Litchfield enquirer., 1877-11-29
PoINTD D, ALENcoN.

IL
 Mrs, Rutherford was looking over her laces. There were many choice pieces of pointe pur- chased in Europe. Mechlin and Brussels pointe, Limerick pointe, with other Irish faces; Honi- ton, delicate dAlencon, and one precious piece of antique pointe de Venise, for Mrs Ruther- ford was connoisseur in laces, aud threw away her money in recklessly extravagant way whenever fine piece was concerned.
 Hope Rutherford, 1 wish you would tell me how you happened to take the lace mania, !" I said, as lifted from the handsome Japanese casket an odd piece, mixture of lace and en- broidery, which 1 fancied she had picked up in some out-of- -the-way corner of Switzerland.
 II believe I was 10 years old, :" she replied, when began my study of laces. The strip which you hold in your hand was my first ac- quiSitiOn. It has a rather curious history. Would you like to hear it ?"
 And then Hope Rutherford told me the fol- lowing story, which proved to be not of quaint ly costumed peasants in some Swiss Valais, or of some princely lady of the court of Francis l., but of her own stormy childhood and first love-
 The daughter of pioneer judge, Hopes early life had been spent on farmin the west, five miles from the little town of Conflict. Their nearest neighbors were the Antoines A shrinking little woman, with light hair and 'washed-out eyes, was Mrs. Antoine, but she had a furtive way of glancing from them that seemed to tell that she might have had ideas of her own before they were crushed out by the colonel, who had never been in the army, and held his title only as mark of respect. Of French descent, and of fiery Gallic tempera- ment, he united to many hereditary vices oth- CTS for whose distinctive originality he might have taken out patent. Life with him could not have been pleasant under any circumstan- ces.
 The two dwellings stood within few rods of each other but long detour was necessary to pass between them, for, dividing the wood- ed knoll on which Colonel Antoine had reared his strange structure from the broad acres of cornield, scarcely overtopped by Squire Mays stockade of logs and mud ran deep ravine, the bed of fierce little stream called the Wild Cat
 Another gulf separated them, for though their position as settlers in new Kansas offered many points of resemblance in the trials and hardships which both met so bravely, yet the heads of the families when they met as they did on their way to and from Conflict, never recognized each other. Mrs. Antoine would have explained this in her mellow accents, are from the Nawth and we uns from the Saouth."
 The very houses with their surroundings spoke the difference between them. Squire Mays farm had been as thickly wooded as the colonels estate, but with his own right arm he had chopped down the trees, built his home of two rooms and loft above them, pried up the stumps, ploughed and sownhis cornfield. After three years of labor as farmer he was begin ing to reap the results. The. deserted law books stood upon the rough shelves against the log wall of the ,''front rOOm;" good library of miscellaneous literature kept them company. Above the books hung the squires carbine, on- ly used against the prairie chickens, for he was man of peace, A rag carpet, of Mrs. May workmanship, covered the floor. Everything bore marks of thrift and industry.
 Colonel Antoine had pre-empted his claim the year previous to the coming of the Mays. The Wild Cat joined the Missouri river near the site which he had chosen for his residence, and the reason of his choice of this particular spot had been the presence at it's mouth of a sunken steamboat, its upper cabin just emerg- ing from the muddy water. A band of the celos1ePs sNonpnn nions, fhizing the nDh ble cause which had led him to leave his plan tation in Missouri, that of helping to drive all free state' men from Kansas, had come over to help establish him in his new home. They brought gang of negroes with them, and had a raising" in which a great deal of whisky was consumed, and the cabin of the sunken steamer was raised and dragged to the top of the knoll. Its side faced the road, presenting the peculiar spectacle of a house with twenty front doors. After this it needed not a great deal of work on the colonels part to render 1t habitable, and it was not long before he remov- ed to it his family and chattels. The former consisted of his gentle little wife and four boys, and the latter of one mule, one COW, and one 'niggah," faithful Aunt Pollyanthus The colonel make no attempt to improve the place, but proceeded daily to Conflict, mounted on his mule, and armed in the most ferocious man. ner, his business being politics and gambling.
 And vet in spite of this chasm between them, human nature asserted its claim, and the ''wom- en folks" of these two homes became earnest friends Though Mrs. May disapproved of the shiftlessness of Mrs Antoine's housekeeping, of the dirty ruffled pillow cases, of the painted plaster-Paris parrot on the clock shelf, of the number of the coloners empty whisky bottles and old boots that strewed the ground opposite the front entrance, and of the caImness with which Mrs. Antoine regarded the confusion of her kitchen and the ragged condition of her sons clothing while she worked endless bands of very dirty but very fine embroidery, yet she loved the little woman with all her heart, and had done so ever since the night that she lock-
 
 and hattled death with her until at dawn fifth little Antoine lay in his mothers arms.
 Don't talk to me-" she would say to her husband, lone has only to look at those boys to know there is pluck in their mother"
 And if Gus Antoine, the elddst, was sam- pie of what the rest would be, her words had 1 their weight. Gus was 15, clerk in a book store at Conflict, and it was principally from his earnings that the family were supported. They saw him walking bravely to town early every morning, carrying his dinner in little tin pail, his jacket, whose buttons were all old bachelors, in that no one or them had mate, fastened tightly to the throat, where it was l met by turned paper collar and fiashy mag enta necktie Squire May liked the boy. i,
 Through their three years of neighborhood | the friendship between the two grew and strengthened, till, at the time at which our sto- l " finds them, the Squire remarked to his wife | that he didn't believe he could think more of Gus Antoine if he were his own son, and he intended soon to begin reading law with him. There was one other who looked forward to the boys visits with pleasure, the Squire's only child, little Hope She had gone strawberry ing, and hazel -nutting with him before he had won her fathers favor. All the Antoine boys had strongly marked French features with star l bIeu UldCk eyes dHu UdiT tO HldCCu AOIHuLS d strong contrast to Hopes blonde beauty. l While Gus was away with her father, Hope went every day to recite French lessons to Mrs. Antoine, and to learn to make the marvellous embroidery, whose great eyelets were filled in l with cobweb-like wheels in lace stitches of pointe d'Alencon. So the Summer passed, but with the fall came the elections, Squire May re- turned from his brief vacation to learn with surprise that the free state" party had nomi- mated him as their candidate for the district judgship, and that his opponent on the demo cratic ticket was Colonel Antoine. The elec- tion was closely contested, but ended in the usual way, Colonel Antoine's friends coming over from Missouri, voting for him and render l ing the democrats triumphant. Squire May was heard to protest loudly against the illegal 1 ity of this proceeding, and as he drove toward home it was observed that his usual calm tenn per was much disturbed.
 The day following election was an eventful one to Mrs Antoine and Hopea they sat over their embroidery on bench under the broad | xz1-- Al