, 1877-05-11
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euls kim. uhich uas done night warmly.
uis hurue uas given b The care of . SER
vani. and With he sa.ldle-haga upon his
arm. h. followed his guide into the
hou.r. uhere he was presented 10 Mrs.
baiof,l. . pleasant faced, smiling Wo-
nan. In The prime of life, Who welcomed
HIM IN q manner that male him feel At
hone Il once. She took his saddle-bags,
and gave him . seat, and shortly, with
her husband. sat down for . chat.
The day was declining, and the night
creeping on, and a. the candles had not
yet been lighted, the low stadded room,
shaded by the broad roof Of the plaza,
grew to Be quite gloomy as the CONVEX
sation progressed. They had talked of
the weather, Of the crops, Of the pro-
gress Of civilization, and Of the spread
Of the gospel, when o door was opened,
letting in the grateful aroma of broiling
chicken and gIdddle cakes, and also, Civ
ing ingress to q bevy of children-six of
them. The elder, a little near sighted at
best, in the gathering gloom could only
distinguish that the children were all
young, part boys, and part girls. The
foremost was boy, who came boldly
forward, and whom the elder caught by
the arm.
"Aha, my little one, what is your
name?"
Johnny Buford, sir"
"a fine boy, I declarep And he
kissed the sturdy shaver upon the cheek.
He knew such things were pleasing to
parents, and then he was fond of chill
dren.
The next was q girl.
Now my little lady, what is your
name?"
"I'm Sissy Buford, SIR"
"And I hope you try to be a good
little girl" And he gave her a hearty
smack.
And so he went through with the lot.
He heard the host and the hostess litter,
and he fancied that the good woman
held her handkerchief over her mouth,
and that the chair in which Mr.. Buford
sat shook as though its occupant Lad an
ague fit.
"a fine lot of children" declared the
elder. "What treasures they are in Q
household. Ahl how / pity the man and
wife who are condemned to live on, year
after year, without blessed children.
You must be proud of yonr family,
brother Buford."
At this point Mrs. Buford could con-
tain herself no longer. The compressed
handkerchief was of no avail. She
burst into o laugh, long and hearty,
and her husband uproariOusly followed
suit.
The elder was astounded. What could
it mean?
Just then two servants entered, one
to bring lighted candles, and the other
to announce that supper was ready.
And then the good elder saw. There
stood the six children-beautiful chill
dren-their ebony faces cleaning in
the candlelight like SO many aces Of
spades-little, woolly headed babies,
every oneI Mr.. and Mrs. Buford had
never had children of their own, and
they had petted these juvenile darkeys
until the jetty little rascals had become
as irrepressible on the premises as SO
many favorite cats and dogs.
Mrs. Buford laughed again when she
saw the elder vigorously wiping his
lips; but over the we'll filled supper
table the tide of feeling soon turned
to forgetfulness of the ludicrous fastx
pas.