ON A PORCH 



how she had her husband s coffee brought up to 

 him in the morning while he was in bed. She 



D 



could not understand the old porch. What did 

 people want to sit out there for there was 

 nobody going by. 



In one of his after exploits this woman left him, 

 and after that, it was said, he took to drink, and 

 finally in extremity wrote to Griselle s father, and 

 the letter was brought to the mather, as indeed 

 everything was. What must she do but quietly 

 pack her trunk and go without a word to New 

 York, hunt up her offspring, and when nothing 

 else would do, bring him back to the old porch ? 



In brief, the old house could not be touched 

 reminiscently but there came out distinctly the 

 outlines of the old mother who had held it 

 together and brought back the renegades sooner 

 or later with a sure attraction. She must have 

 been the equitable sun that shone on the just 

 and the unjust, and then one day, after many 

 disappointments and hidden heartbreaks, she lay 

 down calmly and died, and a strange desolation 

 fell upon the place. The old house must have 

 shown signs of dissolution, as if its anima had 

 gone with her. The old porches, I dare say, 

 echoed vacantly when she no longer sat at the 

 low window. The morning-glories came as usual, 

 and the humming-bird vibrated in the bloom, and 

 the sun poured into the hall through the east 

 door ; but I judge that it all had a poignant irony 

 for the old man, who must have resented such 

 persistent continuance of peace and plenty when 



