. The story of a short life . amongstsoldiers had increased,rather than diminished,„ Mrs. Joness relish for i the sights and sounds ofmilitary life. The charm of noveltyis proverbially great, butit is not so powerful asthat peculiar spell whichdrew the retired tallow-chandler back to shopon melting-days, andwhich guided the choiceof the sexton of a ceme-tery who only took oneholiday trip in the courseof seven years, and thenhe went to a cemeteryat some distance to seehow they managed mat-ters there. And, indeed, poor humanity may be very thankful for theinfatuation, since it goes far to make l
. The story of a short life . amongstsoldiers had increased,rather than diminished,„ Mrs. Joness relish for i the sights and sounds ofmilitary life. The charm of noveltyis proverbially great, butit is not so powerful asthat peculiar spell whichdrew the retired tallow-chandler back to shopon melting-days, andwhich guided the choiceof the sexton of a ceme-tery who only took oneholiday trip in the courseof seven years, and thenhe went to a cemeteryat some distance to seehow they managed mat-ters there. And, indeed, poor humanity may be very thankful for theinfatuation, since it goes far to make life pleasant in the living to plainfolk who do not make a point of being discontented. In obedience to this law of nature, the Barrack Masters wife didexactly what OReilly had expected her to do. As she could not driveto the Field Day, she strolled out to see the troops go by. Then thevigour derived from breakfast and the freshness of the morning airbegan to fail, the day grew hotter, the camp looked dreary and deserted.,.. THERES TROUBLE IN THE AIR. 39 and, either from physical weakness or from some untold cause, a name-less anxiety, a sense of trouble in the air, began to oppress her. Wandering out again to try and shake it off, it was almost a relief,like the solving of a riddle, to find Blind Baby sitting upon his BigDrum, too low-spirited to play the Dead March, and crying becauseall the bands had gone right away. Mrs. Jones made friends withhim, and led him off to her hut for consolation, and he was soon ashappy as ever, standing by the piano and beating upon his basket intime to the tunes she played for him. But the day and the hut grewhotter, and her back ached, and the nameless anxiety re-asserted itself,and was not relieved by Blind Babys preference for the Dead Marchover every other tune with which she tried to beguile him. And when he had gone back to his own Parade, with a large pieceof cake and many assurances that the bands would undoubtedly return,and the day
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectchildre, bookyear1887
