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UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA.
I Tri iiT
Vol. XXVII.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, DFCEMBER 10, 1807.
No. 12
Yesterln.y-ToIn.y.
They sat together on the saml
That for the gentle flowing river makes a shore,
And watched the siia-sel grand;
And listened to the water flowing o'er
The passive, pebble-studded strand.
The sun sank soon behind the height.
The daylight changed to even, ev'ning gathered
into gloaming;
Par across the bottoms shone a light
And cattle came beyond the sandy hill from
roaming;
The sound unheard; unseen the sight.
The old bridge with its broken pier
Stands as it stood abovo the slowly-gliding river:
The flying night-birds scream as near
As on that May-night with its sweet 'forever;'
All but the plighted 'two' are here.
Ma kick
Sltcteli.
The old man led the trembling old blind horse out
of the barn aud pulled him gently along the path
down through the bleak pasture. When the horse
stumbled in the rut where the fall rains had washed
away the loose clay, or halted suddenly at the rustle
of corn husks that had blown in among the dry iron
weeds along the path, the old man spoke reassur
ingly, "Come, Charlie, come now; whoa, Charlie,
whoa."
Down at the foot of the path near the steep banks
of the creek was a clump of young oak shoots. Just
above this the old man stopped the horse, unbuckled
the halter and held the stringv white mane while he
drew from bis pocket an old razor. He opened it
and patted the lean wbfto shoulders for a inomemt,
his eyes turned off across the creek to the cornfield
and prairie to the west. He waited quietly for so
long a time that old Charlio turned his head to nose
the arm that leaned against him.
Then the old roan roused himself, closed his
eyes, groped for the artery on old Charlie's
neck, felt the feeble pulse aud gave a quick
slash. He jerked away, but not before he felt a
touch of warm blood. He threw the razor up into
the weeds and listened. He could hear stumbling
behind him and be glanced baek to sec if the horse
were following him. No, he was staggering in
among the oak brush this way and that but always
down nearer the creek bank. "Whoa, Charlie,
whoa!" the old man called nervously and Charlie
turned his blind eyes toward the voice.
He called again but the horse swayed and fell
over the bank down into the deep water where the
first thin ice had formed.
When the old man came back to the house, hb.
wife was getting supper. She looked at him keenly
:ts he came in but said nothing. He sat down by the
htove aud looked vacantly acros the eggs that
sputtered over the fire.
"If he hadn't quit eating," he burst out at last. "I
could 've kept him. I always said an old horse had
earned his keep."
His wife answered him with the best excuse she
knew.
"I guess going blind was what made him quit
eating. He would've starved. You had to."
In the winter when he traded his farm for a house
aud lot in town be told the agent that there were a
good many things on a farm that an old wan coidd
not do.
He and his wife planned out all their town life
and were very happy .They builta store on the north
side of the lot for groceries and notions, put three
hundred dollare in the bank aud settled down to
thf novelty of having nothing living they could call
their own except each other.
The little store had a lively trade for a few years
till the boom was over. The bank account crept
slowly to five hundred and was well up toward six
hundred when the bank failed. After the failure
tkey knew the store must be closed. So they carried
the groceries into the house and put up a rent sign
in the store window. Hut no renter came. The
groceries were used up little by little. Once or
twice there was some hope of a dividend from the
bank. When winter came on there wa but one
thing to do.
The old man hunted up what seemed to him the
least forbidding sign that advertised a real estate
and loau agent. lie felt his face flush when he sat
down by the young lawyer'sdcjk and explained that
he wanted to mortgage his place for five hundred
dollars. The young lawyer was pleasant. He stated
the terms on which "the company" let out money.
lie asked a great many questions and walked with
the old man to the door, after a promise to look the
matter up. He thought there would not be any
trouble in getting the money.
The old man and his wife sat un late that night.
With five hundred dollars they could pay the year's
taxes and start the grocery again. I've yearn was a
short time to make five hundred dollars, but they
could sell the place if the worst came to the worst.
They figured over all the letter paper in the bouse,
gotintoamild dispute ubontthe rules for interest
