Year: 1871

"But doctor-good heavens My wife
my child. How can | leave work for
a year? l have no other resource than
my professional income"


''Have YOU no friends who would as
sist you? If you would recover your
sight you should not only give up work
but it would even be better for you to
go away altogether-to Europe, say"


Impossible ~


There was momentary silence. Then
dear old Aunt Becky, brushing away
the tears that had gathered beneath her
spectacles, took Dicks two white shape
ly hands in her brown wrinkled ones.
| Richard" she said, "I'm an old
woman now. have nothing to live for
but to make you young folks happy.
I've been saving up nest egg all these
years, and it comes to tidy little sum,
now. Will you take it from your cross,
Grabbed old aupty, and 60 on this jour-
ney? Margaret and baby shall be safe
with me till you come home. Will you,
my dear ?"


/ don't know which did it, but cer-
tainly either Richard hugged my aunt
and gave her a sounding kiss, or DR..
Blount did. l think, upon the whole,
it was both of them. l, laying on my
sofa to which l had been promoted for
the first time, could only cry "God bless
you from my heart, | pray, dear, dear
Aunt Becky!"


A month afterward Dick went. 1t
was hard struggle, parting from my
bonny darling for that long voyage; that
longer absence in foreign land above
all, when it was still so painful for him
to do more than glance at objects
through the strange blue spectacles
they put over his handsome brown eyes.
Baby Margaret and / went to my old
fashioned house, unchanged since L
left it to be wife. The dear little
rooms in St. Thomas Building were
closed and locked, and the Office let to
an architectural friend of my husband.
How happy I was when the first letter
came after three months. Only few
lines, but enough to show that the cure
was working. How l longed and
watched for my darling, when the time
drew near for his return-praying, fear
ing lest some accident should befall
the steamer-rushing down to the Of
flee in the most unreasonable way,
to know if she had been spoken long
before there was any possibility of such
an event. And when the summertide
was at it's height once more, and Baby
Margaret could just toddle to the door,
and utter wooing sound that my fond,
believing ears announced to be "papa," "
the good ship Europe foated early into
the harbor; and through the golden
sunset to the old house, as he had come
many time two years ago, came my
Richard, restored, thank God, to per-
fection of sight and strength.


We are rich people now. Our house
stands stately among the homes of the
wealthy of the land. Its rooms are filled
with every luxury that sense could de-
mand or artistic taste could require; but
on an upper floor is the little room that
is dearer to us than all the rest besides.
No carpet covers its floor, the furniture
is only cane, with one tiny, green couch
among it; brass lamp stands on the
green covered table; a bright chrome
hangs over the mantel, with a quaint
screen of Gothic design beneath. And
here, in the soft twilight often comes
the master and the mistress OF the
mansion. There are sounds of chill
dren's voices below. The glittering
lights and festive fower-crowned table
seem to tell that brilliant dinner par
ty is soon to begin. But Richard
fingers yet; and putting his arm around
the blue-eyed morsel of a woman" be-
side him, he whispers: am happy
now. God has given me all | could
have asked; but never can be happier
than when 1 first brought home my dar-
ling wife--nny own precious little Dame
Trot ~ t..