The Northern Pacific farmer., 1882-11-02
eonsequencespf ystemshty. Is walks

| tu. III, therefore,, 10 Illn time. 1uo kllCus
on which we entered was like all kitch-
ems familiar to country visitors. There
was an old clock in the corner, an IRON
ingtable, small cook-stove, the neces-
sary cooking utensils, and little else
save that i'll what would hdVe been the
chimney-corner but for the ugly stove
sat a very old woman. She was not
knitting; she wal looking straight before
her illld she took 40 notice ofolr entrance
I'VE don't har"lN eyer use that knock.
er," went on our hostess, who seemed
really rather pleased to see US. "There
| don't anybody hardly ever go to the
front door, anyway. It's so much hand.
ier to come right round here"
Can we have glass Of water?" ask
| ed, meekly; ''it's SO warm driving"
AS q matter Of Elct it was not very
warm driving, but neither of us thought
of that. As She hustled off to draw the
water for US at the we'll, Dot said, with
J an air of nlalevolent triumph:
| II knew you would have to come to
! It; I was sure you couldn't think ofany-
in order"
! Like to have, you, set awhile" was
| the hospitable Invitation extended to US.
'l>aW s>kes! no, you an't keepin' me
from anythin'! All chores are done long
+ y.
for suthin' to do"
| THAT is your mother, suppose" said
Dot, respectfully designating the old lady
in tho corner. ;. !
mo, she's my grandmother. She's
eighty-seven now. She's done a power
4 otkni ittlng in her time-'most always see
I her with balls OF yarn-but she ain't
touched it now in over week. She
can't hear ye, nor me either-she's deaf
as an adder. You have to holler to make
| her Lear anythin', but hol1erin' amt
done it lately. She's been just az you
see her now, hardly movin', sence week
| ago."
But aren't you anxious about herf"
Il "No. Grandmother'n como 2round
T pretty sodn. It's noth,n' but a kind OF 4
shock she's had. She was. always easy
| upset, grandmother was, sence she was
4 girl, and she never wanted anybody to
take notice Of her, and she always come
round. She was kind of shook up this
time, guess"
| "Was this shock anything like paraly.
sls?" asked Dot, sympathizingly. =. ;;
| mo; twas suthn' she read out Of j
| newspaper, and it seemed to strike her
| all Of heap inst like that"
| Dot ana maintained discreet ST.
fence, but Our curiosity was overwheim-
ing.
"Cur'us, too, should strike her that
viaya,I way;I IP'r'ap9 ye'd nike 70 bear the
~"Wa should very much ifyouwouldn't
"Law, mol / wouldn't mind tellin
| mind hevin5 me. ltain't much
:of q story. but itss sort Of cur r'ous the.
way it =come'out:E l beard the first nif.
| of it from my mother, and it's sort Of
pity she couldn't have known the endin'
| of it. Wa'al, when grandmother was
| young woman-hev to begin quite a spell
back, you see-she was handsome, they
said, as any picter you'd want to see,
| and She had a sight cf young men. arter
| 'em al ): | guess, and Warn't'jn no partic'-,
lar hurry bout pickin' any on 'em out.
Law sakes! why should she be: Ham
| some and smart and runarter, no wonder
she want in no hurryV And her
| granddaughtersiyled q. little enviorsly;
she was rather bard featured herself,
and very likely had no such wide field
/ ioi selecuon.
! "Tilere come time when she didn't
seem to wait no longer, though, and the
| man she picked s'prised her folks and
''nost every body else. Likely enough
! Young feller too, guess, but he didn't
! sem to be that much better than any
nE *he rest. ? lie asMas Jeal good Iookin,'
hand sort. of acapable Atoo;~ and seemed
/; dretful fond of ofs;grandnotller; bntI he
{ warn 't-waaL he warn'ts; forehanded;
T and didn't Seem tossbe depended Oh
! somehow; he'd never failed anybody as
know on, but he seemed sorter on
sottiNI( n end
| but he'd come hereto live withnout any
, of his folks comm with him, and he was
always pleasantspoken, and folks liked
him well sseno1gh-but after all they
was s'prised. But grandmother she set
! great store by him, and after they'd
! kept co1npanynfor a while they set the
j day for tile weddin'.p1 s.$;~rg<!
It was very strange for US two girls to
| be sitting here in this olu-fasioned
kitchen. looking at this old siver-haired
! silent looking woman, and listening tc
the storyof her young romance, while
she sat by unhearlng and unheeding
| what was once the breath and be auty OF
her life,
S''" Twas gein' to be quite a weddin"
went on the practical woman before us.
who had taken up the rag carpet again.
and worked as she talked, while the
old clock ticked away the minutes just
as it had ticked away the swift moments
Of that courtship, when, in this very
kitchen probably, those two figures of
the dim past were keeping company.
En- PEASANT, we would like to ask how it
! is that the temptation to me ralize about
clock is irresistible. "Quite weddin'
as Weddin's went then, and grandmoth-
er had a new dress sent down from Bid.
| deford, and there warn't no end to the:
homespun linen and things, and she was:
| drettul sot up about it all-seemed as
1t nobody ever been married before.
! Wa'al, the night before the weddin' day
ne was here settin' in this kitchen and
talkin' to her just the same as ever, bout
! what was comm and long towardsnine
I he got up and said be guessed he'd be,
of the way with him tn It anybody could
| remomber, and l don't morn half be-
lleye there was then. Wa'al, anyway,
and she's been like you see her now
| ever sence.'
So that was the end of it. From twen-
tv to eightv-seven-what a ltetime!-
| and then granumOther-she'd been very
| pcart all the mornin '-got kind o. white,
and said perhaps sht hin' had happefled,
and they sent 6verto the place where
| he lived, bu, ne warn't there. 1t got la
ter and later, and then, they say, grand.
mother kinker plucked up and said she
| guessed ne warn't comm and took of
her white dress as quiet as anythin', and
took a cup of hot tea and went to lay
! down-sile'd been on her feet a good
deal gettln' ready, The only thing any.
body couldremember seein' her do out
| Of the common was to pitch a little
branch of swtct-wiIIiams she had in her
hand out Of the window; his name was
! William Lucas" =
'And didn't he come?'' asked Dot and
/, brea' hlessly.
"No, he diln't never come. Just as
kind Of of @ mean-spiri'edd J.; fue ''''''A Ne "S''
/ "But: what was the reason? Was he
| kl|ee? What had become Of him?"
"Law sakes, mol be warn't killed.
Twas found ont he went off in the stage,
and you ken bieve nobody thought O
~runnin arter him." and she gaye little
toss to her head on'the part of outraged
| Womanhood.
| NNn b,,t u,h., vrb,, did In lo