Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-04-26
NO. 80.
Gales aud Sketehes.
From Blackwood's Magizine.
"ONLY JEAN"
Continued from yesterday

every imaginable thing, from treacle and
herrings to needles and cheese, and the
widow who kept the shop was an autocrat
In her way. She was licensed to sell spir-
its, and it would be good for humanity it
all licensed individuals" acted on the
same firm principles. To some she posi-
lively refused to sell at ALTO others she
allowed only what she considered it right
for them to have. She knew the paivate
affairs of each individual, and was guided
by that. | have seen her refuse "a dram"
to lankv, shy-looking shepherd who
asked for one, saying to him in the tone
you might use to an unreasonable child,
"Hoot ava, Sandy. ye ken weel your
| head is nae like ither heads, and drap
will set it spinning. Ma, ma, man, gang
hame. and dinna consare your head with
lthers ~ and the man quietly Withdrew
with look of sheepish resignation. To
| another man she said, Surely | didna
hear ye rightly it's ma dram pe're seek
| ing and your wife see saber' (Which did
not refer to sobriety, as might be imagined,
but to sicklness) When she showed
temper she said with change of voice
that might have suited an actress, "I'm
sorry I've no sprite good enough for you,
MIR. Gran, but you'll get it at the next
shop" which was exactly eleven miles off.
| With this carefulness for the welfare of
her neighbors she was not at all above
making close bargain; and | feel con-
yinced (and indeed my honsekeeper nev-
er lets me forget iO that paid more than
lought to have done for some bandanas
| that | bought at her shop.
| From this woman, who talked upon all
subjects con amore. heard "a great deal
about old Mrs. Grant and Jean. and every
thing | heard was to the credit of both.
| The old woman had been an excellent
mother to delicate daughter who died of
| Il broken heart on the sudden death of her
husband. The only grandchild, ken
meth Malcolm had been brought up by
the grandmother. and, AS was often the
cas-. in Scotland before school-boards
came in the way, he had received first
| rate education, and had turned out by all
| accounts fine young fellow, steady and
clever.
Mr.. Grant had come to Burnside more
than forty years before my first acquaint-
| ance with the place: no one knew why
| she had come there, or anything about
her antecedents. 1t was supposed the old
laird was acquainted with her story, but
| he had never told it to any one. He had
re quested his nephew and successor to al
| low her to live out her life rent-free, and,
in addition to this, a small yearly sum
was paid to her from some unknown
source. She was necessarily busy, and
her spinning and knitting were quite ia.
nous. Jean had gone to her when she
was a well-grown child of ten, and the
relations between them were more than
those of mother and child than mistress
and servant. When she had been there
two or three years misfortunes began 10
come, and they never come singly. Wild
ow Grant fell and hurt herself so much
that she did not recover from the injury;
| then she had Il paralytic stroke, and by
degrees sank into the complete state OF
helplessness in which she was when first
made her acquaintance. Jeans devotion
was unceasing, and her spinning and
knitting filled up the gap when the poor
old woman was helpless. Very confused
and various accounts was given OF how
and why Kenneth had gone away. All
that the people knew Tor certain was that
Jean, Tor the first and only time since she
had lived at Burnside, had gone to Skye,
and returned the day Kenneth had left tor
New Zealand, and that they had not met.
| Not long after his departure, the little
sum of money which made the little
| household so comfortable suddenly ceas-
ed aud Widow Grant had refused, in
excited and determined manner, to allow
any inquiries to be made about it. Jean
Iacquiesced Their wants were very few,
but everybody said that since kenneth's
departure she had not looked the same;
and it was evident that, as in all lite's his
tories, a romance was woven through it
all. Though why, as by all accounts Ken
meth had been "sair set" on having her
| fnr haya rrfl
and have actually been the cause OF his
leaving the country, was beyond the COM
prehension of every one.
NV visits to Burnside became of great
interest to me. The old woman began to
look forward 10 my visits with much evil
dent pleasure, and the freshness and orig
inality or Jeans remarks were very pleas
ant She had read nothing save the pages
of nature so lavishly distributed round
her; but everything came with such acute
observance, aud her mind was naturally
so refined, that | used to feel when with
her as ii | had more to learn from her than
she could learn from me.
CHAPTER Ill.
| shall always remember a certain au-
tumnal day, not long before l left this
Highland spot,-a day when the golden
| maze OF All tUufd0 ulltu tHS
air In valley stretching away through
the hills, some oats were ready to cut,
and neighboring farmer who had impor
ted the first reaping- machine to that part
of the country, had lent it for the occas-
sion.
Every one turned out as though 1t were
a festiyal In harvest many respecta-
BILE married woman earns enough to clothe
herself and her children for the rest of
the year. The work is pleasant for them
and they are as proud OF their quckness
and dexterity as any London belle of her
prowess in dancing. 1t was certainly
one of the prettiest sights ever saw. the
many colors OF the various dresses, the
activity and merriment as the machine
worked round the field, leaving the
straight lines of PROSTATE corn in its track
in regular rows At stated intervals one
woman and man were placed, dexter