The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-01-15
THE OLD CREAM JUG

Ye've foun' your laddie.
THE OLD CREAM JUG
"Oh mother" said Ruth Wallis,
show I should like to 60 out and g53t
few apple blossoms"
"Stuff and nonsense" said the Widow
Wallis, austerely; "haven't yon got
work to do-milk to skim, butter to
work over, dishes to wash, and two
dozen shirts Just sent in from the laun-
dry to finish off before dinner.timc?
Go about it at once and don't let me
hear any more folly about APPLE BIDS
sons"
For Mrs. Wallis belonged 70 the work
ing brigade Of the world and did not be-
lieve in aesthetics of any kind.
Buttercups and rec sunsets anS many
tinted rainbows had always been q
standing problem to her, and she could
not understand how a man of sense
could possibly prefer golden hair to red,
or o daisy pink complexion 10 honest
freckles. .
And her two elder daughters, Naomi
and Miranda Ann, agreed with her en-
tirely on this as on all other subjects.
But Ruth was different. Ruth treas
ured up half-open rosebuds in surrepti-
tious glasses of water, sowed flower
eeeds under the dairy window, read
poems in her own room, and cried when
the h~oneysuckle vine was RACED from be-
fore the porch pillars.
/" Rotting all the posts and harboring
earwigs and SPIDERS" said the widow,
severely.
pleaded Ruth.
Pretty" snorted the widow, as if
the term were a synonym for all absurd
ty and weak.mindedness. "I do think,
Ruth, You are almost a fool"
So upon this golden May morning,
when the llacs were nodding their pur-
pie plumes and the apple-blossoms
spread their sheets of biIlowy pink over
all the orchards, Ruth was condemned
to Understanding in the dairy and
the finishing of the shirts in the
She was standing in front of the milk
room window, busy with her shining
pans-after all there was q certain poe
try in the occupation-when all of a
sudden a Thiskered and mustached face
presented itself, all framed in the case
ment.
.sGoodness me |" cried Ruth, with q
violent start which had nearly upset one
of the vessels, and then recovering her
presence of mind she added: "What
do you want2"
81 beg your pardon" said the ap-
~parition-and Ruth began to perceive
That it had rather fine eyes, and was no
longer 2 very young apparition-"I am
afraid I startled you"
"Yes, you did-rather," admitted
Ruth. "But if you're a tramp, please
go on, for We never give to tramps.
And if you're a sewing machine agent,
or anything of that sort, it's of no use.
And -.
"You are mistaken" said the owner
OF tbs dark eyes, with a comical curl of
his lips. II am none of these. + am
jim the china business"
"Oh," said Ruth, beginning to com-
prehend, "Vases, and little dogs and
parrots, for cast-of clothes. But we
wear all our things out, and mother
makes rag carpets of them afterward."
"Very laudable OF her, I am sure"
nodded the stranger. "But-may I
ask what you will take for hat twisted
cream.pot on the shelf just over your
head?
Ruth glanced up with startled eyes.
"It was my Grandmother Crocus',"
said she ; "and it's 80 old-fashioned we
never use it. Mamma keeps radish
seed in it."
saE1actly," said the stranger. "It is
very old, and that is the reason I
want it."
Ruth thought of the men who had
been reported as traversinq the country
in search of antiques, old furniture and
articles of vertu. Gould this be n of
them?
sits mine," said she, coloring deep
.ly. "My grandfather Crocus left it to
me in his will"
"Wouldn't you rather have ten dol
lars to buy yourself a new hat ?" said
the stranger, c~oaxingly.
"Oh, o thousand times" cried Ruth,
eagerly.
"Then it is a bargain" said the gen.
tlsman, taking out a pocket-book which
seemed to be perfectly apoplectic with
bank notes.
emo, it isn't" said Ruth. ell
couldn't sell it, indeed.
"Ah," said the stranger: "perhaps
here are old family associations con-
nected with it"
sob, no.. I never saw my grand
mother Crocus," Ruth replied, rather
sbewildered.
"say twenty" said the stranger,
.coaxingly.
cts no use," declared Ruth; "I
cannot sell it,"
"You are devoted to old china, then ?"
Tae face came nearer, the eyes spar.
klel as il their owner was convinced
that he had found a kindred soul.
"I hate it," said Ruth.
The dark eyes recoiled a pace or two.
:. "Then you'll let me have the old
..cream-pot ior twenty dollars ?" said he,
persussively.
But Rulh you'd only reiterate with
downcast eyes and deepening bushes (:
81 cannot sell it"
MI. Wyndeld Napier walk away,
pulling his long mustache, and ponder
ing owe the piece of old English ware
which. had so attracted his fancy.
= I'll sit down formally before that
cream-pot," said he. "Iu besiege it. It
shall be mine, or I'll know the reason
For Mr.. Napier was a connoisseur in
ceramics, and the moment his idle
glance, cast upward through Mrs. Wal
lis milk-room window as he drank q
glass of water at the well, had fallen on
the piece of old English china, his soul
had coveted it.
GIVE Just q month to stay here be-
fore I must be back in my dingy old law
offices again." meditated he. "a man
can do q great deal in a MONTH"
And he set himself regularly to work
to win the treasure which he yearned for
so deeply. -.
Day after day he strolied to the old
farmhouse, now with this excuse, now
with that, a handsome, courtly, middle
aged man, whose winning manners
would have attracted any one, and who
was as much at home under the white
washed ceiling Of the Widow Wallis
best room as in o mansion.
One day he spoke of the old cream