The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1881-10-15

] :
away at all, but work here Ii you could
build little house, and then we would
rough it together"
"No, little Dora, that is not my kind
of love; my mother tried that, and she
! lived Il slaves life.'
"Dorl, Dorar called Prudence from
| upstairs; "what on earth are YOU do
/ ing down there?'
/ " must go now, | must truly said
Dora, rs she felt herself locked N arms
that would not give way. IF live
! without you Tor seven years | shIil be n
homely old maid, and YOU will not thank
me for waiting for you
He put her away then and looked at
her cur,ouSly, rs if he had never
/ thought of her pre- tneSs before. s"Do
| you know what your name melnsm he
asked earnestly. Il saw it in the pa
| per that Theodore means Gift of
| Cod and you have been Just that to
me- If | had never seen you, | should
never have had notion above days
work anda nights sleep. / will write
whenever | have any luck, and come
/ home on New Years eve, when | do
come; and if you wear this red dress |
| shall know that you have waited for
me-"
81 think | shall live to wear it when
! you come home, if it is seven times
/ seven years, Joe; for women are very
hard to KILL" said Dora, slowly disap-
/ pearing from the kitchen.
" What have you been doing all this
/ timer said Prudence, severely.
=" was only giving Joe some good
| advice
"Well, l hope he'll profit by it."
$50 do l." said Dora, heartily.
lis as easy to say seven years as
one, and we read of Jacobs seven
! years service for Rachel, which seemed
| but as one day for the love that he
bore her. Rachers feelings are not
thought worthy to be mentioned in
Holy Writ; but, if her love was like
Dora S, every day seemed seven years.
And here, in a nutshell, lies the diff
ference between mans love and q
wOman's.
Jacob had the sheep to mind, and he
did mind them uncommOnly well; Joe
went to seek his fortune in new scenes,
and only thought of Dora when he had
nothing else to do. The poet thought
he had set hard task to men when he
/ said:
4" Learn to labor and to waltz
/ but it is UNNECESSARILY harder to be
idle and wait.
Till her lover went away, Dora had
never cared to ask herself whether she
were a child or woman. Sunshine
had been plenty with her, and she had
easily sugared and gilded the plain
| things that farm-life offered to her.
Before the first year came to an end,
she felt that she should soon arrive ut
n patriarchal age if she did not do
something to Kill the time which died
so hard on her hands.
Teach school! | guess not" said
her father, when she first preached her
| plan to him. You amt starvin' yet;
and if you want some new furbelows,
you just say so, and not come at it
slantin' ways like that"
81 don't want anything, father; but
there is so little for me to do at home"
Nonsense! In my time, gals was
! always full of business. Can't you
make sheets and pillow-cases and get
ready to be married? Who knows but
somebody'll ask We one of these days?"
I'D rather teach school, father"
"Waal wal, folks can always have
their ID FATHERS in this world. | amt
willin', and that's the end ont"
But this was not the end of it, and
Dora easily obtained a school. She de-
veloped a governing talent which
| charmed the committee men, and the
/ cOngenial labor in the company of lit
/ tie children took her out of herself and
infused new lie into her hope deferred.
Every week she walked to the post
Office, three miles away, to ask for a let
| ter, going in with a bright flush in
either cheek, and coming out pale and
! dull-eyed after the stab of disappoint-
ment. | wonder that people in this
| country are so anxious to be postmas-
tiers: if they only knew it, they are
actors in more tragedies than any men,
Der of theatrical stock-company.
| Much sealed happiness passes through
their hands; but they have to refuse
many mariana in the Moated
| Grange" women who reach a
hand out of their dull lives for a letter
and draw it back empty.
| 1t was far into the second year before
Joe's first letter came. 1t was surely a
fanciful and foolish thing for a school
mistress to do, but Dora carried it to
her own little room and put on the red
dress before she read Joe's letter
Joe was working in the mines in
Colorado. His luck had not yet come,
in nuggets at least, but hard work and
sober living were slowly giving him the
advantage over the other miners. He
was never so well, and he loved her bet
! ter than all the world.
Dora lived on this letter for many
/ weeks, and she set "Colorado' for a
| copy so often to her scholars that they