The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-12-15
TONS moyAEST

TOM'S MON-2ENI.
81 dreaInt last night o. setiin' at a long
table, N I'm Jest as sartain tina Tom Is
druwnded as ef see him 10 the bottom O. the
ocean this minute said Mrs. job Fernad,
wping the tears from her tan-colored checks
with her calico apron. 'Ef IL didn't stand to
reason tibet he wuz dead, tibet sign never fails,
m dew think we'd Orter hev respec' eruough
for he poor boys mem'ry to git him a un.
M put il W in the lot without waitin' no
longer
ayes, it's more'n year now, m the sarcy
sally haiu't been heard from. 1 s'pose likely
she must ha' been LOST agreed Cyntny Ann,
the daughter of the house, not without a
certain grim c iOyment Of the situation.
"Stuus is dretful expensive, anyhow, but SEEM
ez we'hain't ben able to give him any funeral,
nor hev the minister, nor cook up for the
mOurnCrs, II seems cZ ef we'd Orter buy a
mo iment for him. ! can't RELY see how we
kin do less, ez,the Peter Fernalds got one fur
their Charles, m | say to marin, il WON
do TO let them git ahead of us, poor ez they
be. Pir'aus, HhOlv, eZ YOU m Tom wuZ eZ
good cz PROMISED to one t'other, you'd be
willin' 20 give little out Ov yer schOol-keepin'
money towards gittin' The monimen', m Pm
goin' TO put OIL gittin married for a while
though sc h is drcttul put out about tn
save al my rug money, till, with what marin
takes lur butter, we shall git enough"
TIE person addressed, young woman with
aprett,, sensible face, shivered little, and
shook her head decisively. Il dou't believe
about buyinga monument yet. Wait another
year if YOU 10 not hear from him by that
time, here will be reason To
That's Jest what pa says" In errupted
Cynthy Ann, Jest because he don't want b
ev it that Tom is d-ownded. He seems ter
think, somehow, that by hangin' of m not
even 'iwnin' OF IL to himself, he ken keep il
frum bein' so. Tha' s way some folks hez. -
ale wuz aiwuz Jest so headstrong an I'M
reasonable sighed Mrs. Fernaid, with pro-
longeG use of the calico apron. "He had the
imper ence 20 say this yer, mornin thet il
ipearcd e ei we wanted him dead, for the sake
ov hev.n' monument fur him like Peters
Charles. But TO look a. things fair m square,
what chance is there that he kin be in the land
o. the living Didn't Seth Smallidge himself
20 10 see the owners OF the >arcy Sally over
they hadn't no more idee Of ever hearini frum
either vessel rcrcw than nothin' at allii
- I that construed Monuments gin, be they,
Rhodyti growled weather-beate old man.
whose lace bore a curious resemblance to a
wood carving, appearing suddenly in the door
way. "But don't you lis en- to EN- deary, fur
you IN knows that our boy amt no more
dead than they be- Even eff he wuz, we cou dn't
atforl 70 git a monument fur him Dead folks
sleeps Jest as well without any stun whatso
ever, m eff their bones is a-restin' in the sea
OF what use is a stun on the laudf II carn'i
tell nobody jest where they be. Somehow the
folks in his place, specially in this family, has
got maTN elOus craze for Monuments. Bro her
Lysarnder he made mention of it when he was
TO nome uNe Years ago, N SeuCe that he craze
has ben OWN "a CROWN. Even the sum
mer boarders over TO the Harbor poke fun at
Us abOu it. Sam Smith showed me a newspaper
where one on 'em had been a-writin' up the
place, an It did sound as eff we wuz cur US
I, ks. Twas every word of it true, too, ~
went on to say that the Herrin' Point folks fur
The most part lived in lit lie weather-beaten
huts the were dretful poor per ection frum
wind n rain, m wuz pictur er leanness IN
poverty, coz they're a-saviu' up money to buy
themselves Monuments to look splendid over
their graves when hey wuz dead and gone
But r my part / don't want to go about so
Eoller while I'm alvin, for the sake o. cuttln'
dash when casta Choir. Anyhow wouldn't
agree 10 a great monument a-loOmin' up out
o. the family buryin' ground IN overtoppin'
the old house, like steeple over mushroom,
the way PETERS Charles does"
- o, pal never thought you wuz so awful
worldly minded before yroaned Miss Cynthy
Ann, with look OF horror.
well, be Jest WORLDLY minded enough to
stick TO it tibet won't live ON them t ,rnal
bony herrin' till the bones prick through nv
flesh, no drink carrant-leaf tea, nor 90 wi
nv arms stickiu' through Toms old cio'es
while you wimmcn folks is a-savin' upfnr the,
there imaginary sort o. monument as it were
Some OF us I'll die in earnest soon enough, m
then You'll have chance 10 show all the re-
spec you want TO, IA hey stu in al nest. y
" ., pa, how Ken You talk 50 bigotedl Amt
1t awful to hear him, Rhodyf"
Rhody SIN led, but remained silent, and evil
IDENTITY wishing to hear no more concerning
the affair, suddenly remembered that it was
sehool-time, and took hurried departure The
old man returned to his netmenGing on the
SUNNY side of the wood pile at the back-door,
and lie two women. after prolonged consul
Ia ion, Il ally decided that hey would wait
another year before buying the monument as
Rhody had suggested. In fact, it would be
necessary to do so, as the girl would contrib
ute nothing toward the fund, and pa was dret.
ful troublesome when he warn't humored. But
ms Tor there bein. chance that II m wasn't
u~ar all
MN shameful not to take a mite o. notice OF
his death, too.
Days and weeks went on in the old monot-
onous manner at Herring Point. The gorge rus
ranks OF the golden rod and asters were cut
down by the frost, and the winds swept away
the few red leaves which colored the sides OF
the sea-iooking hills, to make clear path for
the frosty march of winter. The sea, so long
asleep under the summer sunshine began To
show once more the wild fierceness of its
nature, and drove home the boats of the
fishermen, and lashed-, the rocks angrily
through wild nights " In only the lamp OF
the light house over on he Ledge she'd a ray
of light through the stormy darkness. Mrs.
Fernald, when not attending to her two COWS
and her bntter-making, sat in the chimney
corner and knitted blue yarn stockings for the
markef, and Cynthy Am, with u zeal that
never tired while the vision OF the splendid tai
monument flashed before her mental gaze
hooked rugs from early in the morning until
late into the night. Her hooked rugs were in
demand now, for several summer boarders had
admired aud purchased them, and since that
time nearly every lady at the Port had beer
seized with desire TO possess one as an orna.
ment 10 her best parlor. Pa divided the time
between gossipng with.his old sailor cronies
at the store aud sitting meditatively by the
fire with his pipe and almanac. No mention
was made OF the monument, and the old man
drank his store tea in triumph, Offering
no objections to the currantleaf beverage
with which his wife and daughter saw fit to
regale themselves, save by an occasional gruni
Of disapproval.
No news came of the Sarcy Sally or the fate
OF her crew, and as the days crept slowly and
drearily toward spring, though pa still per
sisted in his belief that Tom was living, all
hope died in Rhoda's heart. But as in Her
ring Point parlance she aud Tom had not been
really promised to one t'other, she fei
thai she could not CRAFTY Cynthy AIMS
wish and express her grief by wearing mourn
ing garments, though it would have given her
a sort of dreary satisfaction to be able 10 dc
so.
'sShe conldn't ha' cared nothin' about him,
or she wouldn't wear a blue INIT to meetin',
m him dead IN gone,n said the neghbors
with one accord, for the real state OF the case
was unknown to them "i'r'aps she's afeard
o. scarin' away Joe Collins eff she should put
on black; he's alwuz ben a-tryin' to git her
away from Tom sence they wuz boys m girls
together; ~ now Toms lost they say he's
attentive to her ez bumble-bee is to mari
eool.n
But Rhoda was little disturbed by these
remarks- Her heart was very sore because OF
TOMS loss, but here were circumstances con-
nected with his going away which caused IL to
be sorcr i'll Why had he not spoken before
bis departure, II, as she had every reason to
think. he really cared for her, and wished to
make her his wifef More than once during
those last days he had seemed on the point Of