The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-05-18

A MODERN PURITAN.
Stephen Billings had finished his din
ner-a meal eaten at noon by the in
habitants of the thinly settled farming
town of Hillside and was showing back
his chair, when he heard a rap at the
front door. 1t stood open-for it was
a warm day in the last week of May
and framed a delightful view across
slope and valley, view at this moment
eclipsed by the figure of tall and hand
some girl, who stood waiting at the
threshold
"Eh, Miss Sophronyr' said Mr.. Bill
ings, bowling his head to peer at her be-
Tween the shaggy gray tufts of his
knitted brOws and the upper rim of his
silver-bowed spectacles. won't We
walk in? how $ Mis- Newcomb? Chill
dren dom well to school? Hev cheer,
won't yeP-ye look real beat"
" Mother is well, thank YOU" said
SOphronia, hurriedly. Can l see you
few moments alone, Mr.. Billings?"
q Sartin We can-what's to hender?"
said the old bachelor, bluntly. " There's
the gal in the kitchen, busy mostly a
breakin' on the dishes, an she won't
hear; so speak right out, Miss Sophrony,
an Git rid ont for / own I'm powerful
Curis TO know what's brought yep
The girl blushed; it was, in fact, the
first time she had ever been under
Stephen Billings roof. 1--we come to
see you about the mortgage on fathers
farm"
The old man started, Strengthening up
stiffly. eye Jest 90 right straight back
hum, an tell yer father not to send
none o his petticoats to me- don tdo
business with GALS"
90, Mr.. Billings, father doesn't know
that l came!n cried the girl, quickly.
lit is all my own doing; no one knows
q word about it, and you mustn't tell"
. Mustn't, heyP"
No, you viii not tell; you have
no right, for l have come to you
in confidence, and you are gentle
man, and can not betray me-"
She was pale, and trembled very much,
but there was no installing the resolu-
ton in her voice and glance.
" amt no gentleman, Stephen
Billings answered, after pause; - but
if we reely cum by yerself, l amt called
upon, fur s ] know, to 90 a-givin' on
We away by tattlin'. What is ye want?''
I'll tell you the truth, Mr.. Billings,
and I'll speak rs l would if you were
my own father instead of my fathers
enemy"
nc Olu man > lace tDdO4eQ SJQVGn-
ly, and he pressed his hand hard upon
the arm of the hair-cloth sofa where he
sat; but the girl went on, without pause
or visible hesitation, as if life and death
were i'm the balance. 81 don't under
stand business very well, but do know
that father can not pay up the mort
gage, and that You have said that he
must pay, or you must have the farm. [
want you TO grant him one year, and at
the end of il, if he can not pay you, Mr.
Billings. l viii. I've come here to ask
you TO do this great kindness to me, Mr.
Billings-not TO my father or my moth
er, but to me. And I ask YOU to deal
with me as you would wish to have a
man deal by your daughter, if she were
in such trouble as am.
The sweet, passionateIy earnest voice
ceased, and the speaker came forward
and, sinking into the chair at the end of
the sofa, laid her hand on the old mans
arm. She had proudly refrained from
allusiOn either to her mothers delicate
health, or her father age and rheumat-
ic disabilities. She would not permit
them, even through her, to vainly sup
plicate this hard man, but herself she
freely humbled for their dear salxes.
The Newcomb farm was small, and the
mortgage but triiing sum, if only
Daniel Neweomb had not been poor,
physically disabled, and through the
misdeeds of others in debt. On the 9TH
er hand, stephen Billings was rich, ut
least for a Hillsider; but he was
known to be a grasping rs well as a
thrifty man, and few people who knew
him would have dreamed Of such an at
tempt rs Sophronia N ewcomb had made
Yet courage and devotion sometimes an
hpffn1 Than bn crrhfNaEf ttltg
wisdom. 1t was long time since any
one had spoken to Stephen Billings with
this tone of complete confidence in his
doing what was right whether pleasant
or not, Just because it was right; and il
was a very long time since a warm
young hand had touched him kindly like
this girlish hand he felt trembling on
his arm. When, after a pause, he
raised his eyes to hers, his features were
working with unaccustomed and strong
ly repressed emotion.
Wa'al, I've hecred ye," he said,
- and eff I'd had darter, an she wuz
ter cum ter n man as we've cum to me
in trouble, We Said-Id want him ter
say: jest We be easy; Til give Dan'l-
I'll give yer father a year. Sho! what
be We dom ?'' Sophronia had caught
one of his hands and kissed its brown
freckled back. He rose and walked over
to the window, then came back and
then paused in front of her. - re the
picter o. yer mother when She was a gal,
an Dan'i an me were boys, l suppose
ye don't know We cum mighty nigh to
bein' my darter?"
Sophronia had risen when he did.
Her heart was full. and her tongae was
no longer fluent
4 dom mind tellin' on We" he said,
little huskily, %for We amt the gal to
60 repeatin' ont; Yer mother vuz the
only gal / ever asked to marry me. an
| wuz q soft-hearted lad in them DAYS.
She said no, and it spilled things for me
q good deal ever sence,n