Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-07-03

hens. Now isn't that Just like an old
maid aunt and the idle Indifferent
mamma who lies on the sofa and reads
novels, and lets her sister take care of
the babies?"
Il never heard such talk, Marcia, nor
saw person with such low tastes.
can't conceive where you got Them"
cried her mother.
"Why, mamma" said Bess, ''if the
Lord could make chickens, should
think Marcia might watch them"
Its trst-rate," said Phil. "What
else could they do, March? ?"
Everything that human beings DO
They are jealous of each other, like
Mormon wives. Those that are not fa-
Forltes sometimes go to roost in the
middle OF the afternoon, so as to secure
the place they want next their husband !;
and he goes picking round with his fa-
vorite till bed time, and then flies 10
and knocks the others out of the way to
make room for her. What do you
think of that2"
ooh, pshawp
''It's true. And I'll tell you some
thing more. He thinks he knows how
to lay an egg better than the hen does.
And II there's hen that's dilatory he
ma kes a nest for her, and gets into it.
and gets out of it, and coaxes her, and
literally tries to show her how. Isn't
that human? Those husbands that
know everything. Oh, it's as good as a
playW
Il should think So"
l ga nd tbaYo tho Hrc+ &c, l.
young rooster. and the struttlng after
ward-it's SO exactly like the first long
coat of boy, and the strutting after
that"
Marcia, am ashamed of you, said
her mother. II must beg to hear no
more such conversation"
'Now, Mrs. Thurston," said Phil, ''I'm
sure | saw you laughing. And as fol
me, I'm going to make those boxes fol
March. Pm just as good carpenter
as Noah"
And SO Phil went down into the gar
den with Marcia, and there were days
and days of hammering, saving and
fitting; and Tom was going about full
of mischief, and Emily had her sewing
under the apple trees near by, and Bes.
sic came down to bring a freshly-baked
tart, or some hot gingerbread.
"And I'm sure it's just like picknick.
ing" said Marcia. You ought to be
obliged to me for making such pleas,
ant occasion. And Pm awfuily sorry
that we're almost through" And as
she uttered the last sentence, Phillip
happ 9ning to glance down at her at that
moment from the ladder where he was
standing, her face suddenly famed VI
and she turned and hid its color over a
box of old nails that she and Tom an
age ago that seemed now-had taken al
school in exchange for pins, meaning
to sell them to the junk-man, but di
verified from their purpose by one o.
Mrs. Thurston's methods of persuasion
Mamma always was the enemy oil
enterprise" said Tom, when they found
the box. 81 suppose it's the oil of birch
that has kept these nails from getting
rusty"
But as soon as Marcia could slip away
from all that merry racket she flew down
to the foot of the orchard, and cast her.
self into the deep grass there in the
shadow, and cried to break her heart
That one glance in Philips face, that
swift instant, had served to turn the
whole earth on pivot to another issue
of life. 1t had, indeed, held up torch
before her, it had showed her that OF
which she was unconscious before, and
now she knew that she loved Philip
Masters, and she knew that he loved
! Bessie, and the world was one dead
| blank.
The hens were not fed that night, and
nobody carried the eggs in; it was only
when the moon set, her skirts dripping
with dew, Marcia stole in herself, with
her dogs. and crept away to bed.
1t was long fight that Marcia had
with her heart on that September night
She rose early in the morning, AMI gave
the hens into Bridgets charge, looked
into her mothers room, and told her
she was going to see Aunt Brown; and
as that good lady, now that she could
no longer whip her children, generally
allowed them their way, no objection
was made; and Marcia found herself,
after a couple of hours, in the arms OF
her old counselor and friend, to whom,
albeit, she never breathed a word of her
trouble. A day of Aunt Brown. Marcia
used to say, set her up in virtue for half
q year, and now she took seven of them.
Seven days counsel with an old angel
ought to make an angel of me. But
nothing will ever do that"
Yet when she went home there was
something different in Marcia's face
from anything that had ever been there
before; and if nobody paid enough heed
to observe it, nevertheless the fact was
true that the hoyden girl had vanished,
and a grave and active woman had
taken her place-a woman who never
allowed herself to be still long
enough to think. She asked for no
more distress, she never put a ribbon
near her; she brushed the kink out of
her hair as we'll as she could, and said
to herself it was of no use for her to
try and look anything but a fright, with
one eye hunting up the other the way
hers was-an allusion to slight cast in
her eve that was not at all unbecoming
on the whole; of course nobody would
think of falling ia love with a Cyclops,
and Of course nobody could help loving
such a rose and lily piece of beauty as
Bess. She was sure, she thought, she
was glad that Bess was happy, but, for
all, she cried sadly about it. Yet, after
any of these secret crying spells, she
fought her battle with herself all the
more furiously; and although it wrung
her heart, she would insist upon talking
about Philip, and suffer Bessie to sing
his praises on every occasion that offer
ed, and fear and trembling all the while
lest voice or face surrendered, and took