New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-11-10
AFTER MANY DAYS.
From Harpers Magazine for November.I

4 FL ER MAN Y DA >.
IFrom Harper's Magazine for Novemberj
"Stir the fire, Tabitha," commanded til
old woman. -" Stir it as if there was som
fire in your limbs Listen how the win
BOughs across the mOOrs."
Tahitha came to the CRATE and did as sh
was hidden, with her usual meek Obed
ence, but her head dropped a tritie NOR
than usual to night, and her hstless move
ments reused her mothers anger. Sh
Bnatched the poker from the silent littI
woman's hands, and with single strok
broke the huge cob " of coal which ha
been smOuldcring and hckerng all tn
afternoon, and which now, falling to pieces
flashed up bright tongues Of darling flame
and flung a light i'll every shadOwy cOrne
Of the long, dark room.
" Are you wonderingl' she said, in he1
sharp strong voice. " You might be-
have no patience with your weak WAYS
You are no Yorkshire woman, Tabitha
YOU are your father all over
1t was a tact worthy Of note, because sig
niicant in itself that Tabitha made no re
ply. She was used to such speeches: she
had borne them all her life; she had seen
her father bear them day by. day until he
died. His finer nature withered, She had
sometimes dared to fancy, under their chill
influence. There was scarcely a country
bOor in the scattered moOrand hamlet, or
even in the few wide apart cottages on the
blue mOOrs themselves, who did not know
the mistress of the solitary farmhouse as
"a hard un, and who had not known her
as such from the time she came among
them as the young wife of the gentle South
Country man whose name she bore. Roger
Dunn was mild even to the verge Of weak
ness, and was beloved in a rough, almost
pitying way by all the strong, hearted
Yorkshire men who knew hm. His wife
had not tender impulse in her nature. and
was dlsliked with all the UnCOuth Gpeuness
of passionate, uncouth people. She had
stood out against all advances from the
first; she had detied public opinion and set
at naugAt advice and so it was that at
last the inhabitants of the old stone farm
house had been cut oft from the world and
lived their uneventful lives alone.
1t was not kindly school for a solitary
girl to be brought up in; but the one daugi-
Ter of the family had been brought up In it,
Rnd had never left it for more than Il few
hOurS from the day Of her birth. There
wcrc no friends for her; she had no share
even IN the rough country rejoicing5 or
equally rough Borrowings. She mad never
been pretty girl, or even an attractive
one; she had scarcely one rcdccming feature,
perhaps, and was, in fact in her freshest
youth, nothing more than a silent. lUmaIy
little body with quiet, plain face, whose
odd, shrinking expression had a pathOs Of
its own. But the days of her youth were
over now, and she was a woman nearly
thfty years OF age, and there were shadOwv
lines on her face, and her small figure had
set into certain stadness, ana her ewes
Were meek and sad, but withal held far
back in their depths usefulness which !
uasI., Ivy Crowd OUT Oh log waiting anu
And it was out Of l"n" -va;ting and
%d'cit1n" ...aU it had grown The common |
FACE, unintercsting little woman had lived |
through her small romance, after all, m
promising and ordinary a one as it had
been. In her fathers day, by some strange
5hance, there had come lover who found
Il Tabitha what he fancied he had not
ound IN other women. lie was young
nan, with rough bit Of sentiment in his
hardy nature, aud somehow this little
woman, who had lived all her DAYS in
OHtary farm house on the moorIands,
ound the way to his heart and touched it.
80 ne set about the task Of winning her,
t was great wonder to her at first. a
,reat marvel and it was a long time before
he quite comprehendcd the truth: bnt
tter the slow Weakening to it She was
TIRED through every fibre of her ignorant.
Inexperienced heart; her whole being was
with light and warmth of
ever even heard Of snc6 limos 9 os ot iar
omen had, % It was new to her from fro G'I be-.
nj ay cen III S,o lonet In u IN an
nderstooi She had NOT I ineTna 1G' Sno ever
be demonstrative So he ne,aI V0usn
ondrous bliss he had LTonrL ~" to b llo"
deed. il is 10 he nuestioDaI {,hot ~
new enonrb ahont ma nettor ~ ~, nb,i ~ =;
ISIS herself-but at least Le coIIIi Vs'.i ~
> had not failed D'''N' '-' ol''' .
After this there was q harg ha++Io ., bo L
0ght. The gentle. brokon,spiriteG father. {
I'VE lis consent with readiness which .
as "lmost eager PerhaDs ha lor,aI ~ -
We tho girl from years Of snSb '0n7 Iila 10 10 \
$ own. Ijnt the mother held out aaainsf .
EN- with causeless bitterness. SHS had i
k ,ee!n one OF her sudden, unaccoUntabIe -
sIlN%s to poor Lem Burt, aud She sIo1nG i i
IN M "Ner"is" OF her power against HIM "
'~t[ts arc better at home she laid. lie; Il
,3 ~. .,s. s,%S where she IT, Fl,
2 MIf a. "nyieialng asroc months. n