The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1881-04-01
miscellaneous.
The Mysterious Babies.
by REV. ED. S. GREGORY.

The best friends of the old doctor could
not deny that he was disposed to be absent
minded 1t may he that his thoughts were
generally occupied about his patients and
their diseases. 1t may be that he had acquir-
ed this habit ofabstraction, as it is called, be-
cause he was often on the road, both by day
and night and / have noticed that those who
dwell familiarity with nature are often SO fas.
cinated by its beauties and its mysteries that
they get out of the ordinary run of small
cares and small talk. When people fall into
this way Of dwelling apart from the circum-
stances about them they are said to be wool
gathering; though why absent-minded folks
should be thought to gather wool rather than
hay or hickory nuts, or huckle-berries, is one
of those things that no fellow has ever found
out.
The doctor was not so very old when the
incident about the six babies took place
That period was IL long time ago when the
good county of Bedford, in Virginia, was not
so highly civilized as it is at present. At all
the time that | speak of people lived very
far apart and along very rough and difficult
roads. They visited little, spending most of
their time at home, the men mt work on their
farms, the ladies managing their houses, their
servants and their children. The doctor
knew all ofthem ofcoursc. Whenever there
was any public gathering, political or reli-
gious, then all the good people for scores of
miles in every direction assembled, bringing
their dinners in baskets and hampers, and
spending often not only one day but several,
having II good time generally is an old
fashioned way
The occasion on which the incident ofthe
mysterious babies occurred was grand an
nual meeting OF the Old side Baptlst Asso-
citation. The brethren were out IN Iull force,
rThn in,n hut thn N-put hpr &c
not warm; the trees were IN iul leaf; the
church was beautifully situated IN the midst
of deep and ancient grove: and near Mt hand
was mountain brook, whose gentle descent
over the rocks and roots made sweet and
tinkling music to the ear. Along the fence
many hundreds OF horses were tied and hun
drcds of others to twlgs and saplings some
with mems saddles ON them, some side
dies, some pack-saddles, some pilons and some
| with no saddles at all. And there were car
| riages, and 5uggics, and barouches, and wa
CONS, and gigs, and carlyalls, and carts, and
calashes, and OK drags, and in fact pretty
much everything that could carry people
| from one point 10 another. And sure enough
| the people were there provcthat the wagons
and other conveyances had conveyed them
Nobody ever saw more lively and animated
sight; those moving figures of old and young,
male and female, great and small, white and
| black, through the long green arches OF the
wood and upon its quilted carpet ofinterac
ed shadow and. sunshine. But il linger in
this way over the crowd and the scene will
never have chance to tell you about the
mysterious babies
| The doctor was at the Association, as where
else ouNt the doctor to have been? Not
that only, but he was the most important
parsonage on the ground. The candidate
for Congress was also there and be sure he
did not lack for attention from men or wo.
men, The delegate who sat in the legislature
| was also present and he was shaking hands
| with his dear constituents all day and was in
| high feather. Both of these gentleman
were anxious to save the country and both
| very certain that the country could not be
saved unless they were elected And many
people followed them about and thought
themselves highly honored when these great
men gave them passing word
The doctor had barely arrived on the ground
when he was asked to prescribe for sick
baby. lie found very little the matter with
| the child but wrote off some simple prescrip
| ton of home remedies and thought nothing
more about it, Or rather he did notice that
the colored girl who brought the child to
him was in broad grin; that used to be the
way with those honest people and is so yet
and therefore that did not long engage his
| thoughts.
| Before the doctor had time to ask the news
he was again called into requisition, this
time to draw poor fellows jaw-tooth-a
big one an old one and heavy one.
| We draw veil over that struggle, for in
those days tooth-pulling was tooth pulling
and no mistake. The doctor wiped the blood
from the old fashioned forccps on some red
dog wood leaves and looked up to find a col
orcd woman standing by him with baby in
her arms. The woman was fat the baby
thin and had la yellow shawl around it, The