Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-04-19
VOLUME XXVI.


never seemed a woman to me, but a dread
full sort of creature, all the worse for hav
ing something of the pretty womanly look
about her
l was maker of fireworks, as my father
had been before me- | don't know that
liked the business particularly, but there
was, and there staid | made good wages
and saved them for / didn't think enough
about my looks to dress much, and | never
drank. "Sulky," the other men called me
What of that? 1t was better to be sulky
than raving mad, as some ofthem so surely
as Saturday night came round. Men with
nice, good-looking wives too, whose chill
dren wanted for bread and shoes what they
spent in drink. never expected to have
a wife and children, but l knew how they
ought to be used better than they did
| suppose | had come to be twenty-eight
or so, and no girl had ever looked at me
except as she might at a tamish polar bear,
when, one day, old Mr.. Williams, the pro.
prietor of the place, came to me as l was
| going home to dinner, and said in his own
quick way:
Hathron, can you drive" 2"
"Yes, Sir" said l.
d" | want you to take the wagon and go
over to the railroad depot at Baldwin, and
bring down a new hand and her traps" he
said. She'll be there at half past twelve,
SO you'll have barely time to snatch bite
and go ; and you can have the rest of the
day TO yourself; if you like, as it's Satur-
day. Her name is Annie May"
Before you can understand what he meant
l must tell you that our place (they called
it the "Ne plus ultra Pyrotechnic Estab-
lishment," bless you y employed some five
and-twenty girls, and that they generally
came from a distance, and boarded while
there with an old woman close by, all in
one place, to keep them out of harms way.
! Mr. Williams insisted On that, and had a
lot of rules about the hours they were to
keep and the way they were to behave
good rules, and not SO rigid but that there
was plenty of innocent courting and more
than one wedding in a season. AS for we
men, we went where we chose. Some put
up at the tavern, some with people who
would take few bOarders, and those who
| lived in the place with their families There
were very few girls who had homes there
to go to for the village was an uppish
kind of place, full of country seats and vii
las, and the factory stood all by itself, quite
| "
common houses were grouped close about
it, as if the others were too genteel to mix
with them. So Mrs. Munsons place was
always full. When new girl came down
somebody always had to be sent over to
Baldwin to bring her to the factory. | had
never been before, and why ! was chosen
this time it was hard to tell However, |
was willing enough, and SO, when | had
taken bite, | put on my best coat and
drove over
1t was q day to tempt a man out-a
beautiful spring day, with fender green
grass on the earth and tender pink buds on
the branches, and in the sky there were
only two or three feecy bits of clouds, like
carded wool, amidst the blueness 1t took
only half an hour to get to Baldwin. I'd
have been willing it should be ten whole
ones.
The train had got in, and there were
people waiting in the little house at the de-
pot-a couple of stout old ladies', gentle
man who looked like a minister, and a
young woman. | looked at her and made
up my mind she couldn't be the new hand,
not because she was more dressed than
! they usually were, bat because she wasn't
dressed half so much. Generally they had
on their brightest gowns, and big beads
around their necks, and roses enough in
their bonnets to fill a garden. This girl
was all in gray, and wore veil to match.
The things were cheap and not new, but
they made her look like lady. l walked
up and down and waited. The fat women
went away in wagon the clergyman
had gig sent for him and there the girl
! 10 bo- nd +bor
out of the window and beginning to seem
anxious. At all events it could do no harm
to speak SO | took off my hat and stepped
up, with bow.
| al beg your pardon, Miss" said |, "but
has there been anybody here asking about
being taken to Mr.. Williams place ?"
81 want to go there myself" she an
swered "that is, if you mean the fire-work
factory Pm Annie May"
I" l do mean the firework factory" | said,
" Mr. Williams sent me down to fetch you.
Pm Seth Hathron, one of the hands The
wagon is ouside will you get in ?-Wait
a bit I'll put the trunk in first"
Shan't help you ?" she said, and she
put her little hand to the trunk nearest her.
1t looked so small burst out laughing.
al don't need any help" said but
thought l could carry both the trunk and
its owner together, if chose, and she'd lei
me. She was the smallest creature, to be
a fullgrown woman, that | ever saw. A
piece of the blue sky for her eyes, and a
bit of the golden sunshine for her hair, and
some of those wild roses that would climb
with the barberries over the stone fences
seen for her cheeks, and you know how to
paint her.
After l had helped her in and had taken
the reins in my hands, kept stealing looks
at her and thinking how beautiful she was;
and | tried to talk about things that would
please her, and pointed out the places on
the road, and felt that, bright as the day
had been before, it was somehow great
deal brighter now with her beside me.
We stopped at Mrs. Munson's and said
good-by | carried her trunk into the hal
and called the old lady, and drove the horse
} back to the stable. Then, having holi
day, got a newspaper and went out into
the woods-Baldwin Woods they called
} them and think | knew every tree by
heart.
sat down by chance under great oak
where Jack Varne, one of the hands, hat
, carved j v for his name, and O. G. fol