The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-03-20
A NIGHT With A BEAR.

sTcll You what, Roxie, 1 wish father
and Jake had some of those hot nut
cakes for their dinner; they didn't carry
much of anything, and these are proper
nice" ...'.-. :
Mrs. Beamish set her left hand upor
her hip, leaned against the corner of the
dresser, and meditatively selected anoth.
er nut.cake, dough-nut or cruller, as you
may. caH them, from the great brown
pan piled up with these dainties, and
Roxie, who was curled up in little heap
on the corner Of the settle, Knitting
blue woolen stocking, looked brightly
up and said:
; "Let me go and carry them some,
ma. It's just as warm and nice as can
be out-of doors, real springy, and ]
know the way to tho wood lot. I'D just
love to go."-a. =. -. ..-.-
-4Let's+see-ten o clock, said Mrs.
Beamish, putting the last bit of cake
Sinto her mouth, and wiping. her fingers
upon her apron. "It's matter of four
miles there by the bridge. Jake says,
: though if you cross the ford it takes of
= a mile or more. Yoh'd better 60 round
by the bridge. anyway"
"Oh, no, ma; that isn't worth while,
for pa snid only last night Tint the ice
wasFstrong enough yet TO sled over all
the wood he'd been cutting" said Ro1ie,
earnestly, for the additional mile rather
terrified her,. :, - -. ~s-. .la-
"Ddhe9 well, if that's so, it is all
right" replied her mother, in tone OF
iralief. and then she filed tin pail with
nut-cakes, laid a clean, brown napkin
over them, and then shut in the cover
and set it on the dresser, sayi.g:
.s s'There, they've got cheese with
them. and you'll reach camp before they
eat their noon lunch. Now, get on your
leggin's and thick shoes, and your coat
and cap and mittens, and eat some cakes
before you start, 80 as not to take theirs
whenyou get =" ..
"I wouldn't do that, neither not if
I never had any," replied Roxie. little
resentfully, and then she pulled her
squirrel-skin cap well over her ears, tied
her pretty scarlet tippet around her
neck, and held up her face for good
by kiss. The mother gave it with un-
usual fevor, and said, kindly:
"Good-by to you, little girl. Take
good care of yourself, and come safe
home to mother"
"Yes, ma. But I may wait and come
with them, maynt I? They'll let me
ride on old Rob, you know"
"Why, yes, you mi ght as well, I sup.
pose, though I'll be lonesome without
you all day, baby. But it would be bet
ter for you to ride home, so stay"
It was a lovely day in the latter part
ofMareh, and although the ground was
covered with snow, and the brooks and
rivers were still fast bound in ice, there
was something in the air that told Of
spring ng-something that set the sap in
the maple trees mounting through its
] million little channels toward the buds,
. already beginning to redden for their
blooming, and sent the blood in little
Roxie's veins dancing upward too, un-
til it blossomed in her cheeks and lips
fairer than in any maple tree.
30, "How pleasant it is to be alive !" said
the little girl aloud, while squirrel
running up the old oak tree overhead
stopped, and curling his bushy tail a
little higher upon his back, chsttered
the same idea in his own language.
Ro1ie stopped to listen and laugh aloud,
st which sound the squirrel frisked
away to his hole, and the little girl,
singing merrily, went on her way,
crossed the river on the ice, and on the
other bank stopped and looked visit
fully down a side path leading into the
.denser forest away from her direct ryad.
:"'' ." I really believe the checkerberries
must have started, it is so springy," she
thought; i"I'ye'a mind to go down and
look in what Jake calls Bear-berry
Pasture, though I told him they were
not bear-berries, but real checkerber
RES So, saying to herself, Roxie ran 6
;, few steps down the little path, stopped
stood still for minute, then slowly
;, turned back, saying: ....
''No, T wont, either, for may be
wouldn't get to the camp with the nut
cakes before noon, and then they would
have eaten all their cheese. No, I'll g
right on, and not stay there any time a
ali, but come back and get'the checker
berries; besides, mother said she'd bt
, lonesome without me, 80 I'd better no
stay, any way" !.
=: So Role, fattering herself like many
en- older person with the fancy that sh'
was giving up her selfish pleasure fo'
that of another, while really she wal
carrying out her own fancy, went sing
ing on her way, and reached the camp
inst as her father struck his axe deel
into the log where he meant to leave /
d. for an hour, and Jake, her handsome
: elder brother, took off his cap, pushet
the curls back from tis heated brow, ant
shook ont the hay and grain before oil
Rob-, whose ,whinny had already pro
claimed dinner-time. ...
"Why. if here isn't sis with tin ket
tile, and I'll be bound some of ma'am'
cakes in p exclaimed Jake, who ha'
rather mourned at the said cakes no
being ready before he left home, an
then he caught the little girl up in hi
arms, kissed her heartily, and put he
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