The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-09-23

The child shook her head.
Your pay, then?"
Another shake, and again coaxingly,
SETS come"
lit does beat all naterr' said A.
Pean, walking about her, and debating
with himself the propriety of taking
her in his arms. "Why, you must
have a may an pay. Everybody
docs"
The child shook her head. "Sef' 8
come" she repeated, IAN SETS
hungry"
A. Bean led the child into the next
room, and as everything seemed to have
grown disordered and dirty all in
minute, he set her on the bed and did
the best he could with the hair and
hatchel. and as he had no tablecloth, he
spread clean-looking piece of news
| paper on the table. and set upon it his
cupful OF milk. 1t was market morning;
the streets were already thronged with
wagons, and he ran out and soon re-
turned with a handful of Strawberries
in a cool vine-Ieaf.
| The two made q pleasant meal of it.
SO pleasant that A. Bean was frightened
when he saw how late it was, and
thought of the wigs. He could learn
nothing from the child. save that she
was Sef, and that she and dolly had
come. She either could not or would
not tell whether she had any parents,
or where she came from; and to all
questions either shook her head or an
swered with a sigh, Don't know
nussin." Her poor. plain clothes had
certain oddly, and her ruddy little face
an expression which struck him as un-
usual. I" You look furrin. You do look
Turin, you little rosebud he wills
pered to wig-block, when after her
hearty breakfast the child fell asleep on
the bed.
The next day when no one came to
claim the child, A. Bean advertised her.
And thinking she might belong to some
of the emigrants who were passing
through the city by the hundreds, and
who during the summer often spent the
night on the long platform at one side
of'the railway station, he sent n minute
description of her to some OF the West
ern papers that had a large circulation.
He made a little bed for her on the
! lounge at first, but as the weeks went
on, and no one came to claim her, he
bought a crib. He dreaded to look into
a newspaper after that, and when the
shop bell rang his heart beat painfully.
But no one ever came, or sent a mes
/ sage asking for IA child. Sef had come,
and she staid, and from the first mo-
ment she and A. Bean loved each other
! devotedly.
You better send her to the orphans,
/ home" said Matilda Haddock, the old
woman A. Bean had hired to make
| some clothes for the child, and attend
to her little wants. You can't never
take care of n child, no how, unless you
| Git married"
"Marriedw screamed A. Bean,
married! You must be crazy. A phil
osopher, and l claim to be one"-here
A. Bean dropped his voice, and spoke
calmly-''a philosopher knows better
than toto, if l may so express it, to
complicate his relations"
"Hey!' said Matilda Haddock. drop
ping snuff all over herself in her amaze
ment, Il don't make We out, u .sT
Than to marry snapped the little
man, quite out of patience. '.But L
shall keep her. The first thing | re-
member was bound out. s'pose you
know what that is?''
Matilda nodded.
well" continued A. Bean, THAT
was the first awful thing. The next
was, | was carried off to q fiat country,
so fiat pancake would be hummocky
to it. The heavens shet tight down to
the airth, an there wan t no folks, nor
no apple-sass, nor no nothin'i o Lord!
How | did hate it! An Ezra Doxtater
and Miss DoXtater-how they hated
boys, me special. He used to call me a
cuss, which it amt for me to say
wasn't; an she bein' what you might
call ugly good was forever telIin' me
what becomes of bad boys that are took
off student. An they were forever a.
lickin' me, an settin' me to work,
which do say | was willin' enough to
do If hadn't been forever fit at. The
first thing did every morning was to
plan out how I'd git to 90 away. l
KEEP plannin', an a-plannin', till the
railway come. an then | lit. | like to
be where folks aire, an things is goin
on. l don't set no store by water, an
so | come to the city, an here I've
stad. But bein' with folks amt havin
folks, not that | do want folks reg Ter,
not bein' brought up to have 'em, but l
shall keep her. First had waller cat,
!. an then | had yaller dog. They were
the cutest critters. But bein' of an in
quirin' turn, Miss Haddock, l think I'll
try human this time, an folks kin
clack their tongues off, l shall keep
her"
When two years had passed, A. Bean
took the child to the pastor of the church
not far from the little shop.
"l'm not religious man myself"
he explained, "leastways, not till had
her. But havin' children to bring up