Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-12-08
The Old squire's Wrath.
"A Thanksgiving story.
BY AUGUSTA LARNED

usual attitude-and the house wore
a warm, comfortable low-browed
look in spite of the gaunt trees be-
hind it, and the bleak, November
sky, betokening snow 1t was a
sort Of eye-brightener to the chilled
farmers driving past with loads of
cheese boxes or starkly-frozen
pork. Sometimes one or another
would point out the old place with
his whip to some chance compon-
ion on the seat beside him, and
then would come the question:
as the old Squire alive yet?"
"Lord bless you, yes; and as
brisk as he was at forty, and as
straight as an elm sapling. The
Squire is reg'lar old style, brass
mounted. You heard, didn't you,
how he turned his girl out of doors,
lopg ago, for marrying against his
wishes He's never given in a
hair. Folks in these parts call him
a pretty hard old customer"
And sometimes in the rattle of
wagon wheels over the frozen ruts
the two last syllables of the epithet
appeared to be dispensed with.
Jerry, the clock,mender and Ii
censed stroller Of the country side,
was coming out Of Squire North
rup's door into the nipDing cold
His thin old coat, much whitened
across the shoulder blades, and
fastened over the chest by two
stout pins-for buttons it had none
and his bony red wrists and lean
shanks, cased though they were in
blue yarn socks and pair of shah
! by high-lows, promised ill for a
long pull in the teeth of the bitter
wind. However, Jerry's blue eyes
twlnkled merrily in his rheumy old
face, above many folds of a plaid
bingham muflier, for he was con-
scious of a Thanksgiving sparerib
| in his kit bag, and a bottle Of Dame
Northrup's best cherry bounce
warming, comfortable stuff to a
stomach habitually as cold and
pinehed as was the clock members.
The Squire's wife came out
behind, with her cap strings dabbled
in flour and specks of the same,
powdering her nose. A spicy
mince meaty fragrance appeared to
cling to her big mothe:ly apron,
and her expression, which was ha-
bitually "fustercated," as Betsy
Bingle, the "help." expressed it.
seemed aggravated by the eXigen-
cies of the season. There she
stood, peering up through her
glasses at Jerry, while he raised his
| hand and hemmed mysteriously.
ats all right, num-" said he, in
a loud whisper. "The tin bucket
is at the usual roundivoos in the
hay.loft, and the things come good
to Indy, | tell you they did"
"Would it be much out Of your
way to 90 home by Batesville p
mot a mite, Miss Northrup.-
What does a mile or two extra sig
Nifty to man when his legs are as
sound as the day he was born =
And Jerry patted his lean neither
limbs, as if he considered them a
particularly fine pair.
"Then you may stop and tell her
the Squires away from home. l
have reckoned it over and over
again, and he can't get back till
Saturday, It's all along of that ju-
ry business, you see; and, if Lindy
chooses to come over with the
children on Thanksgiving day,
who's to hinderY" inquired the
dame, with the anxious wrinkles
deepening in her forehead.
There came the sound of a pair
of pegged shoes hobbling over the
hard path, and Jerry darted off
through. the shed and loped away
across the country as the bee flies.
The dame gave a guilty little start,
and turned to find herselfface to face
with an old crone, much bent in
body, with bright black eyes peer
ing out from a scoop bonnet, and
the bulge of a basket showing un-
der a camlet cloak.
"Sakes alive! its Goody Hin
man." said she briskly, feigning a
welcome she scarcely felt; sand
the cold darting like pins and nee
dies. | didn't look for you to-day,
Goody," she added, opening the
house-door, "but your Thanksgiv-
ing turkey is ready all the same"
sDon't talk as if l had come a
begging, Barberry Ford" respond
| ed the old woman, Sharply, SetllHS
her cane down upon the floor
with an emphatic little thump.-
"For mind when you was nobody
but Barberry Ford, a poor semp-
stress girl, folks thought you was
doing mighty well to ketch the
Squire with your purity face. I've
come to see the old man." she pip
ed out in a cracked treble "He
has hardened'his heart and stiffen-
ed his neck, as Scriptur' says but
Gooty Hinman aiI't afeard of
him. They didn't tell me that Lin
dy's husband was dead. They
never do tell the deaf old creatur'
anything. But l found it out; and
she left poor, with pack of chill
dren to keep. Now at Thanksgiv-
ing the sons and daughters are
,....S1 la s,,,aV.