The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-10-01

For some minutes Dan Holloway
had stood looking moody and unbap.
py, and the housekeeper bad come
out the second time to tell him that
supper was ready.
Dan knew it, but be had rot stirred
from the old iye-barred fence where
be leaned, pluckiDg the long grass
spears in the field on the other side,
and chewing them as though they
we're bis natural food.
His trousers were tucked in bis
boots, His coat was somewhere in.
doors, and bis straw hat had hole
ia il.
No one, unused to farmers ways,
could have guessed that, giving Dan
bis money value. be was worth more
thaD many an exquisite promensding
the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue.
He had grand, well-tilled farm. q
bank account of value, and home
stead as solid as an old castle, with
its massive granite walls Yet, as be
lounged there, chewing straws, he
said to himself, with kind of savage
scowl:
Il wonder what l was made for ?
| am nothing | haven't got any
thing worth having Every one is
better of than |. / wish | was at the
bottom Of the mill-pond-I Go, hang
it. What's the use of living such a
life %
"It's just what expected-exactly
my luck ~ be said, sssagely. "l've
always had it so. Other bows have
had mothers-mine died before /
knew her. Other boys have had sis
ters-I never had one No woman
ever cared for me or ever will, and
why should they? A clumsy clod-
hopper, who knows nothing beyond
sowing ana reaping and driving the
plow. I'd rather be the preacher,
with bis four hundred q year aud his
pretty wife.
"I'd rather be the little lame school
master, who teaches the young ones
in the hollow yonder. for | saw him
with his arm around Kitty Deans
waist last niCht-snd poor and lame
as he is, | expect she'll marry him.
Nobody ever loved me-nobody ever
will. 1 wish 1 was dead"
"Da0 tea Is ready -
"ConfOund it know it, muttered
Dan, and be slouched in, old nurse
Peabody greeting him with lawful
sakes, things is cold. Why will you
shills shally so ?"
She sat pouring out the tea, an old.
grim looking woman, who might
have been made of cast iron, so Dard
we're her features.
After the first remark she said no.
thing more, but helped Dan ss she
had done ever since the time when
she came TO the farm to keep house
and zee to the motherless child-aDd
eat her own supper in silence
Dan shoveled bis in as only IAN
kee farmer could, leaving no time to
chew, and left the table the instant
be was done.
He was not 10 the habi, OF finding
q socisl occasion in q meal ct bis
home
First be fed the critters" aud then
himself in much the same spirits.
In bis actions there was no tinge
of romanee-in bis speech. much
less.
He was barly and brown, and had
s way of answering strangers that
made them shy of speaking to him q
second time.
First he started, then be paused,
then put answers into the shortest
words capable of the longes, abbre-
vistions to be found in the English
language, and muttered them with
cut looking at the party addressed.
and all because, in his inmost heart,
be fancied shst. do what be would,
nobody could like him, Lucy Lee, in
particular, who always seemed to him
the best and pretiiest thing in the
world, and as far above him as the
stars above the muddy earth.
Her father Was the village banker.
q gentleman VINO stood big il the es-
sima,ion Of the best families; and
Lucy was accomplished. beautiful.
and good
Bot for all, Dan Holloway need not
have despaired as be did, for Lucy,
from her pew in church. had often
cast sly glance At the brown, broad
shonldered farmer, with his gliitering
black curls and glowing cheeks, and
thought him the handsomest fellow
there.
So be actually was. in bis Sunday
toilet, for to quote the words of old
nurse Peabody:
Dan Holloway became dressed. y
Once, too. when the dun COW in the
meadow frightened Miss Lucy, Dan
bad proved himself quite . hero, and