Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-11-26
RUTH'S THANKSGIVING.

RUTH HILL was the niece OF Farmer
Hill, as wild and pretty housekeeper,
the neighbors said,. as an old man would
care to have, whose own sons and daugh-
tiers were married and gone, and whose
wife was in heaven. She was good
at churning, baking or weaving, however;
her cheeses were the pride of the county,
her bread had passed into proverb. She
made nothing Of skipping down the slip.
perry sides of the we'll if the bucket
dropped in, and she would catch the colts
in the pasture by the name, and leap a
fence bare backed, enough to make ones
hair stand on end. She had moved a
whole afternoon with a neighbours son on
wager, and won it, too, and had looked
as bewitching as Maud Muller herself at
the task. She was both hoyden and f1irt
at once, but so capable and high-spirlted
that everybody forgave her, Many of the
young men in the township had paid
court to her, only to find it time wasted if
they dared put the question, though it
must be owned that she carried things
with high hand and gave them plenty of
encouragement; not that she wanted them
or their offers, but just because she
couldn't help it-because it was natural
to her to shine in their society and to love
their admiration rather than themselves.
Whom does Ruth Hill expect to marry?"
the old people would say, shaking their
heads at her wild capers. "She may go
through the woods and pick up crooked
stick at last 1t didn't use to be thus and
so in our day. If girls would marry they
had to take such husbands as were going
and not flout their bettersI' And when
these things were repeated to Ruth, as
they were sure to be, she would only
laugh. "Whom do I expect to marry
Why, none of their country pumpkins,
tell them. / haven't seen the man yet
who's made my heart beat, and l mean to
wait for him till I'm gray"
Maybe she's waiting for him of the
| Ridge Farm was the favorite sarcasm
launched at Ruth. Now the owner OF
the Ridge Farm was as mythical d per-
sonage to the residents at Greenside as the
Grand Lama of Thibet or the man in the
moon. 1t was, indeed, well authenti-
Gated fact that farm of that name existed
that its owner carried off the county
prizes; but nobody among Ruth's ac-
| quaintances remembered having seen
him. Nobody in those parts had had the
happiness to meet him in highway OF
market-town; but when a son of Green
side was to be especially commended to
the good graces of any of its daughters
he was declared as good catch as him
of the Ridge Farm" or if neighboI
raised an ambitious crop of grain OF
grapes, or a yoke of steers remarkable in
any respect, he was reputed to have beat
en- the Ridge Farm hollow. AS this hero
was understood to be a bachelor, the girls
| joked about him. Every stranger driving
by was "him of the Ridge Farm" when
their scissors stuck in the floor, he was
coming to call; and every letter among
the tea grounds in their cups was written
by him. To be mistress ofthe Ridge Farm
was almost equivalent, in their regard, te
being Queen Of England.
1 "I'm tired of this eternal litter about
the Ridge Farm and its owner" SAID
i Ruth, on one occasion. 6 / suppose he's
made of clay like other folks"