Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-22


win remain here over night, my horse Is
nearly used up.
The school -ina'am gladly assonted. put
my horse up In the large, ample barn, and
came Into the house. The hool-ma am
was upstairs somewhere. The two old
maids who received me soon left me alone In
the solemn parlOr. In a short time the
school Ol-ma'am, whom / now knew NJ Miss
Newman, entered, prettler than ever, In a
dark dress and some bright ribbons.
" Do you care to take short walk before
teaW she asked. rose gladly, we went out
Into the tender six O'Clock slanting sunlight,
There were some clouds IN the west, deli
cate, golden-tinto She led me down 10 q
knoll above the river; past an apple orchard
whose white blossoms were now largely
sprinkled upon the ground beneath. We
looked down upon the slow moving river. A
bend In its bank turned the dark water TO
the west. The bend was lined by beach OF
! yellow sand. Opposite rose huge, un-
wieldy mass Of earth, miscalled, rs Miss
Newman said, mt. Spear" " branched
out" and talked Of the beauty Of the scene.
At last Miss Newman laughed little and
said
1" And yet-you're a llghtnlng-rod mano
Then we heard horn blow and went up
| to the house.
| When we returned to the farmhouse, we
/ found three old men washing their faces at
the pump. They appeared TO be farm
| hands. Each was over 30. One OF them
] lNNhNM w anu nAAAAI W hhA = DAOlngA " IT,
/ lamp
81 dunno" replied the one next to him,
"onless he's a-plantin' them beans"
"pll run and fetch him." said Miss New
man, going toward the garden.
Hes hard o. hearn'," said the first
speaker. "Ef he want fetched he'd keepa-
| worllln' till twas too dark. You be a-sellin'
| lightnin' -rOds, eh" he asked.
Yes" | replied, "pm travelling about
trying to sell few"
"Ye can't sell one here % said the second
man. ''Our haouse was struck thirty three
| years ago, an lightnin' never strikes twice
/ in the same spot"
took out Of my pocket a small volume Of
Incidents" 1 read him the sad account Of
Mr.. Higgins, Of South Wilbraham. I read
| feelingly Of the neglectful lack Of rods upon
Mr.. Higgns's house and barn. then gave
| in glowing detail the description Of the
| lightning rs it played about the bed Of Mr..
and Mrs. Higgins, the trundle-bed Of their
twin children, and the final disappearance
| Of the lightning in new batch Of bread,
which was placed upon the kitchen table. l
gave as well the Interesting details of the
| funeral, with the remarks at the burying
ground, Of Rev. Jonas Childs. But the old
men shook their heads.
''BrOther William may conclude to buy"
said one OF them; ''Brother William may
conclude that the haouse needs a rod, but
cal late we don't think So"
l closed my book Of "Incidents sadly.
One Of the old maids came out to us, where
we were standing near the pumps.
''Haow's mother" asked one Of the old
men.
"she's perty comfortable this evenin',"
replied the old maid.
"Don't believe she'll fetch through this
time"
"she's a goin' to fetch through-an' you
''She haint! Mothers on her las legs an
you know thet, Cynthy, as we'll as / dow
"COme, naOw," said another Of the old
men, moving toward the house, "yeou two
is alters titin' over mother. Mother never
gets daown sick but what yeou two gets
| quarrlin' over her. Ef she fetches through,
she'll peterborough. Ef she dOn'tshe won't,
thet's the end ont"
Miss Newman came up at this moment,
! followed by Brother William. Brother viii
| liam was a little older than his brothers, and
somewhat more bent. But he seemed to be
very "spry," and carried hoe over his
shoulder. We went in to supper,
The school-ma'am and kept up pretty
| lively conversation during the evening meal.
! After it was over, one OF the old maids said
| to me: "P'raps you'd like to see mother
| your smart talk 'ud int rest her, 'Xpect."
l was ushered into an upper chamber,
which had a close, shut-up odOr about 1t.
Seated in an arm chair near an open window
was a young woman Of three and thirty or
| thereabouts, who bore Il striking resemblance
to Miss Newman. She was very thin and pale.
Her wan face bore evidence of late stage of
consumption.
Before her upon the wndow-sill stood a
vase of flowers, wild June roses. The view
from her window was of the distant hazy
southern hills. Her cheeks flushed little
as L entered, and two round red spots re-
NAMED there during the time 1 sat with her.
| She could only speak in a whisper. Alto
| gether there was something ineXpTessibly
sad in the pretty, delicate, drawn face.
| You may think mothers rather young"
said Cynthy eXplanatOrily, in whisper after
we were seated. " But father married four
times. This is his fourth. We all thought
thet she wouldn't live long, when she first
struck with her, and would hev his way.
| Nothn' would hender him. He fetched her
| home, and 'twant long afor he died and left
her n relick. But she won't be a relick long
| Onless she fetches through"
At that moment the schOol-ma'am entered
the room and went up to the sick woman
and kissed her. Their features were so sim
liar that it seemed an allegorical picture,
when they were near each other, Of life and
death.
! Miss Newman is her sister," said Cynthy.
"Thet's haow she's here, but she's very in
dependent. She pays her board"
1t was bright moonlight night. strOlled
| out into the road, not without certain un-
conscious desire of catching glimpse of the
fresh faced schOOl-ma'am somewhere. /
]
the group Of old, yet energetic brothers.
! L came over a little ascent, and stood a
moment upon the brow OF the hill; at the
foot was a waterng-trOugh, half-hid behind
| some Overhanging bOughs. The moonlight
| fell across the watering trough between the
branches of a huge elm. In the broad white
| light stood girl; near her man in those
| peculiar trousers ! have since learned were
called knickerbockeTs. / saw his arm about
her waist-and ], being Of course transtiXed
l.
| him kiss her twicel / was near enough to
hear what they said. The girl-it was none
| other than the school ma am, held a tin
drinking-cup in her hand. She had filed it
from the little spout above the trough
| "Well " he said, ''yOu know it now-I
know it! Why have l been hanging around
| the last three weeks? Why was it-that
day in church-then that day at the Sunday
school picnic-then those many days when l
came to the chool-house-"
you don't really mean !" she replied,
! in a trembling voice. "You never mean any
thingw Mary Newman burst into tears.
They were standing quite near the trough.
81 do mean it," said he; 81 do love you
and when / graduate"
A Whit Of the blue smoke of my cigar,
caught on a light breeze, flOated down to
them. The school.ms'am scented the
strange odor. The young fellow certainly
was not smoking.
"Oh, !" she cried through her tears, "I'm
so frightened! There's a man around"
As quickly as possible / walked back TO
the house without their seeing me. l fin
ished my cigar, and resumed my seat on the
settle by the old well. $50 no 20 | thought.
'The school-ma'am and the student are
making It up between them Is he in earn
est? Is he hOnestg Is he squarep
Mother Nancy, naow, she want no
slouch, eitherw Jonas was saying, as / re-
sumed my seat.