Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1873-03-25
The Lord is my shepherd; shall


Uncle Liphalct went TO no mole of the
Company meetings.
"I'll fix the back door, Dolly. but
don't know anything whose hand'll swing
it," said he.
As for the Native Village Manulac.
turing Company" it was loaded with
stone to the waters edge. Poor, de-
ceivcd and disheartened though they
were, never did men strain muscle harder
than those who sought to tighten her;
bu, over the side the wafer came in, and
she went down
Then up from the east aud the west
aud the north and the south, camo credit.
ors, seeking their just dues, none doubt
cd, but seeming oltentimos to the gnarled
and hard working debtors like the fat
kline come up anew to dcvour the lean.
Aunt Dolly and Uncle Liphalet waited
patiently tor the one to whom they were
apportioncd. lie was not greedy; he
allowed his prey TO lie fattening until tho
leaf buds swcllcd on The lilacs Mean.
while what agonies Aunt Dolly under.
went cannot be described. What must
the crab feel in seeing the stork straddlo
along the shore and gobblc up his fellows,
and knowing not whether his turn shall
come now or then?
Aunt Dolly's cIeditor was al iron nan.
sleel.tipped, and brass bound; when,
therefore, The real creditor one early April
morning swung back the little picket
gate, and stopped TO snil at the lilac
buds, she closed her eyes as she would
have done in the hands OF the execution
er. She went, though. and let him in as
il he had come unto his own and his own
received him.
Then she sat down with her sock-kniL.
ting beside Uncle 'Liphalet. Uncle 'Liph.
shook worse, and his hair and face were
whittier than when Swinton called three
years before.
The creditor talked pleasantly; SO had
his predecessor All business men were
to Aunt Dolly OF the Artiul Swindeton
type.
The creditor opened the subject gently.
Il know the law gives it to you, sir;
but il, hard. hard bringing my mind to
it, said the hoarso voice of Uncle Liph.
coming over inlirm lips. Here's where
Dolly and me came when we were first
married There was Il heavy mortgage
on the fum; but we said we'd work our
selves clear, aud wc did sir. We'd saved
up something for Rube's cddycation but
Rgbc died and the moneys gone the
farms going, and we're going. | don't
know ,rhcrc were going"
The creditor looked troubled.
"Why, sir, there ainl a rod - stone
wall on The nrm burrye laid the stone !;
not foot . drrincd meIdcr land but I've
pa, down the tiles; not bearin' tree in
the orchard but grated there amt
Oh i'll be dreilul 10 take away the
farm, drcirul"
Uncle Lph laid his great, rough
hand, over his face, and the tears trickled
through his fingers.
"IIo don't oughter she'd tears" said
Aunt Dolly apoIogetically, "But he's
been 50 haras5cd and worried, he's kind
o weakened and broke down, sir. But
its hard on Us both to leave the old farm.
There's a difference, sir, betwixt farm
that's bought Tor lump o. money, and 4
farm that seems 10 stand for the spotted
calf and the cosset sheep, ana the yellow
hens eggs
Uncle Iiphalet broke in: IT'S rocky,
and don't look like much, | know, but
'poa,s 10 me men are some like trees; it's
them as has their roots twisted around
and under the rocks that it's hardest to
tear Ap. | never expected to die in the
poor house, sir. None o. my kin ever
went there. Why, what ,cOuld Rube
say. Dolly?"
1--WE tried hard to realize" said Aunt
Dolly. in the nighttime, TOO, SIR
what it'll be to be sitting by somebody
else's fire a knitting, him a bringing in
their wood, and out here another than
me, canning The plums, and drying the
sage, and a spatlin' up the butter on the
back porch"
"And drivin' the cows to pastur-O
Lordy ~ broke In the old man.
"But The hardest thing TO leave-Reu.
ben, our on,-hc was turned eighteen,
sir.-is buried on the farm. Ii you'll
step TO this winder, sir. I'll show you his
grave. There down under that maple.
There's where he fit for college, and
when he came to die, it seemed, sir, rs if
in that place where he dreamed over his
Latin, and his Greek, OF great futur',
there he wanted to be left. lie asked it
that morning in a Whisper hope
whoever gets the farm, sir they'll
they'll keep up the fence around the
grave"
The creditor choked back something in
his throat, and made nervous gesture.
keep it up yourself, madam, keep it
up yourself. Trade takes its own risks
and must bear its own losses. I'll not
come back on security of which | was
ignorant when l accepted the obligation,
on property that has became security
through the dishonesty of the man who
l,oo;.-oI 49, ., ,,,oI n. yn,, Nf,y humon.