The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-03-25
,oing with Amy. heard him tell her.

From that time there was no question
in any body's mind to whom Katy Lind
say belonged" for the boy and girI
fitted together as naturally and innocent
ly as two sparrows, so that the towns
folks spoke Of Eugene and Katy" as
one would say "needle and thread, " Oh
"knife and fork"
"Just as I expected" remarked Phe-
be Ann. ''It comes over me like a flash
when saw Eugene sitting on the old
hen-coop, the day we knew for certain
that Perrin's girls were coming. l walk
ed right off into the house and shut the
door so I needn't speak it out before
him. There was nobody at all in the
kitchen but mother and the cat Aud
mother is so deaf that it is a chance If
| she hears thunder or the meeting house
bell, CT she could repeat my exact words
that said before l was fairly through
the sink-room door. Eugene and Katy,
says [, Eugene and Katy They sound
! as natural together as the A B Cs, and
now you see, old cat, if it don't turn ont
so. And if the cat could talk she would
tell you that this was just what said at
the very identical time
Meanwhile Eugene kept right on
growing older and older day by day till
at last he felt he was as old as any body;
that is Is years old; plenty old enough
to go on coasting vessel, as most of the
men did at Plumridge.
He was going with Capt. Cole, on the
Bonnie Dundee, little schooner that
ran from Portland to Providence, touch
ing at various places along the coast as
there was freight to take on or put of,
Plumridge among the other small ports
So it was not quite the tearing away from
home that three years Whaling voyage
or an expedition to the North Pole would
be. But to the boys thought life had
begun anew, and he could not 60 away
without being certain that Katy was
'his," bound by something more than a
soft glance and ready smile.
1t so happened there was spelling
match in the old red school-house the
very night before the Bonnie Dundee
was to sail, and after every body was
spelled down and the candles had burn
ed themselves out, Eugene went home
with Katy.
The stars shone, the crickets cirped,
and now and then an apple fell with a
sudden thud from the orchard trees that
overhung the fence. Eugene and Katy
did not talk much, but listened without
knowing thew heard them. to these gen.
tie home sounds, till they were at Phoebe
Aun's porch. Then they stopped to say
good by.
Phoebe Ann was standing by the table
inside stirring yeast with tue very same
wooden spoon Eugene Whitfield for her
so long before.
81 could ha' told YOU" she was say
ing, 'just how it would have turned
out"
And from the footpath coming up from
the road, behind the lilacs, the voices of
Amy and John Shepard were heard ring
ing out on the crisp autumn air.
There was no time to be lost in the
good-by, for this was not to be good-by
of the common sort to be said before
| witnesses.
Sometimes I thought now may be it
won't be, but then again L thought
whether or not it wouldn't be after all, -
continued Phoebe Ann, beating time with
the wooden spoon.
81 shouldn't have missed if the word
had been pronounced right" came John
ny Shepard's voice, clearer and nearer.
katy" whispered Eugene, hurriedly,
"say. will you have me?"
81 don't know but l will, if you want
me-" whispered Katy, and then John and
Amy came up just as Phoebe Ann opened
the door to put out the cat.
1t was lifetime, as boys and girls
reckon, before Eugene and Katy could
"have" each other. They had to wait
till Eugene had come to be mate of a
large sailing vessel; and then till he had
saved money enough to buy six plates
and half dozen wooden chairs, besides
some other housekeeping trifes. But
that day couldn't hold off forever; al
though before it came they were mature
and middle aged people of 10, and when
it really came they would have been as
happy together as two housekeeping
robins, only for one thing.
There is always fly in the pot ol
ointment" quoth Phoebe Ann on the
morning after the wedding day. "Some
thing heart rendering; and we must lool
for it one way if not another. But il
does come pretty tough on the young
folks to have to be parted before the
wedding cake is hardly out of the tins
However, they knew what to expec
when they decided to make arrange
ments."
Don't you so to worrying about us,
said Eugene, gayly, as he came suddenly
upon her where she sat on the same ole
hencoop shelling peas for dinner, "Ksty
is going with me every voyage as soor
as | am captain"
Phoebe Ann snuffed discouragingly
but she prudentlY said nothing till sht
was alone with the cat; and If she fore
cast the years wrongly only the cat knew
il.
For ali came to pass as Eugene pur
posed, and not 50 very long first either
All, and more. Katy not only sailed
with him when be was Capt. Mosscroft
but also small person who had brown
eyes, brown curls and red cheeks ant
was named Euoenia. They went mn tb.