Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-11-02

sity of later life as saving and seclusiOr
had been of the earlier, she invited all
to meet at her house, opened the long.
! closed best room, brought out the patch.
work quilt of a past generation for the
bedroom, where ssthings'' would be taken
off, and prepared a supper beyond the
widest dream of the average Society
mind. Mary followed with bewilder-
ment but inward delight the unaccount-
able and unaccustomed lavishness, and
studied the cookbook bought for the
occasion with a wonder that such de-
lights had been so long known to human
palates.
Whatever qualms may have come,
Mrs. Jennison gave no sign, and there
after the ceremony was gone through
with once year. The outer world, hav-
ing once gained admission, was not to
be put out. Mary was looked for as an
essential in the few and rather mournful
festivals of the New England hill-town,
and, grid as Mrs. Jennison might, the
young people claimed her. In spite of
the poor-house faint, the expectation
gained more and more ground that she
must finally be Mrs. Jennison's heir,
and, though restricted to calico, pain
fully skinny at that, Mary's beauty had
come to be undeniable.
Long ago 'Siah Perkins had found it
out, and with small care whether money
would be gained or lost in the suit,
pressed it with an ardOr irresistible and
carrying its own surety of response.
once more the course of true love had
been troubled, and Josh Slocum, a sulky
and rejected admirer, had walked with
Mrs. Jennison to her ''shay," as she left
the village store, and, as he helped her
in, said some words that brought a
flush and quick snap of the sharp eyes.
And so we are back once more to where
our story begins, and Mary, very deter
mined and very silent, picked over her
beans and gave no sign, save in flush
that would not be put down, that she
heard or cared.
That was three months ago, and Mrs.
Jennison had kept her word. No more
hunts for eggs and precious stray min
utes reading book or letter. Up and
one moment was allowed in which Mary
lover who at first haunted the place,
then took to moody silence and much
bordering of ways of escape for both.
One point alone was uninvaded-the
far corner of the upper loft, where
Cropple- Crown still lay, and where only
Mary could climb, but which Mrs. Jen-
nison approached as nearly as possible,
going up the first ladder to the NOW, and
eying the pegs leading to the second
with half-determination to try them.
The half one day became a whole, and
when, after repeated calls, Mary, driven
to desperation, had failed to answer and
deliberately remained looking over the
precious bundle, she climbed cautiously
up the post and had put out one foot for
final stretch to the loose boards of the
loft, when the treacherous peg gave way,
and with clutch that covered her with
hay she fell, sliding from the friendly
NOW to a manger just below, and fall
ing, to the painful amazement of old
Dobbin, at his side and almost under his
feet. A scream, and Dobbin's fright
ened neigh brought Mary at once, who
searched everywhere but in the manger,
and who was nearly in despair, when
Mrs. Jennison's voice sounded from
some unknown region:
"Call man from somewhere, for my
legs broke.''
Happily Dobbin was not a kicker and
merely turned his head inquiringly at
intervals until Antoine and then doc
tor appeared.
The fracture was compound, and there
followed a long ,dreary season of confine-
ment, and, as it seemed to the girl,
slow fire for nerve and body. The need
of quiet was absolute, and the old wo-
man, suddenly aged and haggard, ragged
against it with fury that did much to
retard recovery.
Close prisoner for the first time in all
her sixty five years, no wild animal ever
girded more fiercely at the bars that
shut him in, and when common sense
itself, and for the sake of
speedier recovery, she lay passive, if
not silent, the conflict weakened and
depressed her almost beyond bearing.
Two months of miserable endurance for
the unhappy Mary, who, day and night,
must be within sight and call, and whose
roses had long ago departed, and then,
as Mrs. Jennison once more began her
daily round, stiffened limb made the
old freedom of movement impossible.
But vigilance did not relax. Mary
was hers, body and soul, and hers she
should remain; and, certain that her
purpose was in part accomplished, and
that 'Siah at least was tired of the pur-
suit, she chuckled audibly over her sue
cess.
In the meantime new order of things
had developed in the 'Society." Worn
out with the always-increasing burden
Of a supper, which each member had,
since Mrs. Jennison's ever-memorable
one, sought to make more and more
the sensible ones had at last
revolted, and decided that each should
bring sufficient portion for one and the
table be set with this provision, the
hostess providing only tea and coffee.
this had changed, and one
provided cake, another biscuit, and so
On, the names of such being given out
in turn at each meeting. Mrs. Jennison
had said she should be at the next one,
and her name was sent up as the
maker of cake for the coming meeting,
and once more butter and eggs and fruit
we're used with a lavishness that was
never any less confounding than in the
The loaves were ready
lark and rich under the smooth FROST