Then the boy cried out,and in his excitement almost threw himself from her arms.Coming suddenly through the dark were a horse and rider.Mr.Thomas had come home.And peeking from behind him,her dark eyes catching the light and sparkling,was Augusta's little sister,Bird.
"Oh,Bird,Bird!"Augusta cried as Mr.Thomas swung the child down and freed her to run staggeringly on cold,stiffened legs to embrace Augusta and the baby.
"Ma couldn't come as Mr.Thomas asked in his letter,"Bird explained,"so she sent me on the train."
"Alone?"Augusta gasped.
"No,in the care of the stationmaster's wife.She made the trip both ways especially to look after me.I had a ticket,a half-fare ticket.A one-way one that Mr.Thomas sent the money for."
"One way?"Augusta echoed,and moved toward the horse and looked up into her husband's face."Has anything happened at home that Bird should be sent to me?"
"No,no,Gussie,"the little girl cried,nimble now and beginning to jump up and down in the snow while she clung to her sister's arm."Everything's fine at home.Don't you see?I am Mr.Thomas'Christmas gift to you,sent on the train with a one-way,half-fare ticket.I can stay until Mr.Thomas finds time to take us all home,maybe before New Year's."
The baby was struggling,wanting to be lifted up,to ride with his father to the stable,to be set in the hay while his father fed the horses.This time his mother made no protest,did not fret that he might catch cold or fall from the horse.She whipped the shawl from around them,wrapped him in it and thrust him into his father's arms.Then,standing by his stirrup,smiling on her little sister,she laid her head against her husband's thigh and smoothed her cheek against the snow-dampened,pungent wool of his breeches and felt the warmth and strength of his muscles beneath,and said,"It is wonderful.Thank you,and Merry Christmas,dear Mr.Thomas!"
He looked down and saw the lamplight glint in the tear that slid on the round of her cheek.He vowed in his heart ever to do what he could to give her and her children the kind of Christmas she wanted for them—the kind she had known in her own childhood,filled with joy.
"Joy Cometh in the Morning"is a story about the relationship between Mr.Thomas and his young wife Augusta living in the Kansas prairie in the United States.Augusta thinks that her husband disregards her wish to be with her family for Christmas and becomes resentful,but it turns out that Mr.Thomas has made a secret arrangement for the family reunion,and Augusta is moved to tears and becomes grateful and happy.The story is,to some extent,well-written.The conflicts between man and woman and between man and environment are carefully developed and resolved.The omniscient point of view is employed so that readers have access to the minds of both characters to understand why they act the way they do.However,the young wife does not change or grow as we expect.She is emotionally pleasing as a child,easy to please,but intellectually stunted（Mr.Thomas never discusses what he reads with Augusta）.Mr.Thomas plays the part of father to Augusta,which the young wife happily accepts（and which Mr.Thomas accepts as man's mission in life）."Joy Cometh in the Morning"does not challenge the conventional role of women as obedient and hard-working housewives,nor does it concern their intellectual and mental development.It begins with an expectation of happy life and ends with the kind of happiness it anticipates.It is a perfectly well-written pulp story.
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall——Katherine Anne Porter
She flicked her wrist neatly out of Doctor Harry's pudgy careful fingers and pulled the sheet up to her chin.The brat ought to be in knee breeches.Doctoring around the country with spectacles on his nose!"Get along now,take your schoolbooks and go.There's nothing wrong with me."
Doctor Harry spread a warm paw like a cushion on her forehead where the forked green vein danced and made her eyelids twitch."Now,now,be a good girl,and we'll have you up in no time."
"That's no way to speak to a woman nearly eighty years old just because she's down.I'd have you respect your elders,young man."
"Well,Missy,excuse me."Doctor Harry patted her cheek."But I've got to warn you,haven't I?You're a marvel,but you must be careful or you're going to be good and sorry."
"Don't tell me what I'm going to be.I'm on my feet now,morally speaking.It's Cornelia.I had to go to bed to get rid of her."
Her bones felt loose,and floated around in her skin,and Doctor Harry floated like a balloon around the foot of the bed.He floated and pulled down his waistcoat,and swung his glasses on a cord."Well,stay where you are,it certainly can't hurt you."
"Get along and doctor your sick."said Granny Weatherall."Leave a well woman alone.I'll call for you when I want you...Where were you forty years ago when I pulled through milk-leg and double pneumonia?You weren't even born.Don't let Cornelia lead you on,"she shouted,because Doctor Harry appeared to float up to the ceiling and out."I pay my own bills,and I don't throw my money away on nonsense!"
She meant to wave good-by,but it was too much trouble.Her eyes closed of themselves,it was like a dark curtain drawn around the bed.The pillow rose and floated under her,pleasant as a hammock in a light wind.She listened to the leaves rustling outside the window.No,somebody was swishing newspapers:no,Cornelia and Doctor Harry were whispering together.She leaped broad awake,thinking they whispered in her ear.
"She was never like this,never like this!""Well,what can we expect?""Yes,eighty years old..."
