St. Cloud Democrat., 1864-04-07
ST. CLOUD. MINNESOTA THURSDAY. APRIL ~ 1861

was about nineteen, Andrews son, Martin.
took fancy to her She was smart girl,
50 Andrew made no objections 10 the match,
and she made good wife for the little time
she lived. She WAS very like her son Mar
tin there. carrying on that way with
Am'rilly Dollman." , - g..
''Thatll be match some day, shouldn't
WONDER" said Mrs Blake. 80
"Twould have been before this, if Mar
tin had farm Of his own; but while he
lives with his father old Dollmau wont al
!ow it, -:
."And so nothing was ever %eard Of the
peddler?"
"Not word. The Clnrks got on better
some for while. They seemed to have
money, which looked queer, seeing how
poor they'd always been; and they bought
this farm. But then everything went
wrong; the two boys died-one was killed
by tree falling on him, and Sam had 4
stroke which keIt him to his bed for the
rest Of his life, which wasn't long. He
was out of his head at the end, and KITTY
never let nny one near him but herself.
Since he died, she, has liveda alone. and
shared the land. It's good land, and I
should think she must have savel money.
wonder who she's left it to-
'Ysung Martin, perl aps."
II guess not. She always had singu-
lar dislike tQ his mother. May be, her
conscience told her why. No; It's more
likely to be Am'rilly Doilman. She took a
fancy to her when she was a child, and kept
| to it,
"Well, it'll come to pretty much the same
thing which has it, so as one of them gets
it," remarked Mrs: Blake.
"A sudden stir ia the corner made all look
towards the bed. The invalid had opened
her eyes, and raised herself, una;ded, on
her arm;. for a moment or two she gazcd
round on. The assemblage, as if not under
standing their unwonted presence; then
she broke into laugh, harsh and loud ::
"Aha!'' she cried in shrill voice, 'rhey
looked everywhere but in the right place
Up and down, up chamber and down cellar,
but they never thought of the north wall:''
and sunk back exhausted. .'' ~:,
A kind of shudder ran through the spec
tators. "My! amt that awful ?'' said Bel
la Jones; while pretty Amarylla shrunk,
as if for protection, little closer to Mar
tin Foyle, and the Eurses' attention became
absorbed in their charge. She. however
more. ''"fo'' anu sa'' ne
"she'n 60 off that way" said Mrs Green
''She may linger while, but she'll sleet
her life out so. And now. as it's getting
late, think III clear out
The clock, indeed, by this time announ-
ced that it was most dissirated hour for
the inhabitants Of Crocksvi'le; nothing but
the agreeable feeling that on Sunday morn
ing there xas' no occasion for waking with
the daylight, would have kept them SO long
from their rest. All now departed except
the watchers for the night, and the sha,ity
was left to comparative quiet aud repose.
Ne - v: /"
No one was surprised to hear the next
morning that Kitty Clark was dead. She
had never moved or spoken since the dem
onstration that had so alarmed her visitors
the preceding evening, which had eviden.
ly been the last effort Of expiring nature.
''She just went ont like the snuff of can.
de-" Mrs Jones remarked to those who
came With. inquiries ard offers Of assist
ahce. That lady had taken on herself the
office Of experimenting the preparations
for the funeral, and was arrayed in her
robes of state, black silk gown, (which, -
as she had once observed, twas the con-
venientest dress you could have; it answer
ed for everything from wedding to fu-
neral; the richness Of the material adapt
ing it fo1 festive occasions, and its sober
hue rendering it suitable sarb Of mourn
ing. There was" considerable excitement,
in Crocksville this Sunday morning; il,
would perhaps be uncharitable to say the
people were glad old Kitty had departed,
but certainly they were glad that there was
now the opportunity Of gratifying the Gu
riosity felt by all regarding the paper in
Mr.. Crooks hands ia
1t was pity the contents could not have
been known on this idle day, when there
would have been nothing to do but discuss
them; but Mr.. Crooks said, ''that. 'cerdin'
to rule, the will hadn't ought to be read till
utter the funeral" and announced his in
tention of not making them public ill the
proper time, rather enjoying, in the mean
while, the consciousness cf being the only
person in possession Of the secret 1t was
considered a most unnecessary piece Of
ceremonious formality; however, specula-
tion and conjecture kept the interest alive.
II was surprising how many people found
they could leats their work, .just for an
hour or tNo;" the next afternoon to attend
the funeral. Certainly, old Kitty was more
Sin her ashes honored" than she had ever
beens in .ife.s:. A...Mrs sJone. remarked $:
''lt wae marin wha: folks would do for the
sake Of curiosity 5: there. Was old jim White
had never besn known off his own place for
six years and Sally Black ! had left her
washing half through to hear the hers N
hour so.ner." As: old Kitty had neither