The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-11-15
Mrs. weatberbe said thew ssmnst % ;,

lighted, "and they all said " good after
noon," and while Betsey was bowin.
them down the front steps, and think
ing how much better the Eastern LADY,
dress would swing out if she had bacl
hoops on, the scribe slid out of the eel
lar-way, grabbed up the album, ran IN
to the big closet that has a window il
it, and picked up her train--Of thought
as a very careful knitter does droppeC
stitches.
1t is the last picture in the album, tn,
pinched face of poor Phebe Ann, tina
shall have it's story, all that is known o
il, told. Once, when ''yours, etc. ;
was young and idle, before she becam,
scribe to the B. family, she knew thi
/ Phebe Ann; she was an old maid, too
but not a bit ike the Green Mountain
one.
She was over forty years of age wher
she came from the east with her ole
and feeble parents to settle near friend.
in little, kind, quarrelsome, gossipy
western village. With all the busy pry
ing and poking, nobody knew why
! Phebe Ann had never changed bel
name. To be sure she was sallow and
sharp featured, and angular, but there
was picture in the parlor that told when
she was young and charming. 1t was
hard 10 realize it, for she always had
! the same set look on her face, and did
her thin, silver-streaked hair in the
same tight twist, with stingy little
comb atop of it. One old philosopher
said he had seen her face change to the
beauty of an angel, when she was hand
ing cookies through the fence to hungry
street urchins (she always made the
cookies for the churce picnics, ETC., and
they were the incest in the world. She
was an unbending Presbyterian. Like
Hannah mending Shoes" she always
sat by the same window, doing patch
work, or family work. The time came
when there was, funeral in the house,
then another, and after that Phebe Ann
lived alone.
One mild May afternoon, when the
earth was moist and warm, and the air
redOlent with the perfume of new leaf
and opening bud, the dearest friend of
your humble scribe-the one she wrote
| criss-cross letters 10 when she was
"away to school,, - and vowed to love
for ever and ever-eame in quietly for
her, upset basket of stOcking-darning,
rocked against the window, and said
ave must 90 and sit up with Phebe
Ann tonight. She is sick and wants
us; ma said 500
In those roseate days to have sat up
with Gloria for week upon the slight
est provocation would have been rap
ture.
Gloria bought a stack of Ledgers-
we were reading Self-Made" and
were deeply in love with Ishmael-and
with cordials and kind messages the
watchers turned down "back streets, -
as villagers say, just as the house lights
were twinkling Ike stars in the win
dows. Phebe Ann didn't look much
sick; there was the same prim smile that
allowed the lips to stretch just so far
and no further. After all, Gloria said,
her ewes didn't look natural and she was
afraid to stay without Mrs. Mills or
somebody. Her friend said "pOoh, -
and arranged the pillows and laid the
palm of her hand against the sick wom-
an s cheek, professionalism, to see if
she had fever. ..
The roosters were exchanging mid
night SITUATIONS; the wind blew fu-
riously and the bough of a sprawling
peach tree tapped against the window
like the fingers of a speculative ghost.
Gloria sat in an old ancient rocking
chair, cushioned with ba1ana-trees and
bird-of- Paradise curtain calico. She
spoke in awed whispers and looked too
scared to stir. Some way, Ishmael had
lost all his charms; if he sank into
'the Depths" who cared?
"Girls," called Phebe Ann, softly,
and motion and speech came back.
d" have had good sleep and nice
dream, and now won't you bring that
hair trunk out of the closet and put it
on the floor before my bed?n
sis she crazy?" asked Gloria, in a
tragic whisper, as the two went stum-
bling over each other into the darkness
of the deep closet.
"Thcre; open it and take every thing
out clear TO the bottom; unfold that
linen sheet, l want to tell you now,
while | can, about 1t.
. A creamy white silk gown, with low
neck and lace sleeves, was shaken out ;
bouquet was pinned to the bosom OF
the dress-it was only the dust of roses.
There was daguerreotype faded and
dina perhaps it was the picture OF
Phebe AIMS brother; but yellow
card dropped out, engraved with two
hands clasped, and a c;rclet woven OF
brown hair, linked about with a golden
tress. was fastened to it with bit OF
silk thread. r-rr-r #-
'sShall we give these to her?" asked
one, for Phebe Ann had lain her head
back on the pillow and closed her eyes
"Wait till she speaks again. said
the other. .l rsLI
The big square clock on the shell
licked louder and louder; the candle
wick was so long it had parted threads
and a thief was wasting the tallow down
the side (Phebe Ann was afraid of ker-
osene) pair of unhappy cats snarled
at each other under the lilac bushes
the wind came hard against the door
and moaned because it could not get in,
and two frightened, wild-eyed girls sat
on the floor, on either side of the trunk,
with the lang syne linens and silks
Sllll ndullGu Will ALO DlNsRlh VI lOoC
mary and camomile that grew in the
garden of the long-ago, in heaps before
them.
The moon broke through the showery
clouds, the winds died away, the cat:
scampered across the street, and the
spell of silence fell on every thing bu
the determined clock, which struck the
hour as promptly as if darkness anC
death were the same as light and life.
"She is worse" whispered Gloris
across the trunk, and | shall run fol
Mrs. Billings" and as she opened the
door to step out the guest waiting out
side stepped in. l did not see him, but
Phebe Ann did, through her shut lids
and stretching out her thin hands, she
cried joyfully, al am ready, John,
and the spirit feet were well up the shin.
inc path before the neighbors got there
Detroit Free Press.
A Mad Dog in Church.
Last evening during the service at St