Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-10-19
SE'TTES FOB THE DELA"AKf eAzEITk-
CLYDE PAPERS, NO. III.
The Reunion
BY KITTY CLYDE's COUSIN.

=
rocking chair, with. portfolio on herlap in
in which she was packing bits of poetry cut
from pile of newspapers on the floor by her
side. Each one she cut out she read aloud be-
fore putting it away, slowly rocking back and
forth. All, reader, who of rs has not some
receptacle of youthful rorlaure 5toted away in
a cornor that draws from US smile and tear
as it is occasionally tossed from its resting
5Eate BY our busy. utilitarian, housekeeping
hands-a smile for the well remembered ver-
dancy of other days, a tear for the maiden pu-
rity of heart all unsuliied by contact with
earth. She took up fresh paper and cut out
few verses from the Poets corner, and read
in the same half-hushed voice, that for half an
bour had been powerless to rouse the cat on
the hearth, or the girls maiden aunt who was
sleepily knitting in the open door:
:. Many and many year ago,
Cousin Nellie. Minnie and ], y Z
Tripped Ger childhood's fiowery path,
Under the same sweet summers sky"
i' Good gracious, Betsey Ann, what are you
fead'n p asked the old lady, old by compari-
son onlY, "I thought you said Kitty
Clyde Z"
= " So did, auntie, shall read it to you ?"
I" Yes, child, do read that verse again."
- Many. and many year ago., sr
Cousin Nellie, Minnie and ], &C.,
Bless my soutt bring that here" Bessie,
as her father called her, placed the scrap in
her aunts hand. Out of the depths of the old
Yankee pocket she fshed up her spectaeles,
and carefully read the poem through. She
finished with a sigh, Here child, / reckon |
don't know nothing about them, it seems It's a
gill III Ohio, and yet they used to call me Mel
lie, and Kitty aud Minnie is what Deacon
Whicher's son Albert used to cali Catherine
and Minerva sd es
Well here, aunt Hulda, is something else
about the Cfyd's, in the next paper, written by
: Kitty Glydes sister," a s@ ss
A fun half-hour the old lady pernsed the
family narrative from beginning to end, and
FEM end to beginning. At last she laid down
the paper, exclaiming. ssaWeil, declare who's d
thought it, that out here iI1 w isconsin should
have seen this. That Minerva Glydeshas told
the whole rinktom ont right here in paper,
All that is know'cof the family. Befsey Ann
do call your father. Ineveri How did those
girls dare write it in paper. n hat would
Deacon Whicher say if he saw this ere? -
And the old lady's ball rolled across the hoor
as she rose in a great state of excitement and
looked over the field with her eyes shaded by
her hand. II stamp on the back door sill
caused her to turn around. She met her half
brother stalwart farmer, who entered witt
both papers in her hand
!" lest look here, David Bond, Catharine and
Minerva Clyde have got to be writers-set
this history and this poetry to think tha
they should write iu- a paper. They are iii
Ohio, and | am going there to 6nd them; yor
know was going east this summer anyway
have put it off from day to day, and now
will go on and stop in Ohio and find the girls
| Giess my soul, did you ever see the beat rar
on the voluble Hulda; " this is by Kitty, yol
! remember her, don't you, little Kitty Clyde
| She won't bigger than minute. Do you re
member how you used to carry her over th
wet places, when we were hunten nuts. an,
winter eranberries, and let us walk ? AnC
this is by Minerya-shal | read it to you ?
| Where are my specs +" she asked, feeling tn
! top of her head and in her pocket. Betsey
child where are theyf"
"aWhy there, auntie, in your hand /"
her nose. and drawing chair near her brothe
who had been intently reading the poem wit
bowed head as he held the paper between hi
knees. . Rlst see here, David .s The"
/ " DO stop, Hulda, and let aie read" an
the farmer read slowly on, and as his eye ereE
I down the lines sad soft expression came ove
bis face and the paper shook in his tremblin
hand AS he finished he raised his head ull
said in subdued voice:
-" Bessie, where did you find these verses yor
mother wrote? i" 7
- Betsey's motherl why, man alive, Kit
) Clydeswrote that, she ain; Betsey's mother
: said EFulda 49, szza
David Bond rose abruptly and the scra
; futtered from his hand to the floor, as he quic
!, ly went into the back yard muttering, n
but she ought to have been /"
All, those simple lines had unlocked a do
he had supposed forever sealed, and the j
sense rose from the altar in the holiest of b
lies of his heart, as though the enshrined divi
ity morning and evening had accepted his sa
d rifces. There as he stood behind the woodshe
again was offered the worship Of old to L
love of his youth, who had been only sacred
shut in, not, as he thought, banished from
:, soul. Again. he was boy and drew Kit
Clyde TO school on his sled, and wiped a
y stray particles of snow from herzfeet with
Z mittefls, as she sat on the high bench by t
D school-house stove. Again he held the it1
e form in his arms as they crossed the meade
y and her soft Voice sounded in his ear, do
&c hold me so tight Dayy, you hurt me" as
pressed her to his heart in an agony of en-
e ton. He drew the back of bis coarse, seam
+ hand over his eyes as the first tears for ina
= years spafkisd> on their lashes. She was
ar cousin, many years his junior, frail fee
70 girl, and he poor; so fifteen years before
: moved west, settled on some land, built a sm
Us house and married, and the years since Il
rs had gone quickly, hastened by constant toll
IN Early and late he worked to educate bis fam
as crowding back the dreams of his youth wit
= heavy hand. Cherishing the wife he had c
ps seE with tender care. Kind to those poo
nd than HIMSELF merciful to those weaker; ig
gu rant that he was living grander poem Il
70 grandest Epic ever written
+ g Come to supper, father, ths men are W
ing"
/ He turned and saw his wife, a tidy. thr
esq little woman who stood before him with slee
las rolled up brushing the -four off from her t
$ a arms. The door of the inner teHiple crea
uts on its hinges, and the beauty and poetry of
ser life were buried again He come back to
IRE, present existence with shudder and wen
p with his wife and sat down with the hired
HE to his slipper. of cold pork and potatoe
VS. Hulda's mind was fun of her anticipated j
me ney, and it was arranged that she should 6
in in the morning. Bessie was to help her I
ers. that night, and her brother would d
wn her over, to the station, that was some
he miles distant. a t7s@ a- es
ere Feed the horses early, Henry, and i
can them tackled up by sevento'ciock," he said
the he went up stairs to bed. Ihe household
I1.El ftnr