The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-04-22
SARA PAxsoN.s WRONG
By INA CLAYTON.

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Old and time-worn was the house in which
Sara Payson was reared. Long before Eer re
membrance the old roof was covered with
Il Loss, ane the coat Of red paint which once
adorned the clapboards was entirely removed
leaving them brown and rough Indeed, one
hardly ever saw an older looking house, but
often more comfortless one. The inside
wore the appearance of age, for the plasterine
was patched, and seemed ready to drop, and
the floors were not very firm neither were the
windows proof against rattlinS when the wind
blew but there was certain home look
about everything, look as i it had been the
home of many generations /; and it were diff
cult for one to feel lonely or discontented,
even had he made up his mind to be SO. r
1t was not so large a house as VIC have seen,
but vas by no means small. There was the
west room, the east room, the hall and the
kitchen or the lower floor; and then, as we
ascend the front stairs, we behold two fr, Mt
chan hers, each with window projecting from
the old messy roof, which, in our child days,
reminded us of a pair OF spectacles astride an
old eepteman's nose but they are just such
windows as ws love to sit beside, OF fine
evening, and watch the skies. And Sara ear
" learned to prize them; but the best window
which overlooked the old brook, not many
rods from the house, was her particular liking.
",
shallow streams which We so frequently see
winding its way through low. meadow land,
but deep, broad, living brook, which,lin time
OF a fIeshet, leaped and roarcd Ikea mighty
river, but ordinarily ran along In quiet N od-
Sara grew mp with this brook, it was her
child -comwanion, and its gentle muse had
lulled her to sleep more than once she sat
by her farerite window at night, and in the
morning she would awake TO find herself un-
dressed, and the arm on which she had leaned
her tired head nearly paralized. There were
tall stately trees, too, IN front of the old man
sion. which threatened to en9elop it; and, as
the wind swept through the Branches every
breath seemed TO whisper of the past. Un-
mistakably the spirit of poetry and romance
fingered about that Old house and its surround
.ings. Sara realized it at dn early age, and we
gdoIbt whether it ever entered her mind that a
new house, with modern improvements, was
in the least desirable. As it was, her iInagin-
alton found ample scope In conf JurinS up pic
tures of the past, when her ancestors lived
and moved and had their being in a house
which had since grown so old and mossy. ~
J Sara was imaginative, and her head was full
of dreams and fances, Lut she was no genius;
she could recite poetry bysthe hour, but never
compose it; her memory was marvelously re-
tebtiyel and her love of knowledge considera-
be, but her advanta yes for learning were com
paratively limited. At fourteen she quit the
disrrfct school she had patronize1 since her
early rem EN- branee, 10 finish her education in;
her little chamber, little by little, too, when a.
spare hour afforded itself, for Sara was an on.
ly child, and, as her mother kept no help, she
needed her service. Thus she became an
adept in all kinds of work, which is generally
SO abundant in farmhouse tai.sI'''ae
Sara was always ready and willing to do all
in her power but, after the labor of the day
was over, she loved dearly to HE to her room
and spend the evening in solitude; still, in,
spite of Ter lonely habits she was very COM
panionable Al the social gatherings in her
she was considered the life Of
the company; no one else could say sa many
aug halle things, or firt to such an extent !
without being talked about, for who would |
.hink of censuring Sara Payson ? Was she |
,ot the most obcdient girl at home, that. ever
vas r And had she not endeared herself to |
great many hearts by her acts of kindness
md charity to the poor and suffering Had
he not been known to watch by the sick and I
= tTer;nes until 1t would seem her own life was
lunost readyto ebb away Had she not been
nJwn TO deprive herself Of many little lux
iIrry IN order to furnish articles of eomfprt to
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