Sharp County record., 1878-04-05

over night, which had wiped out almost
every lingering vestige of summertime
A few elderly beans chung shrInklngiy
to their poles in the bleak background;
a scanty patch of corn rustled its sere
leaves forlornly in the wind, with here
and there pumpkin ripening SParSely
between, and turning out its yellow TO
tundity to the sun, as resolved TO put
the best face on things thatwas possible;
while, tall and stark, q row of SuniioW-
ers, Tapping gauntly above the hedge,
overlooked the desolatiOn.
As old Ware stood there at his gate
and looked about him, with his faded
red cap on his head and his iank dress,
ing-gown clinging about him, he seemed
verify part of the frost-bitten scene,
illustrating it feebly, like an ill-cut
frontispiece in a badly printed volume;
Yet there was tradition that ne had
once upon time been the chief figure
in a great concern somewhere In town,
and that in some forgotten period long
ago the old weather-beaten house had
faunted gayly in a new coat OF pant
and bright green shutters, and was
bright with new carpets and curtains to
welcome a coming bride. But all that
was so far away now that people had
forgotten the date, and could not recall
that they had ever been interested IN
any thing concerning old Ware.
Tin Ware, Esq, the boys called him
o nickname based. DerhapS on float
inc legend of miser-made wealth slowed
somewhere away in the loose clap
boarding of his tenement, or perhaps
intended briefly to bear testimony to
the value set upon him in the commu-
nity-Tin Ware, Esq, was not a popu-
| lar man among the lads Of the village,
They had persistent inclination to hoot
him, to gibe at him, and to torment his
lean, ill-tempered dog, which followed
/ his master everywhere with snarlng
and Objectionable faithfulnesS. The
boys, considering all these things, felt
themselves called upon to vindicate the
claims of Justice by robbing old Wares
orchard and breaking into his melon
patch. Things in this wav were brought
to a sort of balance. | myself saw one
day, as l passed his fence, huge char
coal placard, reading thus:
B. Ware of the DAWG.
And many a bare-legged youngster, |
have no doubt, hid snickering in the
hedoe at the sight of old Ware slowly
deci phering the scrawlin wrathful spec
| taCles.
But very few besides the boys ever
troubled the old man with attentions,
either for good or i'll. He seemed to
have slipped from the mind of both man
and fate-an elderly, shriveled old figure
whom Time had forgotten to dignity
with gray hair
900 Ho -iooked up and down the road
keenly with his frosty blue eye, not as
man who expected any thing or any
body, but simply because it was his
habit to look Sharply. And yet as this
U1r,resrsuer1 falfUc swvPt C1Te' rOiryi1; y .
lere came along it something far from S
npleasanS to look upon-a gray figure P
y Quaker bonnet. There would have S
cen smile of welcome in almost any c
ody's eye, as the plump, quiet Quaker S
ICE of Rebecca Rhodes approached, but S
OF a spark kindled in old Wares finty C
ray orbs,
Bebecca's well kept acres lay just be-
ond him, over the south ridge, and all I
bout her farmhouse was trim and D
dy. clean and wholesome, as Rebecca II
9rself. 1t must have been the love Of
ntrast that brought her in range of :
nothy's dilapidated surroundings; {
G of all living things in the village L
3becca alone had a good word for him, .
d stopped of an odd afternoon now t
then to wish him gOod-day over the b
have brought thee loaf of sweet f
read. seighbor," said she. "Hd an /
ncomuon GOOD baking this week, and I
thought thee mr. - 2ot take it amiss
} try a loaf" She held forth in her c
,hite plump hand a snow-white napkin, I
pening its folds temptingly as she did {
"I'm wanting naught," was the grutf t
eply. "Week-old breads good enough '
n me, and | make no doubt it might be I
,r better for some other folk than the /
ainty trash they're set upon-w0men- t
>lk leastways." l
The blood came into Rebecc&'s calm t
zee, but there was no veXauon in her {
rswer. "Thee'd never set aside an old s
riend like that, neighbor," she said.
Nay, nay; l recommend thee try the t
oaf. It's spoken well Of, is my sweet
read, the country round. Thee will
OF shorten thy days much by just one
rial, and if thee likes it not, I'll never {
rouble thee again" -, '
Even the imperturbable face of old {
Ware shows a slight smile at this ming
inc Of acerbity and sweetness, but he {
makes no demonstration.
81 am on my way to see old Betsey,"