Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1906 — THE RED BARN DOOR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE RED BARN DOOR.

Clot* snuggled down In furry robes, mid _ Soapstones' kindly heat. ws cleft the drifts house, our mother's kin to greet.- ■ , All day our jingling sleigh-bells' tune smote keenly on th<> air. But long ere noon some small voice piped, "ra, aren't we almost there?" . Then to beguile our restlessness our father told once more How we should know the place star; the sign, a red barn door. O'er hill and dale we gaily sped, past farmJ. steads dull and gray, And hailed each snowy . hamlet as a milestone on our way. No homely roadside object but our eyes were quick to see. And muffled voices chattered fast in child ■- ~ .-fadl- ■. Wo vied In sighting landmarks which familiar aspect bore. And longingly we, looked ahead for grand- — pa's red'barn door. —— Our mother, from the sent in front, held us in heedful thought. And stayed our rising hunger with the cookies she hull bro igl t. —Twas she who— chose the -friendly house where we should stop to rest. And saw us tucked, all warm again, within our sleigh box nest. ■ho talked of names oace common in her > girlhood's Rustic-lore. And knew each ttfrjst and turn that came before the red barn door. *’- • • • The reins held laxly In his band, our father sat serene And hummed quaint melodies that kept his old world memories greetfi~~ The long miles stretched away, and when the lengthened shadows fell No ? thought of cold or cramping limbs our . eagerness"coiiTd — quell; r We scanned each distant looming crest that reared Itself before, — Till all at once somebody cried, “I see the red barn door 1” Now sometimes when the sleigh bells ring and roadways gleam with snow I feel that Hooding joyousness that thrilled me long ago. : s__. I see the shining faces in the paling win—ter tight, .■ . ■■ The arms that wait In welcome there, to clasp and hold me tight. And then 1 pray that heaven’s gate such gladness may restore As when we came to grandpa's house, be side the red Karn door. Derby, in Youth's Companion.