The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-11-13

ty,' as one wonld say "needle and
thread,'' or :" knife and fork.
"Just as l expected, y remarked
Phpbe Ann. "It come over me ike a
flash whenI saw Eugene sitting on the
old hen-coop, the day we knew for GER
tain that Perrin's girls were coming. l
walked right off into the house ana shut
tothe door sol needn't speak it out be-
fore him. There was nobody at all IN
the kitchen but mother and the cat.
And mother is so deaf that 1t Is a chance
if she hears thunder or the meeting
house bell, or she could repeat my
exact words that L said before L was
f~;.ly tlrLUugh the sink-room door, 'Eu-
gene and Katy says l, Eugene and
Katy They soOnd as natural together
as the A B Cs, end nUw YOU see, old
cat, if it don't turn out so. and if the
cat could talk she would tell you that
this was Just what | said at the very
identical time.
Meanwhile Eugene kept right on
growing older and older day by day till
at last he felt he was as old as any body /;
that is Is years old; plenty old enough
to go on coaSting vessel, as most OF the
men did at Plumridge.
He was going with Capt. Cole, on the
Bonnie Dundee, a little schooner that
ran from Portland TO Providence, touch
ing at various places along the coast as
there was freight to take on or put off,
Plumridge among the other small ports.
So it was not quite the tearing away
from home that three years whaling
voyage or an, expedition to the North
Pole would be. But to the boys thought
life had begun anew, and he could not
90 away without being certain that Katy
was g his,'' bound by something more
than soft glance and Already smile.
1t so happened there was a spelling
match in the old red SchoOl-house the
very night before the Bonnie Dundee
was to sail, and after every body was
spelled down and the candles had
burned themselves out, Eugene went
home with Katy.
The stars shone, the crickets chirped,
and now and then an apple fell with a
sudden thud from the orchard trees that
overhung the fence. Eugene and Katy
did not talk much, but listened without
knowing they heard them, to these gen.
tie home sounds, till they were at Phoebe
AIMS porch. Then they stopped to say
good-by.
Phoebe Ann was standing by the table
inside stirring yeast with the very same
wooden spoon Eugene whitfield for her
so long before. &
81 could ha' told you," she was say
ing, "just how it would have turned
out. :" .E Nr
And from the footpath coming up
from the road, behind the lilacs, the
voices of Amy and John Shepard were
heard ringing out on the crisp autumn
air.
There was no time to be lost in the
good-by, for this was not to be good
by of the common sort to be said before
witnesses.
Sometimes l thought now may be it
won't be, but then again | thought
or no it wouldn't be after all,
continued Phoebe Ann, beating time with
the wooden spoon
az shouldn't have missed if the word
had been pronounced right" came
Johnny Shepard's voice, clearer and
nearer.
Katy whispered Eugene, hurried
", essay, will you have me?''
81 don't know but will, if you want
me-" whispered Katy, and then John
md Amy came up just as Phoebe Ann
opened the door to put out the cat.
1t was a lifetime, as boys and girls
reckon, before Eugene and Katy could
% have" each other. They had to wait
till Eugene had come to be mate of q
large sailing vessel; and then till he had
saved money enough to buy six plates
and half dozen wooden chairs, besides
some other Housekeeping trifles. But
that day couldn't hold off forever; al
though before it came they were mature
and middle-aged people of 10, andwhen
it really ca,Ie they would have been as
happy together as two housekeeping
robins, only for one thing.
"There is always a fly in the pot of
ointment, quoth Phoebe Ann on the
morning after the wedding day. "Some-
thing heart rendering; and we must look
for it one way if not another. But it
does come pretty tough on the young
folks to have to be parted before the
is hardly out of the tins.
they knew what to expect
when they decided to make arrange
ments."
"Don't you 90 to worrying about us"
said Eugene, gayly, as he came suddenly
upon her where she sat on the same old
hen-coop shelling peas for dinner, ''Katy
is going with me every voyage as soon
as am captain s.
Phoebe Ann snuffed discouragingly,
but she prudently said nothing till she
was alone with the cat; and if she fore
cast the years wrongly only the cat
knew'it. 49,
For all came to pass as Eugene pur-
posed, and not so very long first either.
Ali, and more. Katy not only sailed
with him when he was Capt. Mosscroft,
but also a small person who had brown
ewes, brown curls and red cheeks and
was named Eugenia. They went up the
pyramids together and down the ANA
ION; they scorched paper by the fire of
the midnight sun and ate bread-fruit
ripened in the land of perpetual sum-
mer; they read the Revelation of St.
John while sailing by the Isle of Pat
mos, and Christ's sslove talks - while
sitting in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Then at last they came home and set
tied down as domestic as though they
had lived in Plumridge and kept pigs
and chickens all their lives. And there
they are to this very hour, showing to
the world that now and then the course
of true love does run smooth.-FranceS
Lee, IN the Springfield (MaSs.) }. Repas6li-
American Enterprise.
Word comes to US from across the
xza4o,- that w G INilSor,c ,-;-;t tz, T..