh, John" she f1uttered and the
faded cheeks, yet soft as velvet,
flushed pink and the lips quivered,
and she felt as If she could die con-
tent, and then she seemed to grope
her way blindly into the-little parlor
and sank to her knees, c%ollapsing be-
side a chair and burst into tears. :
"What a fuss a woman Makes she
caught the tones of her husband out
side, and then, soft and tenderlike-
"All the same, Margaret, you're the
best wife a man ever had. Hellol I
forgot my cane"
He turned back into the hall and
secured the article required. For a
moment he halted. His glance was
fixed upon the half-prostrate woman
Her hands were clasped above her
head, the tears were raining down her
cheeks, her soul seemed soaring heay-
EDWARDS as she uttered the words:
sit is worth all the longing and wait
ing of thirty years-ohl my n only
love. Oh life is sweet"
fgIIyo. ~ T1La DI.I~o +v,1J - .or,4ka,,
in his practical phlegmatic way, but
the strong man was shaken. 1t was
the first day in two weeks that Joha
had been out of the house. He had
recently overdone himself, was laid up
with a bad attack of rheumatism and
Margaret had nursed him.
A sense of her t~ireless attention,
sleepless nights, poignant anxieties
had overcome him as he left the house.
A flash of the true worth of this de-
serving had caused that erratic
Impulse of sentiment.
How glorious 1t was to again battle
In the joyous sunlight, free from pain
How neat and prosperous the farm
looked. Margaret had done double
beIfiCe dS HuISc, hUuoShccpcI unu JUL
door manager.
Margaret won a f~urtive, but half
gratiied glance from John as he noted
at supper time that she wore n of
the tidy white aprons, that had seemed
so dainty and becoming in the earlier
days of their married career.
"You mustn't overdo yourself, John,
novnnpnhar - cha Cofd tho nnyf nanrnfnU
and accompanied him again to the
door. There was something longing
and wistful in her eyes.
"You aren't thinking of yesterdays
nonsense. are you, Margaret?" he half
laughed.
Yesterdays nonsense kept me hap
by all day long, john" she said, her
lips trembling.
tits cheap and handy, anyway"
said he, and went over and gave her
a hearty smack.
"Haw, hawp greeted John outside,
In the yard, in his gig, was his portly
~neighbor Joshua Griggs. He waved
his whip boisterously.
81 say Blake" he hailed, whats
the occasion? Old sparkling days over
again?"
John was deeply c~hagrined. A
frown came to his face..<
"No harm done, is thereY' he chal-
lenged angrily.
"What's the good, though? Why, I
haven't kissed my wife in ten years.
That soon wears out with the sex,
Blake. Women get a man and for
get everything except that he is a pro-
wider. Your wife drudges, mine gal
Iivants-change, change, change.
Never satisfied. BAIL the honeymoon
over and they're practical critters"
sPerhaps If you kissed your wife
once in a while she would drop so
much galliyanting."
'Don't you criticize my wifel" burt
ed Griggs.
"I amt. You did. Yes, I've made
Margaret a drudge"
"And she's happy in 1t. Don't dis
turb her way"
"But I'm going to mend things,
Joshua. I'm beginning to wonder If
the humdrum way we sink into mere
providers doesn't chill all that is love-
ly and natural in women folks"
Margaret" said John the next day,
"you're going to make a two-weeks'
visit to your sister and her two little
kids. You're going to bring them back
here, for good. Miranda is having a
hard time of it, and I see my duty
plain to make it easier for the poor
widow. With her help you won't be
drudging your life out"
"Oh, John! the added burden for