The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-12-28
If Wishes Were
Horses

-
: Horses :
: By ELLA SAUNDERS :
Copyright. 1922. Western Newspaper Union.
Il declare, your father gets worse
every day, Elizabeth. Now he's talk
Ing Of selling the home and taking a
city fat. Says he's tired Of the coun-
try, after our scraping and scrimping
all our lives to get a little peace out
Of the city"
His wife's %querulous complaints
came family to Ezra Enoch's ears as
he stretched himself out in his arm
chair for his afternoon nap. He smiled
bitterly. How miserable his life had
been, with his nagging wife and IN
manageable daughter! If he could
have his life ove againl.
+ He opened his eyes. He could not
understand what had happened to him.
He was in the familiar room, and yet
somehow everything was different.
LII "LSL, HIS "lShCS-V udt was A.
sonic had said?
"Three wishes! !"
He seemed to hear the words dis
tinctly, and somehow 1t was borne in
on him that he had passed out of the
dream of life into reality. The new
life was his for the making.
"Give me the sweetheart of my
youthy"
And Elsie stood beside him, smiling
the girl he had loved and lost so
long ago. Tears came into his eyes as
he took her by the hand. She vas so
young and beautiful, and he
You're not an old man any more,
darling. You have passed through all
that"
ELSIE, Is it true?"
"True, dearest?'
"That we have our lives again2"
"Not now, my dear. That is for the
future, when we meet again, never to
separate. We can have u lives now
rs they would have been, and you may
see why what happened was destiny"
"Give ME my life as it would have
been with you, Elsie"
And suddenly the scene changed. He
was guiding his vessel into a little
seaport town. He was q young man
again, commanding a trading brig. He
and Elsie had been married three
months before he sailed for China. His
heart beat hard.
She was not at the dock. Wondering
a little, he made his way up the hill
to the little cottage. 1t was dark and
desolate. A letter addressed to him
lay on the table.
He read it aghast. 1t was true they
had quarrelled bitterly, but this-this.
He read the story Of her dishonor-
able fight with the man he had trust
ed. he groaned. Her gentle hand fell
on his.
"It didn't happen, Ezra. It would
have happened. That Is why I died, so
that I could come to you stainless,
dear"
Silencel The familiar room again.
Another wish Leonard! He had al
ways been buried down deep within
his heart. The little boy of five with
the f1axen curls; who fell down the
stairs and he had closed his heart
against the memory Of him.
Father"
The young man at his side with the
haggard, dissipated face, looking
eagerly into his father'sl
OEothn, fonos,n poa h1-o ~~fl
the penalty for what 1 did. l killed
him. 1t was in hot blood, but the law
will have life for a life. God knows
I have suffered"
my boy !" Old Ezra put his hand
on the young mans shoulder, and sud-
the child with the fiaxen curtis, play
ing at the head Of the stairs.
"Take carr you don't fall down, SON.
ny" Ezra went out to his work. 1t
vas long since he had given up the
sea. He elerked in a warehouse. All
day a vague menace seemed to ,impend
over him. He vas thankful when he
reached his door.
That little group Of people, what did
it mean? His wife, lying unconscious
within the hallway. Then that thing
under the sheet! Somebody raised
one corner, took him by the arm.
1T didn't happen, father. That is
why! !" The youths hand was still
clasped in his. Ezra saw something
banging round his neck.
''Give me life as / was meant t o live
It'll"
Ezra opened his eyes His wife was
coming into the room.
"Had a good nap, Ezraf Well L
must say, II you've decided TO sell the
place, there's no opposing you"
-Oh, / guess not, my dear" The
old man smiled or her In f:.snk friend
illness. ITS not such a bad place for
q grabbed old man.