Year: 1874

I make up so much the bliss of wed


ded life, was theirs. AS each da
passed over them. she drifted farthe
r land farther from her husband, unit


she came almost to loathe hersel


and him. He, poor, simple hearte
man, gave her all the worship G
E which his soul was capable, and he


wish was his law Her smile sen
! great waves of joy to his heart an,


the sunshine ripping over hi


brown visage He always acqni


esced in all she said, and she fel


sometimes she would go mad; hi
very meekness and worshipfuInes
almost crazed her. He.humored eve


ry whim IN his power; and wher
fher miserable bondage drove her al
most wild. he would silently gaze up
hon her, and his little bead like eye.
grew smaller in his sadness unit


they looked like little black specks


shining under his shaggy eyebrows


Sometimes, when she saw how mis-


cradle she made him, the shoulder


ing sparks of pity shone forth, and


her gentle We rd would set him all
! aglow again with the waves of Joy


They lived on, and as their children


grew up around them, they learned
ITO fear the frown of their mother


and pity and compassionate their


meek, patient father Her intellect


narrowed, and she became so ad


dicted to scolding and fault finding,


that it was a bright day, indeed, in


the Jones household when ''mother
did not scold."


And did she never think of the


past? Yes, sometimes the dusty
little school room would rise up be


fore her, and she thought the toll of
them, would be holy rest to her


now She thought of the sweet.
young voices and the loving, happy
faces that used to cluster around her
desk-and looking up she caught
only Andrews meek, worshipful
look, and the sad, old young faces
of her unhappy children; and in
that one moment would have given
worlds, were they hers to give.
could she be free again as when she
last locked the door Of that school
room.


Her burden seemed more than she
could endure, and she buried her
face in her hands and sObbed aloud.


why, Mary, daughter, what in
the world are you crying for?"


She looked up, half expecting to
meet Andrew Jones gaze, but in
stead her dear mothers gentle face
was bending over her, arousing her
from the troubled dream Andrew
had not come, and she had fallen
asleep as she had sat alone in the
parlor that evening. and it was all
dismal, dreary dream


She entered the school room next
morning with different thoughts
from those when quitting is thresh-
old last evening Every little face
looks brighter; every Good morn
ing" sounds sweeter, and what was
drudgery to her yesterday, is pleas
ant duty to-day.


Reader, you, perhaps, would be
better pleased with our story were
we to bring some bold cavalier along
10 WOO with sweet love-wOrds our
gentle Mary Lee. But this we do
not find to be so; she still tolls on,
finding new pleasure in her labor,
content with the pure love of inno-
cent hearts which every day twine
with a closer union around their
loved teacher. Instead of narrow
ing, her mind and heart are each
lay expanding with more noble
IDEAS of existence. 1t would be
her with more than mortal
70 say she never grows lonely or
weary, or longs TO go forth from her
native hills into the great, busy,
,hrobbing world;


Something better than she has knOwn;'
)ut when such thoughts come over
Ter, she instantly checks them, and
n activity finds an antidote for des
,ondency. She does not lose sight
If the fact that the consciousness of
luty performed well and faithfully
s the highest happiness earth can
rive. She looks to a far, dim future
or reward, when she may hail
With supreme joy the golden sunset
# that last, long night from which
he may awaken to find this life
roubled dream, and heaven the
right reality.


And who dare say, when she be-
omes part of the great hereafter,
vhen heaven opens before her. that
he may not find flowers blooming
n perpetual beauty, the germ of
which she sowed among the earth
eds of life? Who can say that she {
nay not there be met by immortal
minds, which her labors have helped
0 mold and fashion into fair forms
f beauty and loveliness? {