The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1880-11-18

l.
she said to herself. "The dear old
farm. The sunny porches, and the
Bourbon roses, and the great oaks Gen.
turtles old. She had never spoken OF
her old home to her other children,
but to Lefty she had talked of it often
when they were alone. Lefty was like
herself; the others were all Taneys.
She came to the door.
e do you know, Mr.. Burke, if there
is an old negro on the place-a gar
dener?"
"Uncle Tod? Oh, everybody knows
the old man. And his stories about
Clevelands, de family, as he calls
them"
1--WE were the Clevelands. And old
Tod is really living YETI" she laughed
for the first time in year
When Lefty had gone in, Mr.. Burke
paced up and down the porch. He
was manly, large-natured fellow, and
his heart ached with pity for the poor,
pinched lives of this child and her
mother. All he could do to show kind
ness was to lend books to Lefty, which
she devoured eagerly, for she was fond
Of reading; in fact she had obstinately
persisted in staying at the free school
until she had educated herself
William fancy waited until the
young man had gone, and then he
went into the pantry where his moth
er was straining milk. Something in
his manner made her set it down, trem-
bling.
"You have bad news to tell" she
NO." with an uneasy, stricken
laugh, "most folks call it good. Fact
is, mother, I've made up my mind to
marry"
ooh, William" her old cheeks color
ing.
II made up my mind three months
ago. And the girls courted, and the
weddings to be tomorrow. There
now. No need for you to look in that
way. | am generally pretty close
mouthed about my own business; you
might know that. And I don't choose
to have the matter cackled over at
home. The girl is Miss Sophy Craw-
ford"
His mother came toward him. He
was her son after all, and this was the
turning point of his life. She put hel
arms about him and kissed him. "God
bless you, my boy" she said.
But he stood as immovable as log
Don't let us have any fuss" he
said. "You had better sit down.
You're shaking all over. Well, that's
all. There'll be no wedding hubbub
here. I don't hold to spending money
in feeding a lot of guzzling fools. The
Crawfords have regular blowout in
the morning. But you don'twant tc
go, Ireckon?' uneasily.
II should like to see you married, D
she said, timidly.
ooh, nonsense. There's no sickly
sentiment about me- I'll have Sophy
home by supper time. You'll have tc
see to things here"
He lighted his candle and turned tc
"By the way, she was here mosth
ago"
"Yes' Mrs. fancy remembered
distinctly the cross-featured, black
eyed young woman who had staggered
through the farmhouse in her cheap
silk and gilt JeWelry.
'She came just to look at her new
home, and-well, she rather took a
fancy to the south chamber. You had
better fix it up for her.
"My room, William?'
Eyes. It's all the same to you. o.
course you can 60 up to Lefty"
Lefty, who had been at work in
C,1 ~ o,,>>n o,,t ,,,I fhrou- !, ~, WINS
sobbing, about her mother. She knew
that this had been her mothers room
for thirty years. All Mrs. fancy:
children were born in 1.-THE baby dice
there.
William stopped and came back
saying:
Nov look here, it's just as we'll te
speak plainly at once. I'll have no op
position to my wife from you, Lefty
nor from-from any other woman.
am the head Of this house. My deal
wife shall be mistress Oft.
She brings me a snug bit of money
and I'll not have her nor her family
insulted in it,"
"My SON."
But he had stalked off to bed.
There was no time, the next day,
tor Mrs. fancy or Lefty to even think
of the coming trouble. They were up
as usual, two or three hours before day,
kindling fires, milking and getting
breakfast for the six harvest hands.
Then came washing, a dinner at noon,
all the work of farm, in short, which
falls on a woman, in addition to which
was the cleaning and preparation ofthe
room which the bride had chosen for
her own. Mrs fancy moved sluggish
ly through the latter part of the work.
"What is the matter with you,
mother" asked Lefty.
Mrs. fancy laughed feebly
81 don't know; l feel like clock that
is nearly run down.
Lefty made no reply. The child had
lately been absent, almost Indifferent,
while her mother talked. apparently
in her own thoughts. Could it be, the
mother thought, that Lefty, was for
saking her? Mrs. fancy had only had
one other daughter-the baby who
died. The other children were sons,
all of whom, except William, had gone
to the west and married there. She
had often wished they would ask her
to visit them, that she might see their
children. But they never did it.
While they were hanging out the
clothes tLat afternoon, Mrs. fancy
heard tap three times repeated, on the
orchard fence. Letty's face colored.
She dropped the clothes and ran be-
hind the apple tree. As she came
back her mother saw her thrust a note
into her pocket, Mrs. fancy grew sud
denly sick at heart Lefty carrying on
a clandestine love affair!
While Mrs fancy stood doubling
whether to ask the child for her con-
tidence, Lefty had disappeared. A few
MON ents later the girl went down the
road in her clean dress and sun bon
net. 1t was trifle, yetit stunned the
jadded woman, as a sharp blow would
have done.
The other farmers daughters kept
up a perpetual vulgar flirting and
secret courtships. But Lettie was her
own wee lamb, delicate and pure.
Mr.. Burke, coming over the fields