The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1881-04-20
gers tritched ). her apron as she added in

They were married in time, we came to
know, and went to housekeeping; but they
were poor; they had to rent land; bad luck
followed their planting, and finally Aaron
determined TO 90 West with the Santa Fe
freighters, many Of whom. once as poor as
himself, had been known to return from that
mysterious region with money enough to
buy well-improved farms in the Boone's
Lick country. 81 didn't cross him about
IT," said Aunt 'Cinda; "He was alters dread
ful sot in his ways. an couldn't be cosxed
ag'in' the grain. That was his weak spot;
everybody has one, you know. 1t was
Almost too much for me to see him start of
on sech journey, but made myself think
it would turn out for the best; an / knowed
he'd come hack"
Two years passed, however, and he did not
return, nor did she hear aught from him,
except that he had duly reached Santa Fe.
A third year. almost, dragged away with
out sight or tidings of him; and then she re-
solved to move out into Kansas, along the
route he had taken-'so's to DE higher to
him." she told US, 'sn' meet him as he come
home" And so she had been pushing on
from place to place, through hardship and
danger by the great trail across the plans,
until now she could see, on clear day, the
outlines of the mountains that she knew he
must pass over on his way eastward. She
had supported herself by cooking and wash
ing for the freighters, and caring for the sick
who fell in her way, and at length had con-
trived, after years of 'scrimpin an dick
erin" as she described it, TO secure this $50
lated ranch, where she dispensed no meals
at dollar each, including soda biscuits and
the accompaniment OF a real tablecloth
And here she waited, watchful and patient,
for the truant husband. "He's sure to
come" she would say, ''and can't miss him;
'twouldnt surprise me to have him drop in
any day" She scanned the faces of the
alighting passengers from the stage every
evening with habitual eagerness, and yet q
trihe timidly, as if doubtful about the kind
of reception he would give her; indeed, she
said once: 81 dunno but it'll rilc him to
meet up with me so sudden away out here,
an him a-thInkin' I'm in Missouri; maybe
hadn't orter "a come" Every day some
special dish was cooked as he had been wont
to prefer it; the best bed, in room by itself,
was kept always vacant for him; regularly,
each afternoon, she would unloose her
abundant hair and gather it into a long,
thick braid, after the obsolete fashion of her
girlhood, and tie il with scrap of ribbon
The fact that she had received but one
letter from him in all the long years did not
seem so unaccountable after she informed us
that owing to early neglect he was " on
handy with the pen" and generally had his
writing done by proxy. In strict truth he
probably could not write word. {. But he
knows fggers just as nat'ral as kin be-" she
fastened to plead for him, "an' never seed
the steer or hog at he couldn't guess the
hett of nigh onto few pound; an, nobody
could ever beat i'm cipherin' out corn In
the crib" She refused also to confess a mo
ment's uneasiness as to his personal safety;
both his absence and his silence failed to dis
concert her. HE kin take keer of hisself
anywheres," she declared with evident pride,
and if he's done got hurt or made way with,
I'd have some warnin' of it in a dream or
somethin'. But / amt had's much as a sign
in the coffee-groun's to make me afeard.
OF course he'll come back. What in the
world would he stay away for2"
1t was idle to dispute such trust, even ST.
lently. Not only that, it wss impossible to
avoid sharing it, and soon il became as much
our habit as it was hers, to look from day
to day for the coming of the absent hus-
band. So infinitely did she talk of him
that we believed we should recognize him
at sight; in fact we felt so sure Of this, and
expectation came to be so fdgety with us,
that often when the weather was fair, we
would stroll out for miles on our ponies to
meet the stage and get sn earlier glance at
the occupants, hoping thus to spy Aaron,
and gallop back to Aunt 'Cinda with the
good news of his approach. Such was our
thought, our talk, as we entered leisurely
along the trail one quiet evening, and,
rounding a curve, came meeting a single
queer. covered wagon, drawn by oxen. and
creaking piteously. Inside the vehicle lay
a man, with pallid face and long, struggling
whiskers, who raisedshimself ON his elbow to
salute US, and then sank down again with
An expression of pain; near his side slept a
baby; the wife and mother sat in front, on a
fitting seat, guiding the "critters" with a
well-worn Mexican goad. 1t was a novel
sight, and provoked at once both curiosity
and sympathy. We forgot about the stage,
we forgot about Aaron; and when the baby
awoke presently, and put its tiny fists to its
cheeks and gazed at US in shy, debating
wonder-as if trying to identify us with
something seen in its just vanished dream
we almost ceased to realize the great, far
stretching and empty periphery of desert, a
child was such a godsend there.
"Yes," said the woman as we wheeled
about, and rode beside the wagon, with our
ponies refined in TO suit the slow gait of the
oxen, "Yes, / think she is a tolerable nice
baby, myself. We call her Cutie but her
names Adeline, same's mine. He named
her"-indicating the pale and silent father,
whose thin fingers clutched the child's frock
protectingly.
"Has your husband been sick long2"
morn a month" the man answered
But I'm pickin' up now. L amt nigh SC
porely as l was back in the valley. Ii ]
could only get shut o. these rheumatic, I'D
be all right. It's the rheumatic more'n any.
thing else"
ats the mountain fever" remarked the
woman, in kindly whisper; and then
speaking aloud and chesrily, "Yes, he's dom
splendid now" she continued. san don't
need nothin' but 10 keep quiet, less il
mought be wild cherry bitters, if we had
'em. Why, two weeks ago he was jest plain
skin and bones. His own mother WOULDN'T
"a knowed him"
81 seed my shadder on the grass one day.
the man called out, with grim ehuckle, "an
| it skeert me-"
He did not speak again, except in an un-
dertone to the restless child, during the hour
or more that we plodded along together;
but the woman was talkative, and we
CLEANED from her, by easy degrees, that they
had been living in New Mexico, and were
now on their way back ''to Gods Country
east Of the plains, "everlastin'ly put out,
as she expressed it, "with the greazers,
kAosr triA I'M for