The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1858-09-11
Gelcrt G5toyD.
From ,hc Olive Branch
Farmer Pixies Grandson,
BIZ VIRGINIA +. TOWNSEND.

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Cleaning on him, make, with rcvcrcn mcekncss
His own thy will. Iwcakucss
And with strength from Him, shall thy utter
Life's task fuiilI.
g Well. Aunt Esther, what did he say f''
6. Yes. do tell us, what d,d he sry!''
Cousin Alice Lake echoed eagerly my
words. rs our aunt came into the sitting
room whore We Were lounging away the pleas
nut summer afternoon.
sc her now. though lalfa score Of wears
has the grave dust hidden that face from the
eyes that loved it, as she came through the
door, with her soft, SLOW step; with her lilac
colorrd silk shawl, and her Lcghuln bonnet.
trimmed with white Satan ribbon. Aunt
Esther Lee was our fathers only sister. and
she had been IA childltss widow for many
years, the latter half ofwllch she had passed
ut our home.
Cousin Alice Lake was passing the vacation
with us. There was not II years difference in
Our ages, and we had bcem schoolmatcS from
cary childhood, and believe Sisters seldom
love each other as we did.
That afternoon Aunt Esther had started out
on Il visit t" Farmer Pixies, the rich old wild
over, whose great yellow brown house. stood
on the turnpike half mile from our house,
Farmer Pike was II strange. hard man; YOU
would have felt this, with one glance ct his
strong, rugged features. his iron GRAY hair
and his large, muscular person that mad not
bowed jsrli with the weight Of tiitce score
Years.
lie lived with his housrkccrer and his
hired men, in the great yellow brown house,
an honest, Industrious man, bat without Il
single affection, or social sympathy in the
world; with life as cold, and stark; and bar
rem, as II desert over whose bosom no running
spring winds lis nccklIre Of Jewels: in whr Sc
dry, dead heart, no sweet flower opens its
soft lips to. the Sunshine.
Yet Farmer Pike life had its tragedy: so
believe all lives have, if We could only unlock
the hidden cabinets, where they are laid away
from every eye but Gods.
Many years ago, Farmer Pike had married
woman much younger than himself. A
woman with one of those gentle, shrinking.
mmosa natures, that seemed To have few
points Of sympathy with his coarse, rugged
character.
However, believe they got on well togct-
or, and ii is probable the gentle, trcmulous
wife called out hatsOevcr OF tenderness there
was in the coarSer soul OF her husband At
last, Il son was born to them, and the delicate
mother fell into a decline, and before her
boys life had covered its third year, the grass
had laid its green covering over the mother
head.
Mrs. Pike and Aunt Esther Lee were
schoolmatcs aud had always been friends: so
the farmer placed Joseph under her care and
he continued to reside with her. until at my
mothers death, which occurred several yeal $
later, my aunt came to us, and the boy went
home to his father.
Joseph WAS Il rm-heartcd, but terribly
seli-wiiled boy. My aunt had more influence
over him than any other person, for she loved
him almost as though he were her own child.
! believe. too. Farmer Pike was very fond of
his bright. handsome boy, but he was cold .
HndcmOnsrativ. man, and he and joseph
never got on well together
As the boy grew older his father deter
mined upon making him farmer. butt os.ph' S
active, energetic nature rcy0ltcd at this life ;
he was bent upon going out into the world,
and trying his fortune there. | know the old
yellow brown house witnessed some terrible
contests between the fathers will and the
sons determination there were harsh TIL, eat S
one side, and sullcn resistance on the
other, until worn out with these things
Joseph made up his mind to run away. and
20 to sea-
He did this with his usual rash impulsive-
ness, and then Farmer Pike in his wrath lifted
up his hand, and Sworc sornrniv that .Josopil
should not inherit dollar of his property
that he would never see or speak to him again
to the day Of his death. And he kept his
word. He lived in the yellow brown house
lonely chlldless old man, broadening his
acres every year, ard broadening too, by hi,
cold, selfish, reproductive hfc, the gull be-
tween him and the Kingdom Of Heaven.
One day in the late spring, however. an old
man and Il little gollcn-haired child stopped
at our house and asked for Aunt Esther Gray
Then for the first time in all these years. We
heard OF Joseph Pike.
Life had been with him {. no dance of roses >
but Il long, sharp struggle He had married
young, and his children had been taken from
him, and at last his young wife had been laid
beside them, leaving him only the golden
haired boy that stood before us.
Joseph inherited the delicate constitution o
his mother, and his health had failed under
all these trials. He had wandered from y lac,
to place with his mothcrlcss boy in search o
new strength. But he failed rapidly, and a
last himself gave up all hope Of recovery
Then he wrote TO my aunt, the mother Of hi:
boyhood, as he called her, and bcqucathcd t.
her tenderness his only child, scarcely tou
years Old. And the old man who brough
him to rs, was one who Joseph had once res
cued from drowning, and WHO remained will
linn out OF gratitude, to the last hour of hi
life.
Aunt Esther bowed her head above those
golden cnrls, and said, while her tears drippct
fast on the bright face that was so like it
1athcr's-s' | will take the child.''
GIVE made up my mind" said Aun
Esther, suddenly, one day just after dinner
and she folded up her knitting, and looked OF
moment on the dusty road that wound lik
dingy red ribbon through the pastures 0
Woodside.
What have you made up your mind to do
aunty :" asked Cousin Alice Lake and 81
simultaneously, as we looked up from thu
magazines we were reading.
:. That I'lltdke Weston, Joseph child, an
60 straight Over TO Farmer Fixes this att.r