Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-07-27

you didn't always think SO, did We ?"
sarcastically inquired Mrs. Bunnell, who
knew very well what hurt and wrong
had set Miss Nancy against the Phelps
family; how Sam Phelps uncle had
"courted pretty Nancy Tryon, and
then run away with Jason Swift's daugh-
ter, the richest girl in Stafford, and left
Nancy TO make the best of it.
The taunt made poor Nancy speech
less; she looked at Mrs. Bunnell, as
that peace-br breaking woman afterwards
expressed it, "jest like the unicorn on a
needle-paper a-tarin' at the lion.
really looked to hev her rise up an paw
round and run her tongue out at me-"
But good Mrs. Beers said in her gen.
tie way, before Miss Nancy could speak,
"Like enough she was to We, an some
how the letter went astray; I've knowed
it so to be-"
"Talk! do talk!' shrieked Miss Nan
cy. "She haint! [ know she haint
She knowed [ wouldn't never go to no
Phelps weddin'; she done it a-purpose,
the mink"
sob, [ guess not, 'purred Mrs. Beers,
Janey's a good girl; she's real feelin'
know MIS- Mash has set by her like
an own darter since she's hired out
there
She hadn't no need to go there, any
wayr broke in the exasperated aunt
"She could ha' lived here till the day
after never, if she'd hev give that teller
the mitten, and he'd what I've got to
leave when I'm dead an gone"
And your good for ninety-fve,
Nancy y laughed provoking Mrs. Bun
nell. Didn't happen to come to We,
L suppose, that she'd ruther live long
o Sam Phelps in house of her own,
than be a-hangin' on to your skirts. so
to speak, till she was an old maid her.
self? Well, what's dones done. I'm
sorry to see We so riled about it, but [
must be a-goin'; [ sot sponge this
mornin', an [ shouldn't wonder if twas
clean over the pan by this. Folks has
got to have breads wells butter" and
with nod of farewell, Mrs. Bunnell
rustled out of the room, ner stiff calico
seeming to hiss In echo to her derisive
words as she swept through the narrow
door.
"There amt no butter about her %
growled Miss Nancy. "Sophi' Bun
nells as prickly as a thistle, an alters
was.
"Well, folks is made different" said
Mrs. Beers, gently. eve amt all jest
alike, and it's quite mercy we amt; all
sugar or all salt would be as tasteless, [
guess. Mis- Bunnell's real good to the
sick, I've always heard tell, and she's
smart as whip besides"
eyes, n whip with stinger, too"
was the curt answer.
"Weu, now." went on Mrs. Beers,
81 feel real hurt for We, Miss Nancy,
about Janey, but I'm certin sure she
never meant nothin' less than not to
have We toher. weddin'; why, know her
real well; she's as sweet as cream,
naturally. Depend ont, twas all
mistake"
You no need to butter me up, Phil
indy Beers [ guess I know when I'm
thrown over s wells the next one. Jane
has gone an done '1actly what said she
shouldn't never do, and she knows it.
I've got means to live on, and more. I
amt no poor despisable old maid. I've
got money III the bank, and good farm,
and I'll go into Hartford to-morrer, if
I'm spared, and make my will to a law
yer's, and [ will every cent to turin mis-
sions. I'll do it, sure's your born"
ooh, now, don't We do nothin' hasty,
Miss Nancy! Let's see about it, now
do; the's almost always two sides to
things, and We know the Scriptur' rec
ommends for us to be slow to wrath; it's
real easy to talk but you can't untalk,
ye know.
"Nor don't want to % was the irate
answer
swell, [ must say good-day. I've
got to see to our folkses dinner some.
Sar' Ann can do the most ont, but she
amt very mighty, nd mothers lad up
with rheumatic. F"
And Mrs. Beers slid away quietly,
leaving Miss Nancy alone.
Words are words only, we say some
times, but how they can hurt or heal !
Miss Nancy was grieved to the heart
with Janey's conduct, and when Mrs.
Bunnen exasperated her with sharp
comment and keen taunt, she was ready
in her rage to believe she would never
speak to her niece again; but the Widow
Beers gentle suggestion fell on her soul
like dew, and against her will or her
consciousness soothed her excited tenn
per and wounded spirit.
She was by no means ready to forgive
Janey; but as she sat alone there and re-
viewed all the past, thought of the girls
bright, loving patience, her thoughtful
care of her aunt and her likeness to the
dear dead brother, and then-being a
just woman, for all her temper and testy
obstinacy-went back to the love of her
own youth for an elder Sam Phelps, and
the agony of loss and modification she
endured then, she began to see what
Janey had escaped, and what she had
found, and to look "also upon the
things of Others"
She would have resented sharply any
intimation that Philindy" Beers had
/ modified her with the "butter' Of her
kindly, loving nature and speech, but
there was no one by to make such init
nation, and when the sun set that night
and the lonely old woman watched it
from her doorsteps sinking in all the
splendor Of red and gold behind the hills.