South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-06-16
id3e,niiv = The ma mas, Il her Smuestionin, m &

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denly in the midst of her questioning
whether she would not have builded bet
If ter and more successfully if she could have
v laid her own corner stones-feared {
structure of her own instead of filling
g breaches in the broken walls of others
! Those two little faces stopped the train o.
# might have beens, and male. her mur
,r mur, woman that she was, ,S"Deaf boys
e l wouldn't give them up for anything4i--
h tlr"It cam be fwhitened, pressed int
: shape, and made very presentable, broke
4 In Aunt Hester's voice.
y "True,3n answered Jemima, slowly
4 thinking of her life instead of her bonnet
4 q Yes, i hope it win be made presentable
!. at last, though it does not look so now >
; "Why, it's the best of braid, inter
1 posed Aunt Hester, with some severity
!. She faneied the remark was a slight dis.
r paragenieilt Of daughter Susan's taste q
thing not to be tolerated. sssi4i1o a 1i-
II q That tone aroused Jemima from her
! | reverie at once. She discovered the good
qualities of the braid Immediately, and
: AuEt Hester, somewhat modified, took her
, departure. ccs-1 1ni0stfrGS Fs ,fl
Send ii to milliner's and.ahaye it
bleached and made over: advice very easy
to give, but not quite sozeasys to take, un-
der the circumstances, commented Jemi-
+ ma. left to herself again. No, most ex-
cellent bonnet, you will have to submit 20
being sewed over by my own fingers, and
no others, ard take such bleaching as
can give you. Pity, considering your past
grandeur, butitcan't be helped"
She was an energetic little woman, and
so in very short lsnacs Of time she had
arranged in the back yard O closely COW
cred barrel, with pan of Goals sprinkled
with birthstone placed in the bottom of it,
and the antiquated straw fastened near the
totJ, and left TO whiten in the smoke. Rob
and Teddy were duly advised of the con-
tents of the barrel and warned not to mo-
\ lest it and then Miss Jemima went cheer
1 lily back to the house and to her work Of
fdaming small stockings and planning for
diminutive jackets. The out-ofdoor
world was very lovely that spring morn
ing, and she stole glances at it now and
then through the little window-delight-
J ing in the fresh green grass and blossom
laden trees of the tiny yard in front, and
watching with kindly, human interest the
occasional passers-by on the road beyond.
These last were not many, for it was only |
quiet village road but presently there |
passed team with an unusual load-a |
large, heavy milestone. The driver |
slowly along, and following it short |
distance behind was another person,
whom fJemima scanned more closely-a
man some thirty-three or four years of
age, medium sized, bronzed and bearded,
and dressed in plain suit of gray There
was nothing very remarkable in his ap-
pearance !, nevertheless he was person
age of some interest to the villagers as be-
ing the owner of the mill over the hill.
The former owner had failed to make il
profitable, and for year or two it had
stood idle. When, therefore, it was known
that it had been sold, and was to be re-
paired and put in running order, there was
variety of opinions and some shaking of
heads among the sages of the little place.
There were some who carried their disins 4
terested kindness 80 far as to inform the (
newcomer that it wouldn't pay,p he
would sink money" etc. To all of
which Cade Barclay listened good-natur,
edly, answering but little, except with his
frank, sunny smile, and then went steadily |
on his way, apparently quite undisturbed .
by their predictions - 49, !
Of the merits of the question or the {
man Jemima knew nothing; but there was {
a quiet, resolute air about him, certain 8
self-reliance and determination betraying
itselfeven in his firm, quick step as he
passed, that gave her the impression that
he saw quite SIS clearly into his own I
affairs as others could see for him, and G
made her fancy that she should trust his S
judgment as soon as that of the wisest of
all The road wound around the little {
house, and up over the hill at the back of /
the garden, so that the great wheel and '
its owner disappeared from her view ct /
the front window while she was still L
thinking of them. So little that was new o
came to disturb the serenity of the place f
hat it was not marvellous that the people v
ndulged IN speculations concerning this q
enterprise, or that Jemima, in her nook, &
should feel some interest in it. Her medi- il
tations were still tending in that direction, s
when suddenly there came rushing, &
-olling sound, crashing as of breaking p
pushes, q scream from Rob and Teddy D
hat would have done credit to two In "
lians, and then something struck the fl
,orner ofthe house so heavily as to make a
t all jar and tremble. re
Jemims sprang to her feet, and was out "
t the door in an instant. The boys were s
certainly not killed; she saw that at Z
,lance; neither were they injured in lung c.
II limb, for the shouting and gesticulating II
we're wild and furious Eks1E IA
Aunt Jemi-Oh, Aunt Jem, look :. 81
-ust loekip ssia &c r-s--..s. 5r-.l 81
Aunt Jem did look-at the broken back
ence, leveled c1rrant-bushes, flattened
lower.beds, and last at the. front yard,
7here reposed the cause of all the mis-
hief-the large milestone. -4- Il
1t coined tumbling the hill right down n,
n to our back yard, and some of the fence 81
7as there besides the currant- bushes, and ~
Id
eve = lucidly explained the astonished ~
eddy. = ~ f5S SAEs y
"Itis mercy you were not killed, ,"be- ~ ~
an Aunt Jetn's trembling lips; but Rob Ill
iterrupted her with another yociferous =
Oh, look and pointed to a brisk bOns "a "a
re that was springing up in front of u
lem. Jemima's bleaching apparatus had :,
cen overturned, and the Goals emptied IA u,
ut of the pan had set the barrel in o
laze A bucket or two of water soon
the fire; but alas for the bon lH ~
etl it was wofully blackened instead of Su
rhitened, and burned beyond all pos 10
bility Of making over ss,...r b. I~
The group gathered. about the ruins in n
smaY, for the children were quick to II
eject the look of trouble in. Aunt Jem's h,
ce, and even they understood the case nj
ell enough to know that articles IN
estroyed were not always easily replaced.
No one hurt, hope?" said a voice HI
Ist beside them-a manly voice, though
fife hurried and anxious " ~ $40
Jenlima looked up, met the kindly, bs
glance of pair of blue eyes,
ld recognized Mr.. Barclay She started w,
little, not having noticed his approach, W.
ut she answered, promptly, " No, Sir; no n,
ne hurt in the least" szsr- -.-.-s --
J" Really, don't know. how such an ac- nc
dent could have happened" he remark >
!, as if even yet bewildered by the af- ia
ir. There must have been some care
ssness in loading the stone, i suppose; fo
II when we were part way up the hin. the ~
agon tilted a little, and the stone slipped
T and came crashing down Its force m
as mostly spent before it reached your n
ACE, but I see Il has done damage be
Tough as II is I" and a. swift, eomprehen- y
We glance swept fower-beds and broken su
lsheS. z11CF sg~slte Y1z bau 81 or
Nothing very serious-nothing but faI
hat little labor will make right again, " =
andlpolitely responded Miss W,
,mima, noticing the direction his eyes br
vi taken. glara rorT ft-T on