Richland beacon., 1873-06-14

don like ueOrSe. L 90. And he has
more land than any two in the township -
"Id rather she die an old maid, ~
''Well. hadn't. And now about that
hanged old churn Of yours-what is il Won
want? The hoop fixed on the bottom
Roll it out. then, and We'll see what can
be done. It's strange thing that in all
these years none Of you women that have
been churning your heads and shoulders
off can find any better way to bring the
butter than this"
"Oh yes. father, | have made pnouoh
for Mr.. MOnteith's breakfast many n
time. fresh, with bowl and spoon. He
told me how to do it himself-iust whip
the wind into it,"
"Whip he nonsense into it '" said Mr..
Mavne. "Great he knows about buffer.
making. Get us the hammer. Mrs.
Mayne. and shingle-nail or two. Strange
a woman can't drive nail without mash
ING her thumb And perhaps good Mrs.
Mayne was not altogether displeased
when, minute or two afterward. She saw
her liege lord sucking his index finger as
if 1t were piece of sngar-cane.
They were standing, as it was said. on
the veranda that ran along the shady side
of the house, where Mrs. Mayne and
Rosy were wont to do their churninp. It
was here that, one fine morning. when
the spring was opening and the lilacs
were in bud. four or five months AGO. a
strong and pleasant fac" appeared through
the lattice, and stranger asked if Mrs.
Mayne would take summer bOarder.
The farmer was away on Jury; and Mrs.
Mayne. looking at the stranger and think
ing of her empty room and of the added
money. rolling her hands into her apron,
and rolling them out again. thinkin she
| liked his face. thinking there was that
half-melanchOly something in it that she
had noticed in the dumb creatures. as OF a
soul struggling with its expression. final
ly decided in the affirmative; and the
stranger had said his name was Rodney
MOnteith. and the minister knew him: and
he had taken his knapsack and himself up
stairs and into the front room.
The minister did know him; he had paid
his board regularly: she had grown fond
of his still, grave ways: and when Farmer
| Mayne came home he found his wife and
daughter watching the new conner build
some strange cOntrivance for the model of
an improved lifting lock down at the falls
of the brook; and he grumbled the rest of
the summer.
! But Mrs. Mayne and ROSY had no
thought of grumbling. To Mrs. Mayne
her lOdger was superior being, who
knew more than the minister, and to Rosy
he was lover. The handsome, stately
girl. who knew how to behave like witch
with all her stateliness, could have told
the exact moment in which she took her
place. with cOgs and wheels and screws.
in the phantasmagOria of his dreams, and
she had at first a mischieviOus delight in
making him feel her power.
She was aware, certainly, that there
was charming quality in his gentle and
deferential manner which assumed that
she knew everything of which she was ig-
norant-was aware, too, that beside her
Ignorance he was learning's self; but he
seemed to her so dreamy and far away.
seemed to live in such a remote region
| from every day, that she said to herself
| she would as soon think of falling in love.
in return. with one of the town paupers
as with Rodney Monteith. and, indeed.
| there would be no great difference between
| the two if she did, she said, for he was no
more fit to take care of himself than a
| child; and under that conviction she i'm
nediately took his well-wOrn wardrobe
under her protection, piece by piece, and
| i'm his absence, till she had it in complete
order, and he never any the wiser. But
as Rosy darned and patched in that supe-
riOr manner of which her father was so
proud, and which had taken so many
prizes at so many fairs. she could not but
feel that she was at work on the garments
| of gentleman, and there dawned upon
her a sense of her supreme Stiffness in
| laughing at the absent-minded ways of a
man who stood as much above her as the
hills that lift their heads among the stars
of God are above the plains.
But for all that she was woman, and
| xrysfh n
| little. She had to put on her new print.
and make herself ravishing with apple
blossoms; and then when she had COM
pleted the work of enchantment, go to
walk with George Rives along the banks
of the brook, where he lay studying out
tie faults of his design, and appear to for
| get his existence in her interest concern
ing George Rives'. Sometimes, though.
she would walk over the fields to church
with Mr.. MOnteith himself of Svlday.
and she could remember for years, as if ii
were yesterday, how softly the distant
bells sounded, and how sweet the wind
came across the grass, as they walked side
by side; and when she heard his voice i'm
the hymn, deep and powerful bass, she
forgot dress and lovers, and everything
else, and her soul seemed lost in that rich
sound, like leaf floating on stream.
"You are complex little being,
Rosy he said one dav. sometimes
you seem to me spirit just ready to take
flight, and presently see you are part
of the earth ITSELF"
"What did you think was?" answered
Rosy. "Did you suppose I wasn't as
common clay as the rest? You thought
l was of the earth earthly when gave the
rose to George Rives. But you knew be
fore that was a child of the soil!" Ant
then she tossed rose to him.
, She found the rose years afterward shu
, away in an old analytical geometry, ant
he found her crying over it.
: One day, at length, when Rosy, to th'
top of her bent, was playing her part a
queen of hearts, and enjoying the tOrture
of her knaves, there came the great par
ish excursion to the Beach, some hal
. dozen miles distant, an annual gatherin!
J of all the countryside; and mighty wer'
, the preparations for the lunch-baskets
, and Of course it was not to be thought o
that Mrs. Mayne's hampers should no
exceed all the rest. And when the ap
7 pointed morning dawned in warmest sun
J shine, the hay-carts loaded with laughte
and beauty, and the old wagons with ag
and sobriety and viands, all trundlet
, down to the sands together, and the grea
? sea was greeted with free translation o
the old Greek shout. There she is =
> caid tho senior Mr. Rives ssTho tarna