Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-07-25

shake stick at. And you amt my
heir, neither-if | he'd enything to heir,
which l hain't for there's my boy Reub-
ing. that run away to sea when he was a
shaver. / haven't never heerd tell Of
him since; but it's likely he'll come to
light when there's anything to be made
by it,
Thus day by day spun out the sum of
fifteen wears, in which Della had been
Aunt Hitty's slave, and Aunt Hitty was
pear ninety, as Paul had predicted, when
rumor reached Highgate that Delia's
old lover was going to be married. He
was going to marry Young girl, too,
the gossips said and Aunt Hitty caught
the tune and played variations upon it,
con dD1Ore.
81 'spose he thought it want no good
waiting for me to drop off, Jest shows
twas your prospects he hankered after,
and not you, Della. l 'spose she's got
dimples, and crimps her hair, like as
not, and's got q cheek worth kissing.
You're growing kinder saller, Della
Your fathers cOmplect allus had a
dried-apple look. You favor that side
of the house. She plays on the pianny,
they say, Speed the Plow, and them
tunes that Paul will take to naturally
When old batcheldors marry little
chit like she is, they mostly acts as if
she was made Of chiny, and nothing's
too good for 'em. Lor sakes, Della,
who's that man coming across The yard
Where's my saults? What a start he
gave me, to be sure thought it was
Reubings father, and him in his grave
these thirty years, and we never getting
on together anything to speak of !"
But it was only Reuben himself, fol-
lowed by his wife.
After this Della might have been free
to go back to her old home AMI Paul ;
unly he did not need her any longer.
He had found another sweetheart, she
kept repeating to herself, hugging her
griefs closer day by day, till it seemed
to her as if, all at once, she had become
something superfuous on the face OF
the earth. In the meantime, hints of
the wedding preparations resched High
gate Gaily. One could almost catch
the odor of brides cake and the rustic
OF wedding garments.
" It's we'll for him." Aunt Hitty was
| fond of assuring her-''it's veil for him
that he give over waiting for an old
love in dead mems shoes, seeing that
Reubing has come to fill them hisself.
However, could you hev afforded veil,
Della, and all the fxings ?"
It was June, aud the world was at its
bravest, with b(ossoming and bird song.
| Della, with the heart of twenty still
huttering and aching under her old.
womanish gray boddice, allowed her.
self to remember the red roses that
nodded in at the windows of the sleep
ing-room at Carruthers Farm, and made
the June air as sweet as love itself ; al.
lowed herself to recall youth and all its
lost possibilities, to yearn wildly fol
the sight of her one lover, before he
should belong to another-just for one
| glimpse Of the comely, sunburned face
that had been her lode-star.
Chance threw fulflment in her way.
Aunt Hitty had heard of the new doc.
tor over at Hampton. whose touch was
Tsang pen SG@f@d4d and a455to 455toR RSGB aRigR aRigR
noon stage, that set her down at tht
crossroads leading into the village. No
body remarked the dusty little body, Il
her old poke bonnet, pausing 10 Iool
with misty eyes over the low stone wal
at the smart new church and the moss
crown graveyard at " the children jus
let loose from school, playing "catch
on the green, although the clouds Wert
gathering for shower, and corefu
housewives were closing their scuttl
windows and nurrying the weeks wasI
on the Ines. Delias thoughts were no
in the clouds; she did not even observ
that the sun had gone behind them
She walked on toward the Carruther
Farm, thinking to reach it by dusk
10 linger near till the lamps wer
lighted and to steal the ole tim
she ccveted-the sight OF her loN
er's face As she walked, the wind bt
can to freshen, the darkness to deeper
, ,,c rain fell fast and blinded her. Sh
stepped beneath an elm-tree for shelter
inst under the outermost bough OF
widespreadng tree, like tower {
= leaves, with BIRDS twittering among II
t branches. Sne stood there, lookln
ont at the storm in all its angry magnit
: cence. when suddenly the thunde
. seemed to shake the planet assunde
only Della did not see the blue bo
r that split the elm tree in all its gree
$ strength and left it a blackened ruin.
Somebody, looking out of the windo
t of the farmhouse near, saw 1t and shu'
t dered. r,
$ Sorry luck, Tom" said he. "Tl
/, lightning has blasted my elm tree !"
+ 1.-THE duce !" cried Tom, going to Il
g door to look out. " 1t might ha'
!. struck nearer with more harm. There
= a plenty of elms in the world. "
l. "But no elm like that one, Tor
- That trees been like friend to me.
II stuck it into the ground when it W
J. nothing but feeble twig, when | "
le angry with Della for going to Aunt II
7, tv; and when it began to grow felt
:, if miracle had been performed, Tc
r, as if it meant to tell me, IN eve
is green leaf and shoot, that Delia loy
lie me. in spite of all. I'd sooner t
r. LIGHTNING had hit anywhere instead.
As "lf you'd been bred a sailor IS
o. Tom, smiling at his brothers sentlmel
sYou'd have forgotten Della in doz
id sweethearts before this. Halloa "
b, another flash corruscated across I
S. hra 7ens, somebody had taken shell
is under your elm, Paul, as I'm a sim
r. There's a heap on the ground yonC
|, that looks nightly like a woma
he Come, I'm bound on a voyage OF d
covery !" and he rushed toward I
:" spot, followed by the doubling Paul
et To be sure, they found Della pr
trate and brought her in; called up
.rs serving,woman and the nearest neil
ng bors, and fetched the doctor that A,
nd Hitty had sent for. And when DE-
opened her eyes, after long persuasl
an having been only stunned, she saw
old familiar room, the chintz-cove
as lounge, with its wilderness OF pa
in and peacocks, and, dearer yet, the II
en- anxious eyes of Paul watching bes
her.
e's "You know that Aunt Hitty ne
me-" she murmured, taking up,
of thread of fifteen years ago. And
nat twins are getting old enough-to
: :" --vnur mother ;-and-oh but