Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-05-27
SeIelteo MisfelIanp.
MY PRIVATE SCHOOL.

! her mead; sJntS Jiuo, however, IL Wdo ohiy
the scissors, which, in falling, stood up
right in the floor.
'I see. It's nothing uncommon, is it,"
sDid you ever know it to happen that a
stranger didn't come before the day was
out?'
81 never noticed; somebody was always
coming for the matter of that.
81 tell you that sign don't never fall
5 INV grandmother always used double ne
eatiyes when she meant to be emphatlc;)
ssmoss others will, but that's true as book.
And another thing, there was stranger In
my tea tonight, a long one-tbat shows
It's a man that's comm, Some folks set
great deal by that sign; but it AIM to be
mentioned in the same day with the scis-
sors standing up in the floor
/ 81 hope he will come soon, for the storm
will be here before him." and with the
words the wind went wailing round the
house, and the first big drops beat against
the window-pane.
Three score years and ten had not taken
the first bloom from the romance of my
8 grandmother's character; it was fresh and
green as in her girlhood. Beggars heard
of her afar of, and ran to fall on the neck
of her charity.
She followed the advice of Lamb with
ont ever having read it. When poor crea-
ture came before her she staid not to in
auire whether the "seven small children, !"
( in whose name he implored her assistance,
had veritable existence. but cast her bread
upon the waters and lived in faith.
In fact, she had cast SO much bread upon
the waters in the course of her long life,
and SO small 9 proportion had come back
to her, that she had nothing lest for her
self except the old farm and the gambrel-
rooted house. 81 4. ~ ~rstgI
Within its walls my father had first seen
the light, and lived till he went out to fight
the world. He fell early in the strife, and
my mother soon followed him; but not un-
til she had marked out my way in life, and
so fixed me in the groove of her ideas that
I had no choice left. i went to village
academy till I was old enough to enter the
: s'NorTnal School, for my destiny was to
be teacher. My little income had to be
eked out in some way; and of all work to
which awoman may turn her hand, a
school, perhaps, divides the burden most
equally between body and mind.
When I graduated my grandmother
left the old gambrel-roof to see me do it,
and carried me home with her "breathin'-
spelP Gas she said) before getting a place
to teach.
AS to my future, was neither happy MOI
unhappy, but rather between. At twenty,
life runs on with very little. friction; there
! is excitement enough in mere youth tc
make living pleasure. = ..fsa
The evening drew on with ever-increas-
ing gusts of wind, and the old house shook
= to its foundations, but it chung CALAMITY to
the great central chimney, which, being
nearly as broad as it was high, could at.
ford to be Indifferent, when wind and wea-
ther came to blows and made night OF it.
II 4 81 hope you don't mean to sit up for that
somebodyiwho is coming. AL signs fall in
wet weather. !"
The words were scarcely spoken when
we heard the tread of a horse running at
speed down The steep hill above the house
then a crash OF. the fence, and all was still.
3 We held our breath and listened Soon
mans step sounded low and heavy on
the walk, and my grandmother rushed to
! open the door.
"Don't be scarf said the familiar voice
of one of our neighbors, and he stumbled
in, carrying man, pale, and lifelesi, in
his arms.
clay him right on the lounge get the
camphor bottle here's somebody sure
enough don't tell me again that sign ever
falls. Who is it, Job?"
81 dunno his name; CITY. fellow, reck-
on; said he'd pay me Lost any price to
get him to Meriden tonight. The mare
did well enough till we got to that ere hill,
then fash scared her, and she never stop
pedtill she brought up agin your fence. -
Ifhe hadn't been fool and jumped out he
might a been as spry as am; but some
{ folks don't know nothin'. ~ sti@o
''That's so that the rest can get a, Twin
out of 'em," said my grandmother. Mean
time she was vigorously chatting his hands
and feet, while dashed the camrhor in his
face, and bathed the broad white forehead.
which certainly promised we'll forthe brain
4behindsit sshs -sl-
s''He must be dead" said T; che don't
come to at all" 81 II A. - "a
mo he amt. Folks can't be killed SC
easy. He'll give you trouble enough before
you're done with him. Now I'll go after
.s,I the doctor; tain't noways likely he'll know
any more what's the matter than we do
3 but he'll pretend to, and if the man dies it's
his fault, and not ourn. {F sAk9
The doctor found no bones broken, bat
the head was injured, and he must be put
to bed and kept IS quiet as possible. Now
was my grandmother in her element.
tsYou couldn't work any harder" said 1
''if he were your own SON"
..He is somebody's own son, we musnt
never forget that. you know"
Our patient fell from his his first faint
ting fit into fever; and from morning till
night, and night till morning again, he tos.
sed and turned with one continuous cry tc
drive faster. for he must be in Merider that
night My grandmother was nurse-in-chie
but she often made me her deputy when
& the labor began to wear upon her.
The doctor had found some cards in the
notebook of our patient with the name
'.Jobn Jacob Deane" engraved on them; but
we had no other clew to his identity. It il
impossible TO watch over q patient, day and
night, striving to be both brain and hands
to him, without growing into very strong
feeling toward him of attachment
or dislike twas so with me. though
"a scarcely dared whisper to myself to which
order of feeling my own should belong.
thought of him all tie time, and if he haf
died it would have been blow to me, al
belt had never heard him speak con
! scious word q SO Eeskst
1t was the tenth day of the fever, and hs
had been motionless for long time; o sud
den movement made me look up. Hi
j ewes were fastened on me with q new ex
preston. knew that he saw me for thu
first time.
Don't leave me" he said, family, as
was about to call my grandmother. I gays
him the cordial which had been kept fo
( this crisis, and he revived at once.
ssrell me all about it." he said. 81 wa
bound for Meriden, what then?"
ssYou jumped from the wagon when tn,
horse was running near our house, an(
were brought in insensible."
'sLast night, suppose; must go on t.
Mari1an today ~ ft<tl