The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1922-09-21
WANTED-A MOTHER
BY EDITH N. COUCH.

C. 1871. by Mcclure Newspaper syadicaEs.J
/ "Wanted-A Mother. Young. wound
ed soldier lonely, would like to be
adopted b. motherly lady. All replies
confidential"
Harriet Ogers let the Evening Ca
/ zette fall to the floor unheeded- while
I she gazed out through the open win
I dow, lost in memories which this
! strange advertisement had brought 10
mind
/ None Of the neighbors in the small
country town would have suspected
such an appeal could stir the lonely
heart of one who was TO them just a
"cut and dried old maid" And yet,
who Of you who have known The joy
and blessing Of motherhood. can rea-
baby fingers and the sound Of baby
prattle. which, though never known,
still is felt perhaps by these same
'cut and dried old maids" One Of
these was HARRIET 0gers-
Away back in the past, buried 50
deeply in her heart that none knew or
even suspected, Harriet still carried
the memory Of her one romance. ro-
nance as sweet and as beautiful as
the wisteria whose fragrance fioated
through the open window TO her. but
ending in petty quarrel and the de-
parture of her John TO the city. A few
rumors had drifted back TO the home
town Of bis success in the business
world and then of brilliant marriage.
and after that-silence.
The world forgot. but TO HARRIET
there was and always would be but
the one In her heart.
'Wanted-A mother"
OF course, 1t was ridiculous, and
how the nelghbors would talk. and
yet, why not? Here she was with
comfortable income. home. good
health; but an ever-increasing loneiI-
ness which caused her at times TO
shrink from the years TO come She
pictured herself with a stalwart,
manly arm TO lean on, and jumping up
she FASTENED to pen her answer before
ShE chthiu N1idABS urI
In the interval between the day
Harriet had made her momentous de-
cision and the arrival Of the letter,
stating the day and train her boy
would arrive on, Harriet lived in
state of nervous excitement Bur, ar
last. the great day came. That morn
ing she felt perhaps her first real bit
Of regret as she stood before the mir
ror and marked with pitiless scrutiny
each line and each gray hair, and she
wondered if. after all. she would or
could look the part OF loving moth
er to the lonely boy, even though her
heart craved the part.
Harriet was at the station several
minutes before the train drew into the
little station and allowed the handful
of passengers TO alight- There was
Brown. the grocer, and Emma Bee
spend the summer. and two dapper
young statesmen from the neighboring
city and distinguished looking gen
tleman whom she did not know. but no
one who answered the description of
a Ayoung. wounded soldier"
The thought Of such a calamity had |
never entered her trusting heart. and I
as she came TO realize that she may, /
after all, have been made the butt OF /
someone's joke the tears of mortifiea- l
ton filled her eyes, and she made her !
cropping way to the buggy, failing to /
notice that the stranger was making I
directly toward her.
A courteous voice asking Are you
Miss HARRIET Ogersr' recalled her to 4
Earth, and she turned TO find s hand I
extended toward her and a pair OF
eyes gazing into her aston
shed ones.
Something dearly familiar caused
1arriett's heart almost TO stop beat
ng as she gave a trembling hand to !
Ter own John.
Later, when things had resumed
their natural course. John
Explained that his only boy. firing OF
he reign of tyrannical housekeeper,
lad inserted the advertisement for q
mother. His own mother he had lost
when he was too young TO remember,
nut perhaps back in his memory lin
erred an emptiness that only mother
ould nil. When a reply came signed
JARRETT Ogers John could hardly be-
EVE his eyes, and had made bargain
nth his son TO answer in his place.
And. Harriet said John. draw
lg his chair closer in the gathering
Wight of the veranda that evening.
don't you think you could be moth
r 10 two boys, instead Of one? will
ee Parson Somers il the morning. and
hen we will wire the boy 10 come and
rect his new mother"
Ii is well that none of the inauisi-
We neighbors was looking as the ''cut
nd dried old maid" buried her flushed
ace on Johns shoulder.
His Gain