Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-02-08

old Hank Slater settin' there in my
rockin' chair. He and Josiah were both
drunk as-as hogs said Nabby, sland-
ering an innocent animal in her haste
for simile. .
"They'd tracked the mud all over my
clean floors. The cookin' stove was
damned full of wood, roarin' like all
possessed. wonder they hadn't burned
the house up before got there. And
they'd GOT my best teapot out to heat
some water, and the water'd all billed
away, and the bottom come out. But
the worst was to see my husband a
lconsortin' with such scum of the earth
as that miserable low-lived Hank Sla-
ter. l tell you squire, was mad. l
was mad. l just flung that kitchen
door wide open, and sez /
"'Git out of this house, Josiah Gould,
and don't never let me see your face in
side ont again. at -" '
-ts-Sez fTe; meek as Moses, "where shall
1 go to, Nabby:'' III
! Sez L, II don't care where you go to,
so longs you don't come near me, I've
always been respectable woman, and
don't want none of Hank Slater's
friends round my house,
"Well?" querried the squire, as Nab
by's narration came to pause.
"Well,' said Nabby, in rather sub
dued tone, "he went off. And he hasn't
come back. And 1 want divorce"
6 Now, Nabby," demonstrated the
old squire, you don't want divorce. /
know you better than that. You are
not the woman to give Josiah up, and
let him go to the bad. without strug-
gle. You feel a little veXed with him
now, and don't blame you. 1t is hard,
very hard. But you know you took
him, for better or worse. Do you think,
yourself, it is quite right to break your
contract because it proves the worse for
you-because you are the strong one
and he the weak one of the two? That
don't strike me good Bible doctrine
Nabby. We that are strong ought to
bear the infirmities of the weak, and
not to please ourselves, you know
"Well, / Dunno said Nabby, twist
ing the corner of her shawl obviously,
81 hadn't thought ont in that light, l
must say. It's so aggravatin' to have
such man for husband. Besides,
dunnO's he'd come back if l wanted
him to-"
I" Hasn't he been back at all ?'r
Why, yes, he come back once, for
pair of pantaloons. But l didn't take
no notice of him.
Now, Nabby, you may depend upon
it, it wasn't the pantaloons he was af-
ter. He wanted to see if you wouldn't
relent. If he comes again, be little
pleasant to him, and I'll warrant he will
stay. Give him another chance, Nabby.
Josiah isn't the worst fellow in the
world, by any means. He has his re-
deeming traits, after" all. believe he
will do better, if you will try to help
him. You know Josiah is one that
bears encouragement, Nahby."
"Well, squire, I'll think il over. Any
how I'm obleeged to you. You talk so
sorter comfortin' to body. Your
mothers own son; just the same good
heart. Would you be able to eat some
of my cheese, squire -
"Try me, and see, Nabby," said the
squire, smilingly, not impervious to
Nabby's compliments. Nabby made
her exit Just as Mrs. Hosley rushed in,
full of wifely Indignation that the
squire had been allowed to see client
Nabby's home was over at the Cor
ners,' three miles from the village. She
walked rapidly along in the fast thick
ening darkness, with the steady strong
gait becoming the selfreliant woman
that she was. Yet even her unimagin-
ative nature was not proof against the
depressing influence of the chilly, raw
November evening. The wind whistled
through the bare tree branches, which
croaked and groaned mournfully, and
waved wildly up and down in the dim
light overhead. The wind seemed TO
cherish special spite against Nabby.
1t blew her bonnet off and her hair in
to her eyes, struggled madly with her
for her shawl, took her breath away,
and firmly resisted her every step. Fl
nally, it began to send spiteful dashes
of cold rain-drops in her face-rain
that seemed almost to freeze as it fell.
"Josiah used to come after me with
an umbrella when L was caught out in
the rain," thought Nabby. "He was al
ways real kind and good to me. after all.
I dunno's he ever gave me cross word
in his life, even when he'd been drink
ing"
Here the driving, sleety rain and
piercing wind pouneed down upon Nab
by with renewed fierceness husting her
madly in fiendish glee.
can awful night to be homeless,
Nabby," something seemed to say.
"I don't care,' said Nabby to herself,
beginning to feel cross and generally
ill used as she grew wetter and
colder. at serves him right. He's
made his bed, and he can lie in it."
At 'the Corners light streaming
cheerfully out into the night from other
homes made Nabby's little house look
particularly gloomy and uninviting'
Nabby fumbled under the mat for the
door key, frrmbled with stifiened fingers
for the key hole, and finally succeeding
in unlocking the door felt her way in
| through the little entry.
, There is always something ''rlncan-
, ny" about going alone at night into a
5 dark and shut up house. Even people
of the best regulated minds experience
! a vague suspicion of something behind
! them, sense of possible ghostly hands
| about to clutch them in the darkness.
Nabby was awoman, like Mrs. Edmund
r Sparkler, with mo nonsense about her !;
: but nevertheless, cheerful tale she
t had read only yesterday in the Chroni-
e Gle, about burglar and lone woman,
: kept coming into her head, and she
carefully avoided the thick blackness
: of the corners and the pantry door as
! she "roped around the kitchen for 6
. | ,,ndla or course tha fire had OOnf