Weber State University - Acorn Yearbook (Ogden, UT)

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6 THE ACORN wonder that Bob is as good as what he is, having such a mother! How is Bob any way, and does he like cod- fish as well as ever; Don’t, by any means, let him see this letter. Well, grandma, I’ll not be home for about two weeks, for Nona wants me to go home with her for a visit; my light has burned so low that I can’t see the paper and so au revoir. Sue. As soon as the letter was finished, Bob grabbed his cap, and left the room. He would not stop, although he heard his grandmother say distinctly, “Poor Bob.” Whither he was go- ing, he knew not or cared. The thought uppermost in his mind was to get away from everything. Nothing mattered much now. Suddenly he stumbled over something, and looking down he saw the steps of the village church. Completely exhausted, he sank down on them, and covered his face with his hands. “Why, Mr. Lorimer, however did you walk so far, and what are you doing?” asked a child’s clear voice, and glancing up Bob saw the little girl he had met several times by the sea- shore in his evening walk. “I don’t know how I walked so far, and I don’t know what I am doing,” said Bob. The girl opened her blue eyes in astonishment, and then laughed. “Well, since you don’t know what you are doing, suppose you come into the church, and hear me rehearse the song I am going to sing Sunday,” she said. “I haven’t been in church for so long that I wouldn’t know how to act.” “The more reason you should go in now and learn, when there’s nobody to see you ’cept the organist and me.” With a sudden feeling of awe, Bob sank into the seat and heard as in a dream the words of the song: “The Lord is my Shepherd, No want shall I know, Through the valley and shadow of death though I stray, Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear,

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THE ACORN 5 able to attend college, if it hadn’t been for her self-sacrificing help.” “0, that’s the way you look at it. Mother says she’s a regular old miser. But look Louis, the storm is on us.” Yes, the storm so closely connected with the storms of hu- man life was already upon them. Par in the distance could be heard the faint peels of rumbling thunder, which came nearer and nearer and then broke with a terrific crash, followed by the mingling of blinding rain and wind, with the occasional flashes of lightning which illuminated the dark troubled waters. “Mollie, here’s a letter from Susie,” said Grandpa Lori- mer, coming slowly into the room, where his wife sat knitting. Bob, pale and spiritless, was sitting by the window, tapping out a tune on the pane, and did not hear his grandmother until she asked him twice if he would read the letter. “I can’t see as good as I uster, lad,” explained Mrs. Lorimer, seeing the sullen look on Bob’s face as she handed him the letter. “No wonder with that counfounded knitting always before your eyes,” thought Bob. Aloud, he read: Dear Grandma and Grandpa: “We were so sorry that you couldn’t come to com- mencement exercises, for if ever I was proud of my brother it was last night. His valedictory address was simply grand. The whole house arose in one mighty applause when he had finished, and the flowers show- ered on him!— Well, I verily believe that every hot- house in town was robbed for the occasion, and grand- ma,—would you believe it?—Louis walked home with yy Bob paused, and grandma looked up from her work and murmured, “Go on, lad.” “With beautiful Nona Everett, and left me to come home with Tony Walsh.” Aunt Isabel was there, dressed in her stillest silk and paste diamonds (they must have been paste, for Nona says they have lost all their money). It is a

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THE ACORN 7 Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay, No harm can befall with my Comforter near.” The music died away with a low, sweet moan, and Clare stood beside Bob asking him if he liked the song. “Like it! Why I thought the angels were singing me back to life,said Bob with deep emotion. “I suppose you’ll come to meeting now, won’t you! You know I have asked you so many times. “Yes, I’ll come,” said Bob, and sure enough the next Sun- day he was sitting beside his grandparents in the church. True he never gave his strict attention to the preaching, but when Clare sung, no word escaped him. No one can repent all at once. Bob struggled long and earnestly to conquer his inner self, and when he felt that at last he had succeeded, he read the announcement of the marriage of Nona Everett and Louis Lorimer. All the old bitterness and rebellion returned for a time, but the words of the song came back with double meaning, and he conquered the second time. He still continues to live with his grandma, although Ills parents recovered their wealth and his mother continually writes: “T don’t see why you don’t come home, Bob. You must like cod-fish better than you thought you would. I’m sure you don’t get your plebian ideas from me.” Lillian Guthrie, ’09.