The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-03-31

, think woman ought to be willing
: do the milking if her husband was
farmer and was called away on tor
t business.
5 "Of course, said two or three
them. Do you want to hire q han
Eph2 Take me, oh, take me-" al
they all huddled up around me uni
l was almost crazy. don't know no
: should ever have got away from ther
but l was tipping back in my chai
: and somehow it went over and I wei
my full length on the floor. They a
} commenced screaming, and / suppol
they thought / was hurt, for the
! called to their father, and he can
running in. Says he, "Brother Hav
kins, what is the matter what hay
you done to frighten these girls SO Z"
Says L "They can't be more frigh
ened than 1 am, and if you will "a
the chair mended I viii settle the bill
I j. wanted to talk with you about th
school in our district, but 1 guess
will see you down to the corner som
day." and / was coming away, but m
hat had been mislaid somehow, an
after long search Brother Read len
me his best one; and though it wa
pretty large, I managed to wea
it by wrapping my handkerchie
around my head. Becky Rea,
was IN the yard, and sh
said " if she found my hat she'd brin,
it over, and if / weren't at home she't
stay and do the milking" was goin,
to have little more talk with her, bu
I heard the other girls snickering, anc
it upset me completely.
"Oh, Ephraim the whole town vii
be Laughing about you, / know"
"Oh, no, mother, there's no occa
sion, for in all these places I never sale
word to any one about marrying, an6
then you know I passed it off as though
! really did have business with the mer
folks. "
fBut what possessed you to ask such
strange questions Why did you moi
leave those things to time ?"
NO time like the present to settle
points which might make trouble for
us if left to the future At my age
wasn't going to ask any girl to marry
me without knowing her views. When
/ got out of sight of Reads house ]
sat down on the wall and tried to settle
whether / would give it up and go
home, or what I had better do. ]
thought of all the hard work / had
done on this place, and of what you
said last night, that you'd settle every
thing upon Solomon if 1 didn't marry
in month; and he's nothing but a
child, and not fit to be trusted with
clearing up the land; SO, late as it was,
and hungry and tired as I felt, walked
over to the Widow Slater's. The
children came running out to meet me;
you know they always 'peared to like
me; they had been crying because their
mother had been ordered to have the
house empty in fortnight's time. As
soon as they told me / saw what my
duty was, and why my way had been
hedged up all the day. stayed an
hour, 1 guess, and we agreed upon
everything, and so 1 think your trials
are about over, mother, for she is going
to marry me as soon as ever we can be
published.
"Shei for conscience sakei who do
you mean, for the widow has three girls
who have put on long dresses and taken
10 doing up their hair"
Why, mother, tbs the widow her
self, though if I'd thought of it I'd
asked Miranda some questions; but
tls too late now; the bargain is made,
and when once / have the widow and
1er seven children here, nobody can
complain of my not having family. /
ihink I have been led to great useful
hess"
"To great foolishness, you'd better
iay. How am / to live with all those
,hildren running Wild around here7
md Solomon will be flirting with those
girls. Dear me; if your
ather had only lived, and there'd been
'ome head here, you wouldn't have
ried me so.n
"No, mother; promise you about
he flirting. I'm going to do better
han that ("
The promise sounded little myste-
ious to Ephraim and his mother, but
he explanation came soon enough, for
solomon was missing one day, as was
Ilso the widow Slater's daughter, Mi
anda; and when they returned Solo
non presented his wife to the family,
aging that "he'd given his word to
us mother that he wouldn't firt, and
le was bound to keep it, if it killed
i'm.
The last we heard about the widow
he was "tired about what relation
'olomon's children viii be to Ephraim
nd his wife. And though Ephraim
Iss been chosen deacon, yet with such
mixed up state of things at home, she |
5 of opinion that her trials have only
ust begun.