Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-08-04
MISS LYDDY's WEDDING GOWN.

"Oh, missus, missus! Somefn's
done happenedr'
Blank horror and dismay were de-
picted upon the face of my small African,
as she stood upon my threshold with
appraised hands and eyeballs that seemed
starting from their sockets. Her pause
was one of preparation, for with the in
nate consideration of her race che
sought TO break the news gently to me,
but the burden of il was too great for
her, and with the next breath she ex-
claimed:
Dem pigs done chawed up Miss
Lyddy's weddin' gown
"Glory," exclaimed (she had been
piously christened Gloriana), "Glory,
how did il happenP"
"Dunnor' said Glory. "'Pears to
me dem pigs has got Satan in 'em.
Guess dey's 'scended from de ole lot
what run down steep place inter de
sea. I'll 60 an fetch We piece"
She sped out and Instantly returned
with tattered shred of India null that
had once been white, and still bore
some resemblance to q gown. Poor
Miss Lyddy! This was all that re-
manned Of her dream of wedding splen-
doris. II was too pitiful! / felt at once
that the bonds of good neighborhood
had been irretrievably broken, and that
Major Hawthorne must be made aware
of this last and worst depreciation of his
unseemly pigs.
But who would break the news to Miss
Lyddy?
GLORY" said /, "where is she?''
y "Gone over to dc buryin'-place to
n 20, do ~
Poor. faithful soul, even in those last
days of her maidenhood, with the vague
terrors of matrimony and the still more
appalling responsibilities of unsaved
heather souls hanging over her, she did
not forget the ancestors. Long lines of
Ludkinses lay buried in little sunken
hillocks in the family burying-place,
which lay just in sight of her sitting
room window. She herself was the last
of her race, and until within three weeks
1T bad seemed that the only fate which
awaited her was to live out her little
space under the ancestral roof-tree and
then take her place in the silent ranks
OF those who had gono before. But a
change had come! 1t came in the per-
son of a returned missionary from the
J icronesan Islands, who had buried
the first and second partners OF his ioys
and sorrows somewhere under the palm
trees of those tropical lands, and had
come back to the scenes of his youth to
recruit his health, serve the cause and
look up partner number three He met
Miss Lyddy at n woman's missionary
meeting. He called the next afternoon
and was invited tostay to tea. He ac-
-cepted the invitation, and the next
morning Miss Lyddy came into nv
room-for /. too, domiciled under the
Ludkins roof-tree for consideration
and with much hesitation and many
faint and delicate bushes informed me
that she had promised to share the fu-
ture lot of the Rev. Nehemiah Apple
bloom, to take care of his six children
and sustain and support him in his ar
-duous labors among the heather of the
Micronesian Islands.
l was struck dumb with amazement.
Miss LYDIA" said at length, "hare
you duly considered this project.
Her thin figure quivered and her
white face, that had yet delicate re-
membrance of youth in it, grew tender
with feeling.
YES" she said, 81 think have. I
have always had presentiment that 1
should marry q minister or a mission
ary." Admirable and pathetic faithl
And Mr.. Applebloom says he knew
the moment he set eyes upon me that 1
was ordained to be his wife; so you see
II is not the surprise to either of us that
it is likely TO be to our friends.
1 knew then that her mind was fully
made up. so demurred no longer, but
lent myself at once to q discussion of
the wedding, which plainly saw was
what Miss Lyddy desired of me.
"You win be married in church, /
supposeP'
30, no." said Miss Lyddy. with
gentle decision. 81 am the last of the