Worn Out.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1663, 20 March 1886, Page 3

Worn Out.

No.^hf Itfongftshe had never been very strong. Farmer Grey kn|w it when he married her. Eight chil dren called her 1 mother. She majie all their clothes and did her own house-t.-woricft -and yst " mdthery^riipnot fatippftfOO & Ci" J » -i tw ; 1 " ""Farmer Grey said it often, and always regretfully. Perhaps he . was unaelfiph enough to wish that she were stronger for her own sake, but I fear not. He was a very robust^active man,.. andtexatfixi6us v to w g^t*along "' m the world. Therefore, I fear that his regret for .mother's feebleness waß simply a regret that she could hot do more to aid him m his " getting alone " schemes. ; , A , She herself regretted that; she was not * : itrbnger. . ; . & •'Father works so hard," ? she, .would -~ 'iayi am not as much nelp hhn : as 1 might' be if I were a re>l .jjrtfong woman " ■ ;-. ; , vviirrWhat more would she : have done ? v ,WJiat more;could she have done? Andj ;"i tp,ost of all. what more BAomW she have "^bne 5 ?;; '■,':;•;;; .., v . ; -.'v. ■ &,' -Shekept tUe house m order. > She did • >?■* ibvTngv God-fearing rnptßer's duty by a her children. -She was up early and to bed late She was busy every* hour of _;^the day. She milked and made" butter, , worked m her garden, cooked for •'hands," Raised and sold chickens, but never had a ' dollar of her own. She could, and did, "when father was - "rushed,"- go but into the fields and drop : eorn -for half a day; and then come into her hot, stuffy little kitchen and get din . . ner for 14 people, and yet^^^' mother was not strong." ' She often wondered if she wfluid ever be strong. She would sit down on the ' 'kitchen doorstep some nights long after lall the others were m bed dreading the -^coming of the i morrow, and lipping it wouldn't be so very hot. She was afraijd she might •• give out." She would lean f her aching head against 'the unpainted • doorframe,, cross, her tired hands Hitlesly _ iii ije'r lap, close, her eyes, and," wonder" 'about many things. ■ : 'Some of her neighbors, with families %■•- only half as large sis her own, kept a •■« strong hired girl m the kitchen the year round. ; .She often wondered vaguely how it would seem to have a girl .m her ' . kitchen ; she wondered how it ifould ■'■ geetn for her to be away from home over *- night. , : ■ The fondest hope of her life for ten i years had been that she might visit lier mother who lived two hundred miles away. She said site wouldnTtfe afraid .'to go. "such a long ways " alone, and ' ** father " had* often said she. shoijjd go %£ "such and such a thing, turned. out -■%cIL W: ' i: - i " ; ' : \ ' '' ■"■-. " ; ? r.^pijese things often " turned put well," mother never made that visit, no .;.•■■■ ,•.■•••'■■. ■■■ •' ' ; ! ."One. thing and another," she said; '.' k>P* her . at home ;" an( j pne day "message. came bringing the news of, .her n}o|b.er'S "death. She woujd have liked' jgb'teven then v to' see once'inore that bfilqVed face even though it was (Sold iri death. ■ ; . ," But father said that, " seeing as she: vfjoujdn't do any gocd there was 1 no use' w«aring herself out making the trip,' 1 so': 'she 'stayed at home, grateful to father' for his thotight,fnlnesß m not wanting ier "id'f wear herself out." * ; B\|t she was so utterly worn out one i day, so worn out m body and mind and rgpul, that when she clasped her^ tired 1 .Ijancjs p)vei; her breast m sleep they were; nJjver 'unclasped as;ain m? .world.; tChere was no response of : "Yes, I'm; *'cbming," when father called her m the" da wn of a November morning. ; ■"f£orie Father wfio i had truly loved her,' -and wh6iiad' l helped her bear her; heavy! ;fc!urs?ensihrojiigh:all these' t*wenty?-.years, .had called '.bfer ; in the night-,;a.nd "J. think, lih'^was glad t to say: j!. Yes, Father, I'm;' Frce'ty-ess. ..... \- !