Litchfield enquirer., 1875-04-15
From Hal per's Monthly.1 -1J raEWiDoW cASEsFmDA 4
z. < sssa A DEAR HUNT.

They got in at Pekin, and sat down be. fore me ill the cara fat, placid old lady, with droning voice like the continuous pur of an ancient and sleepy cat, and a lean, tall. griZzled old man with pursed up lips and watery eyes. There seemed to be no end of bundles i'll their arms there was big faded carpet-bag of the very oldest fashion, that went under the old lady's feet, for she was short. =.
 ''Set right down. wife-set right down I tell ye, nd I'll push 1t under yer feet it'll be amazin' handy to keep 'em out C draughts y
 When that was pushed under the end of the seat, there was great yellow band box, quite the worse for wear, to be squeezed into the rack above, causing deep anxiety on the old lady's part.
 ''For the lands sake don't ye smash it, John: my best bunRet's int, and if them bowes get bent out o'shape, do no what on airth can do tot. Lorainy she fixed 'em real nice, nd"
 "Oh, pshaw pshaw! women-folks are alters in pucker. ain't a-goin' to break your bunnet: there now. Where's the flag root ?"
 A long bundle was laid up beside the bandbox.
 H they'll jest slip in easy"
 And up went the bag, with little tin pail over it; and before the couple were free to sit down quietly and hunt for their tickets there had appeared, besides the parcels already detailed, willow basket with two covers, redolent of apples. a stone jug, and yellow silk handkerchief. 1 After much hunting in pockets the tick cts were found and delivered, and before we came to the rocky pass of Satan's King dom the old couple had settled into quiet ness and begun to enjoy their journey. But not its picturesqueness- The frown- ing rocks above us; the sullen whirling river below. black as Styx; the sharp cliff on the other side, along whose face, on a terrace blasted out from the rocks, ran the | gleaming lines of another railway; the few trees that looked shudderingly down up- on us-al these did not arrest my two neighbors. They were discussing their visit to Pekin in an even flow of talk that could not but hear; only a part of it, however. need to repeat, since it held l for me significance Iknew not at the time.
 ''Lorainy Case is good gal; yes. she's a fust-rate good gal," muttered the old man, as his wife finished telling him how the person the question had ''fxed up my Sunday bunnet as good as neE."
 '.1t was a mysterious providence that took him away so young,' he went on. ''So 'twas-so twas" answered his wife. ''But he was dreadful headstrong. Thom- as was. He might ha' knowed the ice wouldn't ha' bore him after such 8 thaw. They do say Lorainy begged of him to stay to hum, but twas alters yea and amen with him. He stuck to what he'd calc lated to do tigher'n wax; so he got drovnded, as he might hs' expected, nd left her 8 widder, nd she only jest nine- teen. It's dreadful hard on her to hev her 'fictions come along so early, as you may say. Still, she does seem to be pret- ty cherk. arter all. most times. Miss FL bert Case she says twas kind o'mistake Lorainy's a-marrym' Tom, anyway" ''Why, how's that? Folks generny know who they're a marrin'."
 ''Well, it was real gueer. You see, Tom and Jim was both out to Californy, and Lorainy wasn't but sixteen year old. She'd had fust-rate edlcatlon to Hartford, and she was beautiful singer; so when she went to Pekin to teach in the 'cademy, she took to singin' in the cholr, and sot beside of Jane Case, and they struck up 8 kind of intimacy, so to speak, and Jane she showed her the boys picturs; and you know Jim was real hansum, but Tom l was dreadful hard-favored of he was smart. Well, l do'no' jest how it come about, but what with the boys a-sendin' of her to ans- wer back. it come to ietter-writin' afore long, nd it seems she got the boys faces sorter mixed ik. so't she thought Jim was Tom, and fust she knew Tom offered mar riage to her. and got his pictur copied, that IS to say, Jims. And then Tom he was comin' back to be married, nd Jim went and got killed in the mine jest two days afore Tom left, which was kinder luck, as you may say; for when Tom did come home, To and behold Lorainy screamed right out, for she thought he was Jim, or ghost, or what not. Any way, 1t all come out, how she'd been a writin, to Tom and a-carryln' Jim's pie tur; and you'd better believe there was trouble. But Tom he wouldn't let her of nohow, after two years a-writin' back an forth; nd he'd got some ahead in life as to means, he about six thousand dollars, and could buy farm, and Lorainy-well- l do'no' hOw she felss Sols will ba gals; but they persuaded of her to marry Tom, nd, sure enough, 'twan't six months after t he was drownded. Miss Ebert Case l says twas a real providence, for they didn't seem to be overly happy. Tom was l dreadful rough, an Lorainy she was pret. | ty sperity, and seemed as though she'd married the wrong man after all, and so-' ''Well, well, mother: mebbe Tom didn't see the providence into so quick as Lo- rainy: I should ha' said twas more keerless- uess than providence that took a man out on rotten ice; but Ebert Cases wife alters | was a master-hand for providences. I'm glad Lorainy's provided for, anyway. She's a handsome little cretur, nd as good as gold"
 ''Oh my she ain't provided for, hus- band; that's the wust ont. He never made 1 no will, so she hain't got nothin' but her thirds; she'll have to go to teachin' agin onless her aunt, old Miss Fyler. out to Canaan, gives her home. Shes abund- | ant able to do 1t, but she's kinder near, 1 ye know"
 tI declare fort v exclaimed the old man ''That makes.m thinkl Lorainy knew 1 we was a-eoin' to Canaan, nd she give me her pictur to take to Miss Fylsr, and do'no' as should ha' thought ont agin, for stuck it in this coat pocket ''Let's see it, said the old lady. So the photograph was taken from the en- vefope he produced, and very carefully in- | spected by both parties.
 l ::'Favors her mother. don't she?" said the wife. There ain't no Fyler looks there. She is real hansuna, and as pretty a gal as there Is any where around" '"That's so," was the ready response; and then the phot tograph was fnfther dis eussed, and all the Case family. or I thought so. till after had been in Pekin myself. and found out that every body in the town was either Case or Humphrey. But dld not listen long; the road grew more and more attractive. and when al last We steamed past Norfolk. and hissed along the hillside of the beautiful Canaan Valley, I was too absorbed in the series oi exquisite pictures to hear the incessant flow of village gossip that went on and on In the vernac1lar of New England both before and behind me. At last I left ny bag and shawl still lying there, to stand at the train, and watch the lovely curves of meadow, fold and unfold at the foot oi the dark hills, here and there patches oI sunshine lighting up fields of young grain, the fresh verdure of a clusfer of msrlaa