Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-07-12
THIRTY YEARS AGO |


T" You do lcok kinder tuckered out child.
thatsa fact. City gals Amt used TO clmbin'
and hazini round like country ones And
the broad chesiea, sunburnt farmer looked
down IN my face with his keen, kindly eyes
SET under great shaggy eyebrows. "Now,
there's Melissy, she was a little, delcate-look
in, springy sort Of body AZ your age, and yet
III be bound she wouldn't thought Of restin
short Of eve mile tramp
lie made this speech Just as we entered the
shadow Of the great tulip-tree and spread
my light blue shawl on the grass, and we sat
down together and looked out on the after
noon.
Uncle Nat, named so Of courtesy by me,
was my mothers cousins halEbrother. He
was plain, honest hard-working farmer,
with large, awkward limbs, face and hands
Drowned and Scared by hard labor, and his
iron-gray hair fell coarse and stiff over his
wrinkled forehead, for Uncle Nat Palmers
| life had now turned the corner of his ffty-
second year; but underneath that hard. old
fashioned exterior beat heart furnished with
such pleasant and goOdly chambers, such
broad passages turned 70 the light rs the
angels love to walk in with their hushed tread
and still, serene faces.
| was fifteen at that time, my mothers
only daughter, and she was & widow. Ny
life had blossomed up so far in the midst of
! great love and much luxury; but in the early
summer a fever had stricken me, and for
weeks I had lain within the sound Of the
waves Of the river Of death; but was given
/ back 10 life, aud then the doctors said that
nothing would recuperate me but draughts
/ Of country air; so they brought me, with my
Jared nerves and lRnguid frame, to Uncle
/ Nat Palmers. Ny mother did not accom-
pany me. Long anxiety had worn very
/ heavily on naturally delicate constitution,
aud the doctors prescribed voyage for her.
Uncle Nat Palmer had two sons on earth, and
fye daughters he humbly trusted, in heaven.
/ The former were, like himself honest, stall
wart, hard-wOrking farmers. The homestead
was three-qUarters of a century old, farm
house large and rambling, with steepmossy
roof and all sorts of fsupplements and addenda
in the way of kitchens and pantries, which
had been supplied as circumstances required
them. was very happy here. The noun
tain winds brought back the lost roses to
my cheeks, the young yigor TO my blood and
that summer nature and stood for the first
time face to face, and we knew each other.
There was long silence betwixt Uncle
Nat and me, as we sat under the tulip-tree
that afternoon Itwas the time of the Indian
summer, and the earth lay in serene, sanity
beauty before as soft winds stirred her forest
pulses. We heard the nuts dropping in the
woods we looked of to the meadows with
the little brooks tangling themselves in
crystal skeins through the grass, and far oil
were the great solemn hills, and they seemed,
with the silver mistS that hovered across
them, like great emerald gates, with gray
bars, locking in the little valley about us.
"0h, isn'tit beautiful Uncle Nat n break
ing the silence at last " It always seems TO
me as though the Indian summer was a kind
of reflection of heaven, and those words OF
Pauls seem to set themselves to a solemn
chant, wandering up and down my soul;
Now we see through glass darkly, but then
face to face
Z" All, child, those old Bible words have a
wondrous way of settin' themselves, like a
verse to an old tune, to all the picters which |
the year paints for us.
"Why, Uncle Nat, that's a real poetical |
yr'-turning round suddenly to him.
81 / do believe you've got fountain of living
poetry away down somewhere in your heart"
a guess not child for never made two |
lines rhyme in my life; but your head 1ut-
tered round to me, when you said them
words, jest as Melissys used to-"
Uncle Nat I wish you'd tell me some
thing about those old times And slid my
hand into his hard palm.
What times, UnaP"
Oh the times when you went cOurfng
Aunt Melissy. How long ago was it?'
s'Thirty years, child, though it don't seem
as many days as | sit here and look over to
it. specially with such a light springy, sun
shiny creetur round me as you are, jest as
Melissy was then"
1 should never have identified this descrip-
ton with the kind, grave, matrOnly face,
with the faded eyes and lips, and the hair
sifted with gray, which made up the por trait
of Mrs. Melissa Palmer.
Z" She was pretty, then, Uncle Nat?'
q" She had hair Of the color of the spring
dandelions and cheeks that were painted after
the apple-blossoms and her head had the
strangest knack Of bObbin' round, as if the
little white neck wasn't big enough to hold
it Jest like water-lily that rocks all night
on the waves"
And how old was she when you proposed
to her2n
was bold enough to ask this question now,
for saw, by the light in the old mans eyes,
that the years Of his youth had come up, and
stood with uncovered faces before him.
A quaint smile lighted along the rugged
face Just nineteen, Una
And what kind of night was it?
"a bright, bitter cold one, in January
You see, Melissy Treat and had aIsys known
each other, for she lived on the old turnpike
road, half a mile from our farm, and we'd
been to the district school through all our
childhood together, and she was next TO me
in spellin', and we'd been on berryin's, and
nuttin's; and, somehow, I'd apays kinder
took to Melissy's golden head and sunshiny
smile from the time when used to take my
sled and 90 over to Widow Treats afore the
roads was broke arter hard snow, to carry
Melissy over the hill TO school. It's mOre'n
twenty years since Farmer Blake bought out
the old place, and tore down the little brown
! house with the gable ends and the two win
do,vs in front, but l can see it now jest as
| plain as I could when I turned round the
| corner of the lane in the days that ] went
courtin Melissy Treat"
'You see I'd waited on her pretty steady
TO singin' school, and apple-bees and meetin's
and frolics for about two year, and long afore
/ this I'd come to the conclusion there was no
gal in all West Farms that I'd soon jine hand
and fortin' with as Melissy Treat; but when
! thought Of asking her, my heart would sci
thumpin' louder than drum on lection day,
and all the blood would tingle right up into
my cheeks, and so l aTays put the thought
away from me, hopin' the time would come,
sooner or later, when could muster courage
! TO tell the gal of my choice that loved her.
| knew, too, that she had hkin' for me
though she tried hard enough to conceal it;
but there'd be a sudden catch Of her breath
in the midst of laugh, when came along;
and though she had face bright and open as
the day, them blue eyes of hern never could
look right into mine without a sudden down
futter Of the lid; and when man sees these
things, he's got to be duller man than Nat
Palmer ever was, if he don't understand EN-.
But the time came at last. You see, we
young folks had got up sleigh-ride, and was
to have a supper at Pixies Tavern, up to
Four Corners, about six miles from West