Los Angeles daily herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1873-1876, 1874-02-15

said he; Il should have liked to have
seen you at church tonight. L don't
feel very well to-day, so will you come
in now and stay the afternoon with
me?'
Il wish / could, SOL said as jaun-
tily as possible, but the fact is I've
promised an old friend at Luckheaton'
LuckheatOn lay in the direction ex-
actly opposite to Blagly) to go over
and have quiet chat with him. He
is not able to go about much himself
/ suppose Solomon was shaking
hands in his ordinary manner, but his
long fingers seemed to me to have tied
themselves about mine to hold me
back.
you want new umbrella, Sol,' re-
marked l, neatly preparing the way
for the gift l had in store for him;
and, thought, turning the converse
ton with cOnsumate tact. d.
Do % asked Solomon, looking
down upon the machine as if he had
never seen it before in his life. sWe
both of us want q good many new
things, Jacob; new habits, new aims,
-, s@Ah yes, indeed we do, ,sighed Z, !.
cheerfully, as l felt the grip of his
fingers relaxing. YOU'RE looking all
right, Pm glad to see. Don't go and
fancy yourself ailing, Sol, its
womanish trick, and not at all like
YOU
mo, / am not fanciful,' he said,
tucking his book tenderly under his
long arm. Goodbye, then, Jacob; I
shall see you again sometime tonight,
shall 1 %
Awkward, that query at the end,
but l nodded yes to him just as ii l had
know-Let ME see-where was 1
Well, Solomon and parted very good
friends. He looked back at me with a
smile as l waited; and afterward !
looked back at him-with smile, too,
for the moment 1 turned, q branch of
his old pear-tree caught his hat (which
he always wore at the very back Of
his head, and kept it; and he walked
Oh to the parsonage door without an
idea that his head was bare. l hur-
ried on cheerfully then, feeling pretty
sure | was safe. Solomon would be In
his study all the afternoon, and in his
pulpit in the evening. Then he would
drink his cup Of strong tea and sleep
the sleep of parson until morning,
with his lattice window wide open
and square Of the night sky exactly
before his eyes.
My sleep is calm he used to say,
IF my last look has been on heaven
And calm 1 believe 1t always was;
though his bed was narrow and short
and he-though narrow too---was long.
Sol never could be induced to spend on
himself any money which he could
spare to give away, and so he persisted
in using the bed he had had az boy.
AS for mine, had been glad enough
to discard it for better.
Well, we had rare sport on that Sun
day afternoon, and our bird came off
the winner, though the squirrels was as
plucky a little cock as ever got beaten.
There he lay when the tussle was over,
with his comb up and his mouth lit
tie open, as If he was only taking in
breath for q new attack; yet as dead
as if he were roasted with stuffing.
10 gave us supper after the fight;
apiece over settling our bets; then we
gave our minds to pleasure, and en-
joyed good brew of JOS punch; and
the squire, though he had been beaten,
was one of the cheerfulest of us all.
AS it was Sunday, we determined to
separate in goo 4 time; SO when il got
toward IL, we set out, while 10 stood
in his lighted doorway shouting hearty
gOod-nights after US. had waited to
make an appointment with him for
the next day, that we might conclude
the bar gain for the colt, so l was q lit
tie behind the others in starting.
Take care Of YOURSELF called 10,
you have the most money, and the
furthest to 20. Mind the notes. Five
twenties, and I've copied the num-
beers that we may be safe. Tell the
squire 80, If he waylays you in the
dark
This was JOS parting joke, and when
l answered it gave kindly touch to
the pocketbook in my breast pocket;
and the squire, who heard us, called
out that he daren't try tonight, as
there was moon behind the clouds.
was riding a favorite little mare
who knew every step Of the way be-
tween my own stables and JOS, so I
rode peaceably on in the dark, recall
ing the flavor of JOS whisky, and sing
ing over one of the verses of a song the
squire had given us
With five pounds your standing wages,
You shall dainty be fed;
Bacon, beans, salt beef. cabb-agcs,
Buttermilk and barley bread.
Suddenly the mare made deliber-
ate stop, and reused me from my melo-
dious dreaminess. Certainly at the
end Of the lane gate opened on the
heath, but then she understood quite
we'll that she had only to liftsand push
this gate, and she had never before
reused me here when had been riding
sleepily home from Blagly.
Steady, my girl! Why, what is it@
cried l, for she was shying back into
the lane, and behaving in every way
like lunatic. gave her such cut
as she had not fslt since she was broken
in; and then, without word or warn
ing, she reared entirely upright; took
me at disadvantage, and sent me
sprawling into the ditch; then turned
and gallOped back toward Blagly with.
out me.
was none the worse for my fall,
only shaken little, and astonished o
great deal; so picked up first myself
and then my hat, and stumbled on to
find the heath gate. had my hand
upon it, when the moon came smiling
from under cloud, and the whele
level waste Of heath was made visible
in a moment. But the sight Of the
heath, in all its barren ugliness, was
not what struck me with such chill,
and made my eyes prick and my
throat grow apoplectic. / never gave
second glance in that direction, for
there close to ME, only on the opposite
side of the closed gate, stood my
brother Solomon. I could not have
v,;oto ban him 10 thavoa had oplv hsap