Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-09-19
tFf0m woods Household AsgaElne.l
ONLY AN OLD STORY.
BY MARY MORRISON.


,ror father name was Solomon. He owned
I;ttle farm among the hills, and also owned
u wife, whose hame was Huldah.
solomon Deans kept one 'hired man. !"
He had yoke of oxen, four cows, and sun
ir, small stock. Huldah, like dutful wife,
made butter, sold milk, and cooked and
washed from morning until night and she
thought she was fortunate to have ''such a
Sometimes, as she stood with her hair
combed tightly back and herr sleeves rolled up,
rounding her great fists energetically into
The dough, she would turn to the blue-eyed
little maiden by her side, and say, "Rachel,
if YOU get a husband like your father and a
home like mine, shall be happy" and the
volnr girl would cast down her eyes, while
Che Would 20 on to say, ''There's jeremiah
Browns he's a likely young man, and he's
got the go in him. He already owns good
Held of his own, and a couple of as fine
steers as there are in the country
eyes, mother, but how long is it before
moon p" she would says and Mrs. Deans
would think her daughters mind was not
riyen to practical life as it should be. She
Ind been reading poetry lately. Poetry
wasn't good, in haying time, to say the least.
Pilgrims Progress was romantic enough for
ANYBODY, and Fox's book of martyrs was ex-
citing enough--these were all she had when
she was young and as for romance, why
there wasn't any such thing in reality. When
Solomon told her he needed q wife TO take
care of his dairy, and thought her the smart
est girl in all those parts, the best natured,
and with the strongest arms, why there wasn't
any romance in it-she didn't feel bit of a
thrill, as the girl did in the story Rachel read
out of the magazine.
And Rachel would open her beautiful blue
ewes and scan her mothers care-worn face,
and wonder if the joys and thrills were real
" only in books, and if the. height of felic-
ily the world had to give her was to be the
wife of jeremiah Brown!
And then her father would come in to sup
per; and the "hired man, with his great
clayey boots, would come stamping in, and
seize the dipper for long draught, and then
splash the cold water over his hands, and rub
the towel briskly over his hot, brown face
Then Rachel would hurry to get the cakes on
the table, and to pour out the tea-which last
operation was always done away from table
Her father would rub his rough hand over
her golden hair and say
''Well, Rachel, how goes the old grey hen
Has she got the eggs to set on? And how
much butter have you made for market to-
day, my girl! 2"
But that would be all and the hungry
men would sit down and despatch their meal,
and talk of the chances for potatoes, and the
prospects for oats; and she would wait on
them quickly and deity, her little feet ON the
gpi cige for every order. So the days passed
On-and the years.
Rachel went to school three months in
winter, and worked at home the rest of the
time. She grew in beauty and strength every
year, like the beautiful elm-tree which, in a
rare aesthetic mood, her father had planted
before the door. She was rather above the
medium height; her hair was long, wavy,
and golden sometimes wound round her
head like shining halo, sometimes allowed
to 90 free at the will of the wind. Her eyes
were of that deep blue which IS near the VlO-
let, but changes SO often from dark to light
that one would find it hard to tell the shade.
Her little rosy lips when they were closed
had an expression of true maiden sweetness,
and when they parted in a ringing laugh, one
could catch glimpses of pearls purer than
those of a queens bjOuterie. Only one
drawback had she to her beauty; her hands,
though small, were hard and red with con-
slant labor; but one would never have
thaught to look at those, who could look in
her face, and watch the bushes which came
and went like rose-leayes in a breeze.
Her greatest charm, after all, was her
voice, as full of music as the chords OF Men
delssohns songs without Words and when
in the little village church she sang on Sun
days, her voice rose clear like bell in the
leading parts, and her father, as he sat in his
best Sunday coat in the pew below, listened
and thought the child's music brought him
nearer to heaven than parsOn Houson's long
discourses on original sin-and Rachel would
go home from church down the little path
and get into the wagon and ride home. AS
soon as she was in her little room she would
lay by her hat with the pink ribbon carefully
in the drawer, and change her light dress for
a dark calico then she would button the lit
tic bands round her wrists, and go down to
get supper.
After tea came the evening meeting but
her father would generally think the distance
too far for evening, which was rather too faI
in the morning and so Rachel missed the
excitement OF the village girls of ''singing-
schools and night-meetings 80 Ezekiel,
John and Venus Qhere was one young man
there of that name) did not have chance
very often for word with the 'pretty girl
down to SOlomon's," and little did she trou-
BILE her head about them, but was good
merry little maiden, who made her buttel
well, and knew how to 'tTy out lard anC
even to milk the clover-fed cow.
A bonnie little milkmaid she was, with hel
little checked handkerchief tied over hel
mead, as sne trlppeu GOWN lne yaIu, neI nlllf
pail on her arm, and her sweet, clear voice
singing one OF the old church hymns, whict
the mocking- birds tried in vain to initiate a
they looked down on her from the branche
of the elm.
had forgotten-there was one time wheI
Venus and jeremiah had a chance to speal
to her. 1t was in haying time, when extr'
hands had to be called in. Venus had littl
tarm and house of his own, and once asked
her how she would like TO come and hv'
down NEARER folks"
But now you know all about Rachel, o
enough to think out the rest for yourselves,
will come to my story.
II was the first of the month of July. Tn
mountains had DOTTED their snowy caps, tn
far-off hills were but a deeper blue than tn
sky. The little brooks laughed in the dells
and the waterfalls, no longer bound by win
try chains, rushed down into their dark littl
pools and foamed over the stones the fern
grew up tall and feather-like, and the flower
nodded and blushed as the wind whispered t
them in their leafy glens.
II was at the end of long, hard day
work in the hot sun, Solomon Deans and hi
wife and the 'help" sat at the supper tabl
in the kitchen, and Rachel was filling tn
cups, when her mother made such startln
announcement that she almost dropped th
teapot.
Solomon" his wife said, "what do 20
say to havin' summer boarder? They'I
all full down to Jakes, an Sallie wants m
to take one that come Yesterday. | told lit