The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-03-26
SELECT STORY.
FREDERICS WIFE.

:, Eliza Orange stood at the lon
meal bin in the pantry, with pie o.
one hand and knife IN the ether
She was bending a little. her who'll
!, mind apparently filled with the worl
d of trimming the dough from the edg,
of the pie. But really she was work
e ing by the barest kind of mechanics
: instinct, and it might as well have
r been cabbage as pie she wa:
pairing SO deXterously, for all the
thought she was giving the work
The sun, shining through the hop
, vine at the little wooden-barred
window. flickered on her hair and
made CLEAN of light and shadow on
the wall before her. The white day
lilies, in the bit of garden bed by the
, door, sent in breath of fragrance.
and a merry cricket piped to his fel-
lows under the hearth stone.
The day and place made quiet
picture of cheerful peace, as if it had
been filled by heart at rest But
ITO Eliza Orange the sky above and
the September landscape it shone
upon were covered with thin, i'm
penetrable veil of green. To her
the sun was clouded and the sweet
flowers were scented with the odor
of decay. Even the homely sights
of home about her the egg-beater,
the skinner, the flour. scoop hanging
on their nails-illed her with loath.
ing and despair.
Il cannot bear it / cannot bear
it! / shall die! Oh no, 1 shan't
die! / can't die; and must endure
what l cannot bear ~ she moaned,
deep in her heart.
There was distant whirling whir
of her mothers spinning-wheel, far
away in the garret; the water drip
ped with a ceaseless flow in the tub
under the shed; the hemlock sticks
in the stove cracked and sputtered
their disgust at their fate; and some
where, somebody called out to oxen
that dragged creaking cart.
By-and-by a door opened and
SLUT, and there was a sound of foot
steps coming across the unexpected
| floor.
Eliza turned, with a first sudden
impulse, to shut the door upon her
self and her misery; and then came
a quick feeling of thankfulness for
anything and anybody that might
help her to escape for little from
her troubled thoughts.
At the same time girls voice
called:
"Zay where are you?''
"Here, in the pantry" replied
Eliza, turning little to put spice
box upon the shelf, that she might
hide the marks of tears on her face,
as young girl in a wood-colored
dress and pink sun-bonnet came in
and seated herself upon ahigh sugar
tub.
"Oh, Milly is it you? 1 am glad
you have come. Take an apple,
will you? There are some real nice
lPorters on the shelf behind you,'
said lay, in quick, animated voice,
still keeping her back toward the
new conner.
Milly took an apple and began
eating it. not speaking at first, but
looking with great, searching eyes
at the dropping figure before her.
If Milly Bergen had not been born
in the quietest, most stagnant spot in
the world, and woman besides, she
would inevitably have become de
tective officer; for not so much as a
mouse could scamper behind the
wainscot but she new, by ready
intuition, what it was scampering af-
ter.
And now she said, directly, "What
is it, Zay? Anything about Fred
eric 2"
Zay replied by the downfall of a
tear upon the pie she still held,
and sudden shaking of her whole
frame that she quoted as suddenly );
and. with an evident effort to steady
her voice, she replied forlornly,
"Frederic and l are through Milly.'
"What do you mean, Zay p gasp
ed Milly throwing down her apple
and stretching open her eyes still
wider.
"It is .rue," replied Eliza, in calm
despair. 81 shall never see him
sgain. If he were going by the
window should not look out, and he
would not look in. We are nothing
to each other any more"
"Zay Orange, don't believe it!
Tell me about it, quick - cried out
Milly, in ready sympathy.
at was only last night replied
Zay, monrnfully; ''but it seems a
year-it seems lifetime. Frederic
came in as he always does on his
way to aud from Dorset. He hadn't
been home before for more than a
month, and 1 hadn't seen him in all
that time. 1t seemed like a great
while; but. Milly, it was not like
always! Now / am going to see