The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-08-05

What of that? 1t was better to be sui
ky than raving mad, as some of them
were, so surely as Saturday night came
round. Men with nice, good looking
wives, too, whose children wanted for
bread and shoes what they spent in
drink. / never expected to have wife
and children, but knew how they ought
to be used better than they did.
l suppose l had come to be twenty
eight or so, and no girl had ever looked
at me, except as she might at a tansh
polar bear, when, one day, old Mr.. Will
liams, the proprietor of the place, came
to me as { was going home TO dinner,
and said in his own quick way:
"Hathron, can you driver"
eyes, sir" said l.
81 want you to take the wagon and
go over to the railroad depot at Bald
win, and bring down new hand and
her traps" he said.
"She'll be there about half past twelve
so you'll have barely time to get bite
and go; and you can have the rest of
the day to yourself, if you like, as
it's Saturday. Her name is Annie
May.
Brfore you can understand what he
meant I must tell you that our place
(they call it the "Ne Plus Ultra Pyro.
technic Establishment" bless you y
employed some five.and-twenty girls,
and that they generally came from a
distance, and boarded while they staid,
with an old woman close by, all in one
place, to keep them out of harms way.
Mr.. Williams insisted on that, and a
lot of rules about the hours they were
to keep, and the way they were to be.
have; good rules and not so rigid but
that there was plenty of innocent court
ing, and more than one wedding in
season. AS for Us men, we went where
we chose. Some put up at the tavern,
some with people who would take a
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 Villas and the factory stood
all alone by itself, quite a distance
away, and the tavern and the few COM
mon houses were grouped close about
it, as if others were too genteel to mix
with them. So Mrs. Munson's place
was always full.
II was day to tempt a man out-a
beautiful spring day, with tender green
grass on the earth and tender pink buds
on the branches, and in the sky there
We're only two or three tlcecy bits of
clouds, like carded wool, amidst the
blueness. 1t took only half an hour to
get to Baldwin.
The train had got in, and there were
people waiting in the little house at the
depot-a couple of stout old ladies, a
gentleman who looked like minister,
and young woman. l 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, but be-
cause she wasn't dressed half so much.
Generally they had on their brightest
gown, and big beads around their necks,
| 'thu iOScS III lHClI W III
a garden. This girl was all in gray and
wore veil to match. The things We're
cheap and not new, but they made her
look like lady. 1 walked up and
down and waited. The fat woman went
away in wagon; the clergyman had a
gig sent for him, and there the girl sat
beside her trunk, looking now and then
out of the window and beginning to
seem anxious. took off my hat and
| stepped up with bow.
81 beg your pardon, Miss" said I,
"but has there been anybody here osk-
ing 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"
81 do mean the fire.wOrk factory" l
said. "Nlr, Seth Hathron. one of the
hands. The wagon is outside; will you
get in? Wait bit; I'll put the trunk
| in first"
| ashanti l help you ?" she said, and
she put her little hand on the handle
nearest her. IT looked so small burst
out laughing.
81 don't need any help" said ], but
thought l could carry both the trunk
and its owner together, if l chose and
she'd let me. She was the smallest
creature to be full grown woman that
l ever saw.
After | had helped her in and had ta-
ken the reins in my hands, kept steal
ing looks at her, and thinking how
| beautiful she was; and | tried to talk
about things that would please her,and
felt that, bright as the day had been be.
fore, it was somehow a great deal
brighter with her beside me.
We stopped at Mrs. Monson's and
said goodbye. l carried her trunk into
the hall, and called the old lady, and
drove the horse back to the stables.
Then, having holiday, L got a news
paper and went out into the woods,
Baldwn's woods they called them, and
| think | knew every tree by heart.
Somehow felt lonesome and unhap.
py, and couldn't read my paper, and
sat down with my head on my hands,
sulkier than ever, suppose, to look at.
Maybe it was an hour, maybe two, that
/ sat there, before heard step coming
over the grass, and looking up, saw the
girl | had driven over from Baldwin
Annie May-coming towards me. She
did not see me at first, but when she did
she started and stopped, and smiled at
me just as | had seen other girls smile
often at other men, but never once at
me before that moment-I never
thought what was doing, but held out
my great brown hand, and shook hands
with her as if we had been friends for
| ypors