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Show 0 Neiu Year's Jpentance ELclelman 1 1 1 . 1 "W F WAS Hearing the midnight " M-) hour and all over the little .ss town there was an air of ra eagerness and expectancy. JL li A New Year was about to SjP'2I be born! Lights gleamed J i from almost every window yj j and from many homes j came the sounds of cheer gfegfjsjj and mirth, telling that n New Year's party was. in progress. Inside one home, however, and It was the largest and handsomest Hint the town boasted, there was no sign of the joy and cheer .that other homes held. Daniel Trent and his wife, Martha, Mar-tha, sat by the fire in their living room and neither of them had spoken for a long time. Presently Martha Trent spoke, bui her voice was little more than a whisper: whis-per: "Daniel, dear, won't-you let bygones by-gones he bygones, won't you forgive and forget because It Is New Year's? You know tomorrow is his birthday, too, Daniel he is our only child." Daniel Trent answered hi.s wife with a sharpness that almost startled her. even though she had "expected a rebuff: re-buff: "Don't mention his name again." he almost shouted : "he made his bed. now let him lie on it. If my son Martha Trent Argued and Pleaded for Her Boy. chooses to marry a nobody, lo ignore all the plans and hopes 1 had for him. let him take the consequences." Again silence tilled the Ionise for many minutes This lime ii was broken by the Ion:: ring'ng of Hie telephone. Trent and his wife start ed to their feet abruptly. Daniel had picked up the phone. Soon he was listening to a woman's excited voice saying: "Claude is quite ill. in far! i the doctor thinks there is real danger dan-ger tonight, and he Is begging for you to come. Won't -you please relent just thai much. "Mr. Trent?" Then Daniel heard Elsie's voice die away in a sob as he abruptly hung up tint receiver. Then for a few minutes the great house was startled. Never before had it heard Martha's voice as it was now-raised now-raised With a strength born of mother-love she argued and pleaded for her hoy, with a voire trembling with emotion she mid Daniel of his real duty and of the misery he was causing to them all. In less than an hour they were on their way to Greenfield. And when they reached Claude's bedside Dan lei's heart was as tender and as fu!l of forgiveness as Martha's. As all the world knows love is a wonderful tonic, a potent, health-giving arency that has no rival, and before be-fore uia;iy days had passed Claude had responded to Its power. But st'll Daniel and Martha lingered in the little lit-tle cotlage. They were loth to leave the place where so much happiness had come to them all. and when they d",t finally go Clauce and Elsie accotu- panied them. A j.'I now the hlg house In Trenton Is no longer tilled with silence and gloom. Love and happiness fill It with their song and cheer. iCcl lOL'fl. WeulerB Nwt,uai;r tlulon.) |