ld came back unexpectedly, she would see the
light shining from her window and know they were waiting and watching
for her. The room itself was as she had left it years ago, her clothes
still hanging in the closet, her slippers laid ready for the tired feet
to slip into them, the fire on the hearth all prepared against the day
of her home-coming, and by night the lamp in the window shining a
welcome that could be seen afar down the road that led from the village.
He must light Sallie's lamp, then off once more into the storm and
darkness to carry a bit of Christmas cheer to the little home in the
hollow.

Nearly an hour later, a thoroughly worn-out but very happy old man sat
by the stove in the farmhouse kitchen. He was too tired even to light
his pipe; he simply sat there and tried to rest. It had been a hard
fight against the storm, but how pleased those poor little children
were! Well, he had done it for Sallie, just one more little sacrifice
for Sallie who was somewhere out there in the cold, weary world, far
from the home of her childhood, far from the ones who loved her best.

Sallie gone? Sallie far away in the storm and darkness? Why no, of
course not. Sallie was only a little child sleeping quietly in her own
little room. See, the door was ajar and a ray of light from the lamp in
Sallie's room was streaming across the kitchen floor. He must go in and
extinguish the light before it awakened the sleeping child. Why had
Martha left the lamp burning? Surely she must know it would disturb the
child. Well, as soon as he was rested he would go and put it out.

How tired, how tired he did feel! He'd worked pretty hard to-day, and
the sun had been hot, so hot. Well, never mind, the hay was all cut now,
a few more days like this and his barn would be filled with the finest
hay in the country. A few more years like this one and he would be the
richest farmer hereabouts. For himself, he did not care, and Martha had
simple tastes like his own. But there was Sallie. She was only a wee tot
now but she would be a woman some day. They must give Sallie all the
advantages they had missed; they must lay by money against the time when
Sallie would be a grown up woman and want things like other girls of her
age.

What ailed him, anyway, that a day's work in the hay field should make
him feel like this, so tired, so very tired?

He felt a little better now; he would rest a few moments more, then be
off home to supper and to Mart