The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-02-27
CANDY,
AS a Means For Wealth and q
Cement For Estranged At
aH fectiOnS. s ~fnt

"What!' cried Mrs. Mowatt in
shrill accents of dismay. "Marry
Bess Harding! Why, Joshua, you
amt never in earnest, be your"
Joshua Mowatt's bread, good hu-I
mored face frightened into SMILE
"Well, | rather think | am" said!
he. "At any rate, I'm engaged to
her, and we've set the day fer the
Both of May"
without asking me?"
you're not one of the contracting
parties, laughingly retorted Joshua.
"But, seriously, mother dear, it was
only settled definitely last night,
and / was coming to tell you when
you met me half way with the milk
pail in ysur hand" .F,..
Mrs. Howatt screwed up her lips
like button, her little eyes spark
led with electric light. 80
"She shall never come into this
house." said she, venemously.
"Mother, don't" pleaded Joshua,
with panied look in his honest
face. Remember when you and
father were young"
"But your father had alittle CON-
mon sense" sharply retortsd Mrs.
| Mowatt, "and | was hard working
farmers daughter, not enc of your
dancing, frolieking gypsies who
spend their whole time in candy
pulls and apron parties and all that
| kind of nonsense. ...-....
"And you will find, mother" urg-
ed the young man, "that Bess will
be just as good wife as you were"
"Pshaw ~ was Mrs. Mowatt's
curt rejoinder. "When you know
perfectly we'll that it was the dear
est wish Of my heart to see you
married to your cousin, Nancy
Simpson. eeTlV3T Ho> a
| Joshua shook his head.
"Nancy never would suit me" he
said. 'tShe is one of those cold,
quiet, serpent-like women that go
gliding about like the ghost in a
play. And I'm not vain enough to
suppose that | correspond with her
ideas any better than she does with
mine" af et
"WeH," said Mrs. Mowatt severe
ly, "yeu've made your bed, and you
must lie on it, Joshua. That's all
I've got to say on the subject"
"But yeu will come to see her,
mother 2" a zsa'
"No won't" lsai 4.Ir
"You will welcome her to a
daughters place in your heart /? For
my sake, mother pleaded Joshua.
"For nobody's, = said Mrs. Mowatt
"I don't like Bess Harding, and
meyer liked her. And if you marry
her you deliberately separate your
self from all your home associations
Joshua Mowatt turned away
deeply panied, and stung to the very
: heart.
at must be as you say, mother y
he said. "But if there is an es-
arrangement, it shall be neither Bess'
fault nor mine"
Mrs. Mowatt kept her word. She
never looked upon Bess Harding,
although the girl, deeply wounded
at the idea of thus being shut out
from the heart of Joshua's neither
came more than once to beg admit
tance to the house.
She sent no message of affection
ne bridal gift-she would not even
lend the grace of her presence tC
the simple wedding.
"They shall see what 1T means to
offend me p said she, with quiet
vindictiveness. ~eg
But pretty Bess, a girl of twenty
with soft, gazelle like brown eyes
curly hair, and a genuine "sunrist
pink" complexion, was innoeently
happy in the little farm house which
Joshua hired, where she played a
J housekeeping with real old chins
which had once been her mothers s
gathered roses for the vases, anC
cooked all manner of delicious dish
es for her husbands delectation.
But hard times came, skeletonlikt
and ghostly, as it comes to all. The
succeeding summer was unusually
dry. Crops were parched anc
shriveled away in the ground. The
COWS ceased to give rich streams O
:. milk, the bees could find no wild
flowers to suck honey from. And
to crown aIl-Joshua fell from {
beam in the second story of the barr
: and broke his leg. 20 7s
! "Send for my mother, he said
with lips which betokened his re-
pressed agony. "Ycu are not strong
enough, Bess, to endure this trial BY
. yourself" A8 - tl'' .as
Mrs. Mowatt, however, refused tc
come. @ .
! "My son married to suit himself
she said. "Now let bis fine lady
wife nurse him upr
Yet all the while her heart yearn.
!; ed for one look at her sons face, one
! sound of his voice. sea - ssaa
Ifit had not been for Bess--it il
: had not been for Bess, how gladly
!. would she have FASTENED to his side
And now ensued real trouble
, The little money which the young
I couple had saved was soon scatter.
ed. Everything went to loose ends
and Bess began to count the very
pennies at the bottom of the purse
"But, Joshua, y she said, 81
thought Mrs. Nov att was rich? ?"
"My mother is well of" Joshua
. answered sadly, "but the property
is all in her own name, and she has
: never offered me any of it. Can't
you see, Bess darling, that / would
rather die than ask her for a cento of
it?"
Bess looked at him with troubled
eyes.
i "Can | sit here and see him suffer
for the very necessaries of life ?"
Just at that time letter came to