Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-03-29


ters on his hands, and bricks on his head,
II he can talk, his condition is not un-
bearable. But Uncle 'LiphaIet couldR't t
talk; so he picked his way down the icy
steps, groped his way home through the
snow-storm and ratified the back door as
a signal to Aunt Dolly to let him in.
"Are you frozen, Liphalet ?" asked
Aunt Dolly in terror as the candle-light
struck the white face.
Uncle 'Liphalet staggered in, and sink
ing on the lounge covered his face with
his wrinkled hands.
80, DOlly!''
"You needn't tell me 'Liphalet,
know what tits. I've felt twas coming.
But o, 'Liphalet, we've helped each other
through hard times these fifty years and
we've got each other yet"
Uncle 'Liphalet only grOaned.
maybe the farm I'll last us through |;
we're Almost worn out, and it won't be
long that we'n be waiting. With the
farm and each other"
80, Dolly, Dolly! you don't know the
worst, and l can't tell you: l never can
tell you, Dolly, never" Uncle Liph
staggered part way across the room, then
turned suddenly.
"They're going to take it all, Dolly
everything-strip us clean, clean as we
were when we began fifty years ago
house and farm and cOws-everything.
There's been great carelessness as well as
great wrong from the very beginning,
and now they're coming. The law'll let
'em, andi g got to go-the back pastur',
and the wood-lot, and the young orchard,
and everything-even Rube's grave, Dol
ly. OGod! haven't served Thee these
fifty years I; why shouldst Thou cast me
of nOw?'
The gray, scraggy face with the gray,
straggly hair around it was turned to-
ward the ceiling. Aunt Dolly went out into
the night.
1t wa, stormy, and cold, and bitter.
The sleet cut against her cheek, the wind
raved In her hair and the snow drifted at
her feet, but Aunt Dolly didn't mind it.
She only wanted air and to think. She
leaned up against the weather-browned
clapboards. Was it really going. going,
going, all going? She couldn't think, one
word alone whistled over and over in her
brain, - going, going. She looked of
through the storm to the dimly-outlined
maple beneath which lay Rube's grave.
That, too, was going.
Heart and brain together grew numb I;
muscles, involuntarily acting, carried
Aunt Dolly into the house. The voice of
| an duUOnlaCOn S8lu -
'1t's time we had prayers, father"
opened the old book. A strained voice
began -
"The Lord is my shepherd; 1 shall
not"
The two automatons fell on their knees
with tears, half broken sobs, and half ar
| ticulati0ns, and were automatons no
longer.
Uncle 'Liphalet went to no more meet
S1'll fix the back door, Dolly, but
don't know anything whose hand'll swing
it." said he.
As for the 'Native Village manufacture
ing company" it was boat loaded with
stone to the waters edge. Poor, deceived
and disheartened though they were, never
did men strain muscle harder than those
who sought to tighten her ; but over the
side the water came in, and she went
down.
Then up from the east and the west and
the north and the south, came creditors,
seeking their just dues, none doubted, but
seeming oftentimes to the gnarled and
Woodworking debtors like the fat kline
come up anew to devour the lean. Aunt
Dolly and Uncle 'Liphalet waited patient
ly for the one to whom they were appor-
toned. He was not greedy; he allowed
his prey to Lie fattening until the leaf buds
swelled on the lilacs. Meanwhile, what
agonies Aunt Dolly underwent can not be
described. What must the crab feel i'm
seeing the stOrk straddle along the shore
and gobble up his fellows, and knowing
not whether his turn shall come now or
then?
Aunt Dolly's ideal creditor was an iron
man, steel-tipped and brass-bound; when,
therefore, the real creditor one early April
morning swung back the little picket gate,
and stopped to snuff at the lilac buds, she
closed her eyes as she would have done In
the hands of the executioner. She went,
though, and let him in as if he had come
unto his own and his own received him.
Then she sat down with her sock-knit-
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 Artful Swim
dleton type.
The creditor opened the subject gently.
81 know the law gives 1t to you, sir !;
but it's hard, hard bringing my mind to
IL" said the hOarse voice OF Uncle 'Llpn
coming over infrm lips. ''Here's where
Dolly and me came when we was first
married. There was a heavy mortgage
on the farm; but we said we'd work our.
selves clear, and we did, sir. Wed saved
up something for Rube's eddycation; but
Rube died and the moneys gone; the
farms going, and we're going. l don't
know ,ohere we're going"
The creditor looked troubled.
"Why, sir, there ant rod o. stone
wall on the farm but I've laid the stone !;
not foot o. drained medder land but I've
put down the tiles; net bearin' tree In
the orchid but l grated; there ant.
Oh /! it'll be drefful to take away the farm,
dreffhl."
Uncle 'Liph laid his great, rough hands
over his face, and the tears trickled
through his fingers.
"He don't oughter shed tears" said
Aunt Dolly, apologetically, "but he's
been so harassed and worried, he's kind
o. weakened and broke down sir. But
it's hard on MS both to leave the old farm.
There's difference, sir, betwixt farm
that's bought for q lump o. money, and