OCR Text |
Show tl LOVE and MARRIED IIFEll ( iwj. the noted, aiithor Idah MSGtone Gibspn j H A Gift From Ruth. H "Havo you bcqfli happier with your H clilldren than you were before?" I H askod Ruth. H "I should havo died when Bobblo H had left me If I hadn't had the chll- H dren," she said. H "Then I am glad H "Katherlnc, you don't mean " Hj For answer I held up the little baby H cap I wao maklncr. H "Oh, I am so glad, so glad for you," B eald Ruth as she came over and kissed H me. "You will say that you never H knew what happiness was until you H hold your own baby In your arms. Notwithstanding I havo been very un- H happy and very lonely since Bobby H- loft me. "ot lf 1 nad to choose today HttA betwen him and one of the children Hft would still choose the child. I pro-HP pro-HP sume," she continued, "that's why he B loft me for Helen, but I can not help H it. Why, when I thhk of little Bob j H showering caresses upon her, I nearly Hj go mad, Although 1 have grown used ( H to tho thought of Helen as Bobbie's I H wife. But I could never get usod to H the thought of Helen standing in the H place of "mu.vver' to little Bob." H "Perhaps you are different from H most women." H Two Kinds of "Women. H "They say there arc two kinds of H women. One who is all wife and one H who Is all mother. 1 suppose I am all H mother." H Ruth bade me good by and again H kissed me and congratulated me. She Hj had hardly gotten home before sho Hj sent back to mo a perfectly beautiful H little baby frock with a note saying, H This, my dear, lias been worn Just H three times, for the christening of Hj each of my children. As I shall never Hj have any more, I-am sending it to Hj you for the christening of your child, Hj and I know y6u will bo quite a H happy with It as I am with my babies." H The tears dimmed my eyes so, as I H looked over Ruth's gift, that for a fow H minutos T did not see an exquisite set H of baby pins fastened to the back of H the llltlo slip. It was my first present and I was very very happy. ma All day long I sang and dreamed as wj r put In a myriad of little stitches on jH those tiny clothes. Then when I was flr really too tirod to sew any more I H svalked toward the vlljaso to seo if I SI :ould not meet the postman I wnnt- HE id a letter from John. I saw him coming toward me and I almost matched the white missive from him tnd then my heart suddenly almost jjH stopped as I recognized tho handwrit ing. It was not 'from my husband. It waa from Karl Shepard. At first I thought I would not open It. I carried It between tho thumb and forefinger of my hand as though Jt were something I was afraid of. Once I dropped it and as I stopped to pick it up my foot slipped und covered cov-ered it with a dirty smudge. , Sountl,s Almost Symbolical. It was almost symbolical. There was no reason why Karl Shepard; should not write me a letter that wasj perfectly conventional. But after the poem I had received from him I wasj not sure what his next Impulse would be and I was afraid to mako the (lis- covery. I picked tho letter up and, this time I stuffed it into my pocket. I was determined not to read it until I returned home. But so conscious was I that It was .there that 1 was consantly putting my hand In my pock-et pock-et and pujllng It out again quickly, as I felt that crackling paper as though 1 1 had touched a red-hot coal. SmIl- ' lngly 1 greeted my friends and It seemed to me that everyone in town I was out and glad to see me. Many many times I had to tell the-m that my husband, John, was down south. "Looking after your oil wells, eh?' said an old friend of my mother. "You may be sure, Katherlne, that neither your mother nor your father ever thought that land in Texas would over bring in any money." "Did you ever hear them .speak about it?" I asked. , "Many times," she answered. "You see your mother bought that ground thinking- perhaps that she and your 'father would go down there and build la little house where they could stay ' winters for his health. Lund Was a Wilderness. "But they found that the' land was in a wilderness, you might say, and !your father never ceased to tease your mother about her vast Interest In real estate. T wonder what ho would say now could he knA.w those Interests j would make your rich. Kathcrinc?" "L'm sure I do not know, Mrs. Jones, what he would say, but I'm also sure those lands will never make me rich. Charles, you know, has just returned, re-turned, and- says the wells are petcr-Jng petcr-Jng out." "Oh, I'm very sorry; I expect that's tho reason your husband has gono down." ' I nodded silently and passed on. I had forgotlon the curiosity of people in small towns. i( Tomorrow Karl's Letter. |