Year: 1876

JOHN EATON'S LESSON.


THERE had been breeze at the table
harsh words and angry tones, but dinner
closed in silence. Having said his say,
| John devoted his energies to the work be.
fore him, and his wife, white and still,
sat with compressed lips, and eyes whose
hard glitter BODIED no good.


| 1t began about new bonnet; that little
thing which seems to have been an evil
device for the promotion of strife among
| families. Perhaps the result might have
been better had she waited till the molli.
flying influence of fragrant tea and dainty
viands had soothed the. somewhat ruffled
| feelings of her lord and master; but fear
full of his displeasure, and nervously
anxious to have it over with, she had
failed to notice the frown on his brow.
J He was not, generally, an unkind hus-
band, but he held fast the good old fash
| ioned theory that no woman ever knew
enough TO spend money wisely; and let
her work as long and as hard as she
might, she had no claim on the funds OF
the family. To-day, he had been worried
in his business transactions, and that his
wife should ask for money seemed doubly
vexatious.





do not think he really grudged her the
little she asked for, as fearfully as if she
had been the veriest beggar in the uni
verse; but he had got into the habit of
finding Just about SO much fault when
anything was needed in the house, from a
pound of saleratus to bonnet and he
considered it wise to teach woman hum
bleness of manner, and patient submission
"to the powers that be-"


He had held and maintained his prin-
ciples so long and well, it was hard to
make him understand how it should be
necessary to get another pound of tea, or
barrel of flour, when he had bought
both few months before. 1t was a
standing mystery TO him "what she did
with it," and he often wished he could go
down street without being asked to buy
something" Did she think he was made
of money? The years had gone by, and
in her heart these things were hidden.
Saying little, perhaps she thought more ;
they festered there and produced more
bitterness than is conducive to the happi-
ness of home.


Tonight it had been worse than usual,
and when John Eaton left the house, with
an emphatic bang of the door to enforce
his words, she rose to clear away the table
with tight-shut lips, and eyes that
cleaned hard and cold as steel When
her work was done she carefully wrapped
up the ill-omened bonnet and carried it
back to the shop, as she had promised to
do in case she concluded not to keep it.
She wore the old bonnet she had worn so
many winters, with here and there a lit
tie change, such as her deft fingers could
make without expense, as she carried
back the new one without a pang. She
felt so hard and cold she could not care
for anything, even the dainty bit of mil
linery that had tempted her TO brave
Johns displeasure.


Back again at her own door, she found
letter from her old girlhood home, and
the mother still living in that little viii
lage among the mountains. Her mother
was in poor health, and was longing so
for the face of her only daughter. Cant
John spare you for little while, Nellie,
to the mother who has not heard your
voice for so long?' wrote the trembling
hand, and Nellie's heart gave bound at
the thought of the dear old home and the
mother she had not seen for year.


Mrs. Eaton sat and thought until the
anger was all gone from her heart, and
she felt only great sorrow and pity for
the girl that had gone out from that old
home as if she had been another than
herself, full of glad anticipations and
sweet hopes for the days to come. How
soon the day had darkened And must
the light go out in utter blacknessg
Was this the end of it all; only strife and
anger to be in the home to which she
had gone with such undoubting faith
Could there be no change except that of
hearts growing colder, and tones more un-
kind as life dragged by?


She would try; aye, she would stake her
all upon the one chance, and If she sue
ceeded-she found that love and hope
were not quite dead in her heart, at the
thought of it; if she failed lit could not
be much worse" she said bitterly. Then
she went out on the street for few mo-
moments before she began her prepara-
tions for a journey. With nervous fin
gers she packed her trunk and wrote a
little note to John. By that time team
was at the door to carry her to the sta
tiOn. She gave one quick glance at the
room that had been hers so long. Hers,
when life looked so bright and sunny,
and hers when she had wept away some
of the bitterness that came aiterward.


Here her one little child was born; and
she had held it in her arms in that very
chair, when it drew its last suffering
breath, and only the fair white form re-
mained to the desolate mother. Should
she ever, ever see it againY God only
knew, and she went away with heavy
heart, half repenting that she was going
at all.


A little later she was on board train
for the North, bound for the home of her
childhood, with hopes and fears strug
Cling wildly in her heart. In the evening
John Eaton went home. He had talked
and worked until his vexation was gone,
and was dimly conscious that he might
have been little hasty at dinner-time
He determined to be magnanimous, and
treat has wife as if nothing had happened,
and she had never when she had one bon
net, like Oliver Twist, made that auda-
cious demand for more" He found
everything in its usual order, even TO the
slippers, ready beside the chair he liked
best to occupy of an evening. But he did
not find his wife. 1t was an almost un-
heard of thing, but he thought she would
be in soon; so he calmly proceeded TO
look ov,r the evening paper. When half
an hour had passed he concluded she had
gone TO her room "grouty," TO wait till
he should seek her there. Determined
not TO be moved by such feminine course
Of action, he continued his reading for a
few minutes longer.


The absolute stiffness of the house af-
tected him cuTiously, and by and by he
went upstairs. He found her note, and
with vague idea of something wrong, he
sat down to read IT,


John; rhe pitcher went to the well once
TOO ufteQ. and | asked Vou for money and