The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-02-02
FROM HER OWN STORY.

Out of thy own mouth do condemn thee
.--Lltke IjT. %.
"THERE's no tellin' what he would
a done. He might a killed himself
and he might not said the widow Bar
ker, as she bent over Mrs Martin 8
bright kitchen hearth, to knock the
ashes from her old clay-pipe. "The
neighbors thought he acted so Just to
scare me. But l tell you, Miss Martin,
when folks happen to think that they
might end their troubles by maxim way
with 'emselves, Old Nick has got hold
On 'em, and he keeps pullin' 'em
along until by and by he has everything
his own way. | wouldn't live through
another such a time for what the whole
place is worth. Why, l just lived in
fear and tremblin' all winter long, and
before spring came | made up my mind
I'd get away from there. Oh, the way
they treated me! tell you, anybody
who'll use a mother the way | was used
- and she gave her old head a mys-
FERROUS shake that sent the gray hair,
which was cropped off straight across
the neck, bristling out worse than ever.
She put in her mouth the stem of the
empty pipe, strong with the concen-
trated odor of many pounds of tobacco,
and took two or three long pulls, each
one ending only when the thin, dark
cheeks drew together and caressed each
other.
"Why did your son act so Strangely"
,queried Mrs. Martin. as she stood by
the ironing table, putting the finishing
f0nnha, To 70 ,la o1nfh
"'Cause he couldn't get all the prop
ETY. into his own hands. He wanted |
should sign over my thirds to him and
give him all the personal prope'ty, and
then | might a. whistled for livin', or
gone to the poor-house, for all O. what
he'd a cared. But William wasn't so
much to blame, after all. 1t was more
his wife's doin's. She kept settin' up
all O. the time. She was high-strung
piece, part Scotch and part Yankee.
Her folks died when she was small, and
she come up sort O. by luck and chance.
Mag l used to tell her, you never
was anybody and you never will be any
body Then wouldn't her Scotch tenn
per fly like sparks from burnin' Chin
ney in high wind!
No, there d never been word said
about the properly if Bill hadn't a gone
and got married. He'd a worked the
place just as he'd done all along since
the old man died, and | could a. lived
with him in peace. But as soon as he
brought his Highland lassie,' as he
used to call her, there, then, hurrah
boys! there want no rest till he'd got
deed O. the land. The girls signed
off for 5000 apiece, to be paid when
Bub comes of age. Then he will have
an equal share with the rest, which
won't be till three years from next JAN
uary. In consideration for signin' away
my thirds, if stayed there, was to re-
ceive small sum o. money each year,
enough to keep me in clothes and to-
bacco. If | went somewhere else,
was to be paid more, in quarterly pay
ments. HAD him pretty well bound,
though he couldn't see it. 1t would a
been better for them if they'd used
me well and let me stayed. But to use
n mother the way | was used'-and
she completed the sentence with a shake
of the head that was suggestive of many
frightful scenes "Well, | never want
to see another such time. Why, they
liked TO starved us to death. That jade
of Williams would cook up - lot of
Victuals and carry 'em over to the