The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-08-03
A Woman's Hens.

MS OTueTS. Mm N
Jacob Hobbs, the gardener at Derrick
Iangholm's elegant country place, did
not give expression to his masters
wishes In as gentle tone hs he might
whose hens were troublesome, but
Eunice Grey - what matter how he
spoke to herY
The woman leaned against the fence
which separated her miserable little
grounds from the fourlshing estate of
the rich man, and listened quietly to
the gardeners speech. Her face looked
paler than usual this warm spring day
Was 1t the heat or some bitter recolec-
ton which had driven all color from
cheek and lipY Her eyes were red and
swollen, perhaps from weeping, but
more likely from too steady application
TO 6ne sewing by candlelight. She was
not pretty woman, as seen in the
searching light of the early morning !;
she was far too thin, pale, and sad look
ing for beauty; but she had been a very
pretty girl before trouble robbed her of
her bloom and gay spirits. Even now
there was nobility in the face and a
curve to the lips which saved her from
absolute plainness. In the times long
gone by, people had said there was no
smile lovelier than that of Eunice Grey.
But she had almost forgotten how to
smile, life had been so bitter and
hard since her mother died.
The house she lived in had once been
the property of her aunt, who, when
dying, had willed it to her. 1t was a
small, frame building, old and leaky,
and greatly out of repair, but Eunice did
not complain. She was only too thank
full to own even this shelter, and she
had learned to bear the ills of life with a
patience born of despair. Shestook in
sewing, and sometimes went out by the
day to do dressmaking, and lived quite
alone, her only companions the hens
aud great black dog she had brought
with her when she first came to Chiffon
to live.
6 I am sorry, Jacob, that the hens
have done damage to your masters fruit
and flowers" she said, but she did not
raise her eyes as she spoke.
Then why don't you keep 'em at
Nome y' demanded Jacob Grossly.
81 will try to after this; but they
don't lay well when they are cooped
up"
"They won't lay at all when their
necks are wrung," said Jacob, turning
away, "and that'n be the end of em
if you let 'em run in these gardens OF
masters"
Eunice went into her dilapidated
house, and took up her sewing again,
which she had dropped to answer
Jacobs call from the fence. But she
had taken only few stitches in the fine
cambria, when her hands fell idly in
her lap, and strange look came on hei
pale face.
"Even now he will not let me alone, ,
she muttered Sand yet he should be
the one to suffer; not l, who did ne
wrong"
She went to the sink in the kitchen
and bathed her head, which ached will
the painful thoughts which crowded or
her brain. Then again she took up thu
oambric, which was to be fashioned into
garment for Isabella Church's wed
ding troussedu.
That night the hens were all coope,
up in a crazy affair of laths whicl
Eunice herself had manufactured. TIL
door was fastened with stick run i,
the ground, and il it had not been 70
Bruno, there would have been no NOR
worm hunting in Derrick Langholm
gardens. But the next morning tn
shaggy Newfoundland, in his migra
tions about the yard, pushed the sticl
away with his nose, and, the door fiyin
open, the hens flew out, and in teI
minutes time were in their forbidde
haunts.
Eunice, busily sewing on Isabel
Church Is troussedu, knew nothing {
the escapade, until shadow darkene
her doorway, and large, well-fille
sack was thrown roughly on the floor.
" you'll have to buy your eggs afte
this" said Jacob Hobbs loud voic,
''but then masters pistol has given 70
chance to have chicken stew for man
day to come
A culver passed over Eunice's lipi
and dark red fl ush dyed her Torches
and lost itself in the Iipples of HI
abundant brown hair, but she did n,
speak or look up until the man hs
gone, wondering at her silence.