Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-12-02
some shady corner of the ward

| SC1OuS OF my existence than usual OF
that afternoon, that hope dawned in my
my heart that he would speak that nigh
if ever he meant to do so.
We were driving through a belt o
odOrous pine woods, talking with flash
es of silence" when we overlook a wo-
man driving laggard horse, and work
ing her passage with the whip. She
spoke to Steven, and proved to be one
Of his neighbors, going to watch with q
sick sister.
"I'H take you there in half the time,
if you'll get in with US, and send youI
boy back with your team, said Steven.
almost eagerly.
The woman (couId it be that she was
really woman so to dash my cup Of
happiness from my lips ,? accepted the
offer readily.
Her sister might have been sick as
Simon Peters wife's mother )" but II
she had ever known
Still, and a nearer one
Yet than all other,''
she would have chung to her wagon, and
| let us go on our way alone.
realized, however, before l had
poured out all my vials Of wrath on her,
that it was Steven who had made the
offer and betrayed his total indifference
to the sweet loneliness which had been
gathering round US among the pines.
/ am glad had the grace to make
talk with the troublesome old woman,
and to listen with interest to the whole
course of her sisters illness, from the
very first symptom.
had my reward when Steven lifted
me down at our gate, and she said -
"You re your mothers own gal You
hain't never let me feel that two's a
company and three's crowd !"
Steven had walked up the long path
with me to carry my shawl, and might
have said Just word then-a woman
can live long on only word, if it be
loving enough-but he almost threw the
shawl across my arm, and ran down the
path as if he were glad to be well rid of
me-
AS ''piled Ossa on Pelion" in my
thoughts against the possibility of his
loving me as I desired to be loved, the
forenoon wore away, and the apples
were sorted.
Mother racked her brains after dinner
thought her step-mother of the most
grinding type but thanked her in my
heart.
There comes Steven again, she
said, as sounds of approaching wagon
wheels came in at the open window,
and brother Shubael with him. You
had better set the table now, Sylvie.
Come in, Steven, come in, said
Uncle Shubael, in that high, rasping
tone that one gets living alone ''You
ca1 bava n 7if+Ta ,,eoCe -, fI5e IO,,ea
now Lucretia has married off three of
EN-; and Sylvie-s quiet enough, if
you let her alone bur if you go to stir
her up too much, she's as peppery as
any of the lot
''Why, SyIvie p said mother, when
we sat down to the table, where were
your wits You've put on white cups
and gilt saucers."
Her ribbons will always match, wheth-
er her dishes do or not, you may depend
ont, said Uncle Shubae1
1t promised to be the whitest of moon
lit evenings, when Uncle Shubael push
ed back his chair, and declared his in
tention of going home without loss of
time.
"I always go to bed early when there's
a moon," he said, "so's to be out of
temptation. If a man ever makes fool
of himself, you may be sure that he will
do it by moonlight"
And how is it with women p said
mother
"Humphl Moonlight or sunlight's
all one to them, l reckon
''Mrs. Poyser said She would never
deny that women were fools-the AL
mighty made them to match the men, .
put in.
who's Mrs. Poyser Does she live
in these parts p
mo"
"Glad to hear that. There's enough
sharp-tongued women about here now,
without any more moving in. .
"Old Candase knew best. said moth
er. 'She said Men was natally fool
ish but they was a great deal better
than muffin. .
please convince SyIvie of that doc
trine." said Steven, ''while l go home
with Uncle Shubael, for safety's sake.
They went away together, and moth
ing would do, but mother must have out
the Spectator, and hear me read aloud
till bedtime, while was longing to sit
on the doorstep, and pile up agony in
the moonlight.
1t came to pass after that day, that six
mortal weeks dragged out their slow
length, without my once seeing Steven
Frazar.
Sophie's two children came down with
the measles, and 1, being the only single
sister, was, of course, drafted for nurse.
She mentioned once, as l was sitting
in the darkened room, bathing a little
feYered head, that Steven had stopped
at the door, and left a message from
mother, but she had said was busy just
then, and could not come down to him.
Oh, the blind cruelty of a married sister
with sick baby! Can anything come
nigh unto it in the history of persecu-
ton
1 stayed with Sophie till her children
were cOnvalescent, and then she let me
depart in peace.
was trailing homeward in a very dull |
afternoon, sourly adding up the hard
work had done, and the small credit
which Sophie in her motherly selfshness
would ever give me for it, when a sort of
vision of my future unrolled itself before !
my eyes.
If / refused Steven because 1 was
doubtful of the kind of love he felt for
me, l knew l should never marry any
body else 1 must inevitably come down
to cats for company, and know no
change in life except nursing my sisters
children through all the ills that baby
flesh is heir to. / was not the woman to |
"have mission, and hew out a special
niche for myself in the world. IF l had
a weakness, it was for being taken care
of Then it flashed upon me that Steven
might consider his offer as already re-
jected, and so leave me no option in the
matter. That thought was like touching
a bare nerve; the pain of it almost made
me stand still, but l hurried on again
when caught quick, familiar tread
behind me.
"Sylvie,' said Steven. coming up with !
me and shaking both my hands, "you
haven't the least idea how glad am to
see you-that is, what there is left of
you. Sophie has worn you to skin and
bones. stopped at her house, and she
told me you had taken this road. You
walked as if your feet were heavy. Per-
haps, after all, you AaVe y'N66erg, and