Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-02-04
A Husband with one Ear,

:
ing, Malchenl" said Otto Won Polheim to
his eldest daughter one Sunday in Decem-
Der, as he and the rest of his family were
setting out for the market toxn to hear
Pastor knopps preach an Advent sermon.
mo, father, Dorothea can go in my
stead, and will keep the house.
keep the house alone? No; l Will
leave Hans to protect thee and the mansc
too"
Il would rather not have Hans said
Malchen with little Dout. as she glanced
at an ugly gawk who was her fathers head
servant.
Then thou shalt not have Karl" grum-
bled old Polheim, speaking rather to him
self than to the girl, and wrapping his an
cient blue cloak tightly round him, he struck
his iron-tipped staff two or three times or
the flags of the hall to intimate to the mem
beTs of his household that it was time to be
off.
They came Gathering down stairs and
OAAt Va AlbblS-d anu
rather noisy troop. Otto Won Polheim was
a landowner on a small scale-what would
be called In England a gentleman-farmer-
and he had a family OF ten sons and daugh-
tiers, without counting two servant-wenches
and couple of laborers whom he treated
as his children. The eldest Of these two
laborers, tall, rosy-cheeked, fair-haired,
blue-eyed fellow named Karl, had shown
sIghs of late of being "a Bit soft" about
Fraulein Malchen, end this disrleased her
father; for though he was kind master he
had squire's pride, and would have kick
ed Karl straightway out of his house if he
had suspected Malchen of cherishing any
regard for him. At least this is what he
had once said to Karl with more bluntness
than prudence, for worldly wisdom would,
perhaps, have suggested that he should be-
gin by turning off Karl before Malcken's
sentiments towards him had ripened into
affection.
snow, come, come, let's be off, repeat
cd old Polheim, impatiently: ''come, wife,
and you, Bertha, Frlda and Gretchen, you,
Hans, take one of the lanterns, and you.
Karl, lead the way with the other
Karl skunk out looking rather sheepish,
but scarcely had he got into the open ar
than the candle in his lantern was blown
out and he ran back to get another. Nal
chen was standing in the hall and struck
match for him. She struck a second and
third, for somehow the phosphorus would
not act, and the operation of lighting was
delayed little. When Karl took the Ian
tern his hand touched Malchen's, and the
girl blushed '.It's cruelty cold night to
go out in, faltcred she.
"And don't like leaving you alone, !"
whispered Karl Il think shall steal out
of church; and come back to see if you are
safe
''Ob, no, the door will be barred, ex-
claimed Malchen in futter.
Then Ill climb over the orchard wall,
answered Kari, nothing daunted, and he
executed a wink as lie went forth into the
cold
.tIIow very audacious he is becoming,
muttered Malchen to herself, but she ap-
parently thought that it was of no use to
bar the door if Kari meant 10 get over the
garden wall, So she simply shut it and turn
ed back to spend her evening in the kitch-
en-.
Herr Won Polheim's farm stood in lonely
part of the country, about two miles from
R, in Bavaria. 1t had once been a
castle, and all the rooms on the ground floor
were large, windy apartments, with wains-
coted walls and old oaken furniture.
There were faces, of course, in the red
embers of the crumbling pine logs, and
Karl's was chief among them. Malchen, who
was pretty, sentimental young lady OF Is,
but somewhat cautious, as beseems the
daughter of a gentleman who can prefix
A Won TO his name, asked herself if she liked
Kari: Did she truly feel for him more
than she did for any other MANI Would
she grieve Tor him if he met Win an acci-
dent if he left her father servicel IL he
were taken away for military service, and
forced to risk his life in the wars! AfteI
fencing little with her conscience the dam
| sel decided that she did not quite kno"
what she ought to think about karli pu'
that he was very bold and not-to-be-easiiy'
put-down young man she admitted to her
self frankly enough in her quaint German
phraseology.
She sat listening for footsteps, and conneo