Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-06-27
WHOLE No. 1884.

leyes as big as sassers Guess dey
| KIP sct de dinner'iI get itself de way
liay stau' arnnn' doin' ncfiih' Thee
turning to her companions, with /,
grim smile of satisfaction iiiaminins
her face as she observed the snddcr
industry of her helpmates, she add
ed, sYoung gals is mighty eur ous, da
very heels is alters eachin' &c Sc,
what's goin on.'
| The two aged negroes sat fol
some time in eloquent silence Theil
thoughts were too busy with many
memories for speech and their eye,
wandered over the lines that time
had furrowed in their faces, as if by
| gazing they might penetrate behind
the veil that years had woven. AnC
so it happened to them, as it has to s
1 thousand others that as they pro
longcd their inspection each seemed
less changed than they had though
| at first. The alterations that tim,
had made, and which struck them sc
appallipgly when they met, gradu-
ally faded away, and beneath the
burrows and wrinkles of age they
deserted once moro the old fadeless
and familiar Iineaments Of thei,
youthful days.
Asnt Betty was the first to speak
With softness of voice and manner
| that was in marked contrast with the
/ strident tone of her rebuke to the
young girls, she said with tremulous
emotion, DE Lord is massiful, Will
to low me to see your face agin' be ].
fore | die, arter all desc long years
| of waitin.'
de Lord is alters massiful, Bet. he
responded in the same suppressed
tone; and their simple hearts TOO
full for utterance, thoy again relaps-
ed into silence.
After the surprise of the recogui-
ton had subsidized, the sergeant felt
himself left out in the cowld,' as he
afterwards phrssed it. His buoyant
and mercurial temperament incapsc-
itated him for silent or inactive
spectator, and he grew moro and
| more FESTIVE under bis enforced tac-
iturnity. Accordingly he was about
to retire on some pretext, when aunt
Betty, shrewdly divining The truth
again urged him 10 stay, adding 10
an audible aside to Daddy Will,
'he b'longs to do family
You niver spoke moro sinsible
word ror that in all your l:fe, Mis-
thress Betty, 'intcrposed tho vivacious
Irishman, since it's preclou. little
there'd be of John .O'Dale this blissid
minute, outside of the churchyard,
if it hadn't been for that same family
Sure an it was lucky day intirely,
Daddy viii, when onld Betty adopt
ed me into the family, barrin' that
was on my last legs with the faver
from an ould wound / got in one of
Colonel Hugh's scrimmages. o thin
long, long days, and thin weary
nights, and the burnin' thirste and
the sore pains, and the wake body
chat ould mawther here watched ov-
es so tinderly and nursed so gently |
Bedad, its every bit her fault that
I'm noe reposin' very quietly with
toes to the DAISIES at this prisint, in
Std Of sittin' brisk and comfortable
forninst you here, waitin' for the
SPLENDID bowl of tag that Aunt Bet
| ty intends to brew for the two of u.s.
Aunt Betty did not remain long
upresponsive TO the aftfui hint with
which the sergeant wound up his
tribute TO her kindness, but, like ali
the Ewes, whether white or black,
who have fiouri.hed for the happi-
ness of man from the time of Adam
and of Mungo Park to this hour, she
was speedily con hispitible thoughts
intent, and the oft replenished bowls
of fragrant 'tay' which she supplied
caused the time to pass unregarded
by the trio, who had SO much to tell
and to hear. AT length a side door
of the kitchen opened, and Mrs. Pax
ton entered. The men rose and
bowed instinctively, bending again
and again before her stately but gen.
tie presence with studied and old
school politeness, Of two it was clear
that Dddy Will felt the most at home
before the lady. Nor was this re-
markable, since for all his life, when
not in the army, he had been favor
ed household servant,and was versed
in all the social observances. The
sergeant, on the contrary, felt much
more i'll at ease than If be were
heading file on the battlefield, but
his shrewd tact enabled him TO con-
eeal the awkardness he felt. Both,
however, were cbivalrous in their
devotion to woman, and in their SIM
pie, honest minds there was q ready
and unreserved acknowledgement of
her gentle supremacy 1t was in their
hearts TO have acted all that poets
have sung or chroniclers recorded of
noble deeds done in defense of wum-
anly purity and excellence.
Whom Mrs. Paxton had greeted
the sergeant with gracious word
of salution, she looked inquiriDgIy at
Daddy Will, and then turned to aunt
Betty, as if for explanation. But
that ancient danes countenance was
as impenetrable as the Sphinx aud
revealed nothing. 'Ahl aunt Betty
the lady exclaimed, L see you have
put on one of your inscrutable looks,
but you can not mystify me this time
| am sure this is uncle Will; and as
she spoke she held out her hand to
| him.
1t needed not the mute testimony
afforded by the relaxation of aunt
| Betty's iron visage to assure Mrs
Paxton that she was right, for the
cid man, taking her proffered hand,
raised it to his lips, and said, sAh!
miss Milly, see de Duncans never
! forget.
These simple words were para
bic full OF meaning to Mrs Paxton,
for .Milly,' the dimutive of Millieent,
was the name sac bore in the days
of her happy girlhood, and The Dun.
cans never forget was the well-re>