Frostburg mining journal., 1883-08-04
Selett Sturp.
IF THEY HAD KNOWN.

80 you've come back again, Jer-
ome?' said old Mr.. Sewell. "Well,
We heard you was thinkin' of return
in to Elm Mountain. Bad pennies
always come back-ha ha ha
And You didn't make such big for.
tune as you calculated, eh ?"
Jerome Clay leaned over the old
zig.zag rail fence and rubbed his
eyes. Had time stood still all these
years while he had been in the South ?
For here was Farmer Sewell in the
same old blue. checked overalls, with
the same battered straw hat, the same
wrinkles between his brows, driving
the same old red cows home through
the twilight lane, where the scent Of
tramplel spssrmint came up, and the
melancholy notes of distant whip.
poor-will sounded family on the pur-
pie silence.
And yet-snd yet 1t was twenty
odd years since he had left Elm
Mountains, with all his worldly goods
balanced in a bundle on his back. He
had been dashing lad Of twenty
one then there were silv ar hairs in
his black locks how, and he had left a
dead past buried under the sweet
magnolia groves. And here was
Moses Sewell just the same as ever,
only triAs yellower and more dried
up.
YES" Clay said, quietly, eve
come back. And you are right when
you say fortunes don't grow on every
bush"
"Gcin' to your uucle's house ?" said
Mr.. Sewell, leaning over the bars.
He's dead and buried, poor fellow.
Always had weak chest, you know
And the gals amt no younger-the
three old maids we call 'em-ha, ha,
ha |"
Aud again the old farmer chuck led
himself into a state of semi-suffoca-
ton.
Come in and See us, eaid he, "my
daughter Aurilla, she's come back a
widow and does tailorin and plain
sewin'. The old woman's stone deaf
but she's dreadful quick at catching
persons meaningl"
And off he trudgsd over the bruis-
ed patches of sweet-smelling spear.
mint, his broad figure vanishing into
the gloom like shadow.
"Three old maids, eh q repeated
Jerome Clay to himself.
"Clara and Bess and little Kate,
the golden-haired beauty, the soft. .ey-
ed poetess, the bright little spirit who
was mixture of Undine and Queen
Nab. Then, surely, Father Time has
not stood still !"
The light was shining out, as of
old, from the red -curUained easement,
the great fire Of logs was blazing on
the hearth, and the three cousins
greeted the returned wanderer with
unaffe cted warmth.
They were changed of course.
What else could have been expected !?
The beauty had grown sharp and
freckled, and her lovely hair had lost
its burnish, and she was not quite as
tidy az she used to be in the old days
about her ribbons and trills. Soft.
eyed Bessie's sweet voice had degen-
Grated into whine; she had grown
round shouldered and lost one OF her
front teeth and little Kate was a
stout, middle-aged woman, who re-
minded one of Unjine no more.
But they were his cousins still
the girls who had romped and fIrted
with him in due arithmetical progres
zion. And there still existed bond
of steadfast friendship, and he told
them the story of his southern wife
who had been buried for FIVE years
under the magnolias, and they all
sympathized, and Beauty even cried
a little.
~ have brought my three children
to the North" he said. 81 left them
in New York, and if | can get some
genuine, whole-aouled woman to take
charge of my home, l am thinking OF
settling here in Elm Mountains.
Clara, dear, you used to be fond of
me in the olden times What do you
say to undertaking this charge !"
The Beauty seemed to grow small
er, sharper, more business-like, all in
a second. If cousin Jerome had come
home a millionaire, she would have
Jumped into his arms.