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ONE OP TIJE NORTH MEN
KATHARINE MKLICK.
(For Tho Courier.)
VII
college walls thit dissolved before him
into the picture of a strangely old baby
face, blue-lipped, with a forehead lined
by pain.
"How is the baby, mother?" he whis
pered to Eliza, at the door, and Eliza
abook her crown of close drawn braids,
threaded now with grey.
"When Adah can get her term's
wages, and we have a cow," she began,
It was when the grasshoppers came
"Father MatthiaEoa," as the Reverend
James had come to be known along the
lower I'latte country, was preaching in
a Eod school houeo, when the air dark- but the boy's face stopped her, and they
ened with the plague shadow. It is looked together at the quivering field of
told, to this day, how ho lifted his wheat.
hands to cry out against the iniquities There would be nothing, now, to keep
of which the visible punishment was a cow The "little twin" might go on
falling, and how he held every soul of getting copies with her slim fingers, but
the anxious congregation for an hour, i,er eacnfice would not avail,
listening to the tale of their sins, while With 6ome glimpBe of his mother's
the grasshoppers ate up their grain. j0Dfr vigil of years, waiting for what
Then he strode ten miles to his next m;ght come, burdened with littlo ones'
appointment, with the whirring swarms neede, John touched very gently the
rising up before him and dropping back
to their work behind with a sound like
myriads of imp reapers, sawing the
stalks with infinitese'imal sytheB.
Sometimes pitchy smoke rolled over a
field, from fires pet to fight back the
invaders. LoDg trenches had been dug
along many green acres, but though
mute, strong fingers that had dropped
helpless.
"Mother, I can't help you, here.
There's no work, nothing but to eat
your bread. I'm going away, back to
Canada. I'm going to study, and ba
something for yoo. One less will be
some help to a preacher's family."
frequently these were filled with squirm- Then they both looked inward at the
ing maeses, there seemed no thinning little crib.
of the invading hosts ahead. Amid the
smells of pitchy smoke, burning rags,
and stranger odors from the smeared
trenches, the old man walked, with the
spirit of contest rising in his veins.
"No. I didn't mean that. But you
know."
Tet John waited, unt't' the little life
that dickered more and more faint at
last went out with the first snows of the
"It is the voice of the Lord God unto faniineyear. Then help came from the
jour Pharaoh, which is Mammon, 'Let Bjj;eg With the October frost, upon
my people go!' "waB the burden of his the ravaged fields had fallen benedic
preaching that night in a 'lean to' which tion from unknown hands. It was the
rustled with the devouring wave reach- Reverend John Matthiason himself who
ing its thatch of morning glory vines. dispensed with impartial hands the gar-
"Toyouallinlhis broad inheritance, ments and food that railroads carried
the green and gold of harvest have been
but the gold and green of eagles and
bank notes. This is God's scourge
upon Mammon. 'Let my people go!'
All must suffer as all have been blessed.
And all must repent before it is ever-
free from the east, that had not forgot
ten. Old homesteads by the Delaware
the Ohio and the Illinois, opened their
granaries and cedar chests. Fingers
that trembled with age stowed red ap
ples among the strong folds of winter
months eat up the fruit of your hands,
so the myriad seconds of earthly life are
consuming your probation here. And
if this destruction pains you, reflect
upon the pains of that eternal devour
ing of the worm which dieth not. 'Lis-
lastingly too late. Even as the myriad coats ana ;n the generous palms of furry
mittens. Fingers that trembled with
want opened the stores, and divided
them with earnest care.
On the edge of the shivering crowd
that assembled in the sod school house
where the boxes "from the east" were
ten, then.' and in the pause the vine opened, John waited. "See if the rest
stalks fell from the eaves,' listen, before Deed it more- hia mother had charged
jour day of consuming vengeance come, him, and he waited, with his eyes on
and you gather up your feet in death, his father's hand. "Seems like
hear the voice that cries unto Mammon, mother needs every one of 'em," he
'Let my people go!' " thought, hungrily, as canned fruit, dried
In the days of gathering want that c,rDi cheeses and jelly went to the sad-
followed, while whiter faces and gloom- faced joung fathers of sick little ones,
ier eyes turned upon the Jeremiahs of Then a pair of blankets, the great prize,
the veteran 'preacher,' there was no waB divided, but Father Matthiason
softening of the "message." James refused a suggestion that the 'preach-
MatthiaBon as little thought of sparing er'e wife' needed one of these. He
the hearts of his flock as of sparing the
tlesh of his children, and not one small
Matthiason but hushed laugher when
his travel-worn figure darkened his own
door. Men have conquered empires
with no more of fixed purpose, and be
was supreme in his own.
There were twelve Matthiasons when
the plague came, and John and James,
on borrowed horses, galloped up and
down the little wheat field they had
planted, dragging a long rope over the
heads of grain. A cloud of swarming
steadily dealt the precious gifts until
his helpers declared that every sufferer
had received some good thing. Then
John, half in shame, pushed to the
emptied cases. His father determinedly
looked away, while the boy took a little
muslin folded thing from the last box.
A woman standing near to help, nodded.
"That aint what you'd ought to have
but if jour mother can use it, take it
along. How's the baby?'1
"Dead," John whispered, and hurried
home to Eliza.
'You aint got to cut any more of your
Hero's what father
green and brown rose before the drag
gine rope, and fell again behind it, with ciothes, mother,
livelier gusto upon the milky grams. saved.''
"There goes Bchoolin', down them So they buried the twelfth and last of
crunchin'jawB."John muttered, sullen- the children of Eliza, in the little gown
ly, flinging off from his wet horse and fashioned by stranger fingers,
turning his eyes away from the little
field. But everywhere the wriggling
plain seemed to quiver into nauseous
life, until the boy threw his head up
ward, and took one long look at the
unspotted light of the summer sky.
Then he walked home to his mother
scarcely conscious that James "tricky
Jim," bad hastily, stampeded both
horses, and was eff for a half day of
rare "fun" with a livelier comrade. It
was a vanishing glimpse of books and
"If ten men should ask you to marry
them, what would it be?"
"What would it be?"
"A tender."
"And if one should ask you, what
would that be?"
"I don't know; what?"
"A wonder." From Life.
A Hi BIBHBE
Is That of the British Doctors at the Cor.
Hth and N Streets, Sheldon Block.
These Eminent Gentlemen are
Giving Their Services Free
for Three Months to All
Invalids Who Call Up
on Them Before
Oct JOth.
A staff of eminent physicians and
surgeons from the British Medical In
stitute, at the urgent solicitation of a
large number of patients under their
care in this country, have established
a permanent branch of the Institute in
this city, at the office, corner of Eleventh
and N streets, in the Sheldon b'ock
These eminent gentlemen have de
cided to give their services entirely tree
for three months medicines excepted)
to all invalids who call upon them for
treatment between now and Oct. 10th.
These services will not only consist of
consultation, examination and advice,
but also of all minor surgical operations.
The object in pursuing this course is
to become rapidly and personally ac
quainted with the sick and afflicted, and
under no condition will any charge what
ever be made for any services rendered
for three months to all who call before
Oct. 10th.
The doctors treat all forms of disease
and deformities, and guarantee- a cure
in every case they undertake. At the
first interview a thorough examination
is made; and, if incurable, you are frank
ly and kindly told so; also advised
against spending your money for use
less treatment.
Male and female weakness, catarrh
and catarrhal deafness, also rupture,
goitre, cancer, all skin diseases .and all
diseases of the rectum are positively
cured by their new treatment.
The chief associate surgeon of the
Institute, assisted by one or more of his
staff associates, is in personal charge.
Office hours from 9 a. m. till 8 p. m.
No Sunday hours.
Special Notice If you cannot call
send stamp for question blank for home
treatment.
COUNTER-THOUGHTS ,
"What is the baby thinking about .
Very wonderful things, no doubt ."
What are the old folks thinking about ?
Very wonderful things, no doubt .
A thought like this filled the baby's head
(A wonderful baby, and very well read .
He gazed at grandpa, and grandma, too ,
And mirrored the pair in his eyes of blue
As side by side they sat there, rocking
He with his pipe, and she with her stocking
And the baby wondered, as well he might ,
Why the old folks always were happy and
bright;
And he said in his heart with a blithe little
start
That showed how gladly he'd act his part :
"111 find some baby, as soon as I can ,
To stay with me till I'm grown an old man
And, side by side, well sit there, rocking
I with my pipe, and she with her stocking."
Mary Mapes Dodge, in
September St. Nicholas.
A. Special Discount on.
Until October 1st.
215 So. Uth
215 So. JJth
.o-ooo oocxexos cnocs-oo-oo-oo-ocxi
IINCOIN HARDWARE CO.
I2IO O Street.
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