Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-03-19

ln6Q girl lUlSb uOW- :. |
''Neither have II" said Lucy, REBEL
ously.
"And Sarah Eliza don't like COM
oany." /
s'And am supposed to be fond of
observed Lucy bitterly.
"And Reuben's girls don't want old |
folks staying there. It's too much |
trouble, they say" added Seth.
Lucy bit her lips to keep back the
words she might have uttered and said.
instead:
"Where is he to sleep? The Belfords
have the front bed room, and your
Cousin Susan occupies the back, and the
four Miss Pattersons sleep In the two
hall chambers, and the hired men have
the garrett room"
She might have added that she and
her husband, and the baby had slept in
little hot den opening from the kitch-
en- for four weeks, vainly expecting Mr.,
and Mrs. Belford to depart; and that she
never had chance to invite her father
to the farm In pleasant weather.
But she was magnanimous and held
her peace.
ooh, you can find some place for him!"
said her husband, lightly. "There's that
little room at the end of the hall where
the spinning wheel is.
ssBut it isn't furnished !" pleaded
Lucy.
ssYon can easily sew a carpet together
out of those old pieces from the BelfOrds'
room; and it's no trouble to put up a
muslin curtain to the window and lift in
cot bed. There are plenty of good
sweet husks In the corn house, and you
can just tack together a mattress, and
whitewash the ceiling, and What's
that Beniah? The COWS In the rye lot |
Dear me Everything goes wrong if |
step into the house for moment. And
really, Lutte, these things are your bust
ness, and not mine!" he added irritably.
Lucy could not help laughing, all by
herself, as her husband ran up the steps.
But it was a very sad little laugh,
and soon changed into sigh.
ST WONDER" said she, in a whisper, 'if
my poor, tired-out ghost would haunt
these stone pavements, and scrubbed
shelves, if I were to die! l never heard
of a ghost in a dairy before, but l
should think that it might easily be-"
But the little bedroom was fitted up,
for all that, as fresh as a rose, and
Uncle Paul arrived, a dried.up, yellow
complexioned old man, with an old-fash-
Toned cravat in many folds around his
neck, and a suit of navy blue, with
brass buttons.
He had the polite way of half a cen.
fury ago, and Lucy thought she should
like him very much, if only she had time
to get acquainted with him.
But she was churning ten pounds of
butter day, and there was the baby,
and the company, and the young chick
ems, and the baking to do for the sewing
society, which was to meet at her house
that week.
She was almost too busy to sleep.
But Uncle Paul was watching her
quietly all the time.
He came out, one day, to the barn,
where his nephew was putting a new
handle on a sickle-blade.
" Pretty busy times - eh, Uncle
Paul ?" asked the farmer, scarcely tax
ing the leisure to look up.
"Aye," absently answered the old
man. did I tell you Nephew Seth,
about the reason l left your Cousin
EIiab's ?"
s. Not that remember" said Seth,
breathing on the blade and polishing
it with his silk handkerchief.
Dorothy died-his wife p
cob, yes" said Seth. "Malarial
fever, wasn't it %
"Noi" bluntly answered Uncle Paul.
"It was hard work. That woman,
Nephew Seth, did the homework for
eight persons. Eliab didn't even let
her have woman to help with the wash
ing and the ironingw
Must have been a regular going
brute, said Seth, Tightening the handle
a little.
''All the sewing, too" added Uncle
Paul -" the mending and making.
Never went anywhere except to church.
Eliab didn't believe in women gadding
about"
''The old savagel" said Seth.
''She was fond of reading but she
never got any time for it." said Uncle
Paul. 'FShe rose before sun-up, and
never lay down until IL o'clock. Itwas
hard work that killed that woman, and
Eliab coolly declared that it was sheer
laziness when she couldn't drag herself
around any longer. And when she died
he rolled up his eyes and and called it
the visitation of Providence.
"Why didn't the neighbors lynch
him?" cried Seth fairly aroused to ind1g-
nation at last.
Uncle Paul took off his glasses,
wiped them vigorously, and looked his
nephew hard in the face.
"Why don't the neighbors lynch
yon?" said he.
Seth dropped the sickle and stared.
Nephew Seth, T" said Uncle Paul, in
pressively, F'thou art the man! Are you
not doing the very same thing?"
SIP" gasped Seth.
F'Your wife is doing the work of
household of sixteen people," said
Uncle Paul. ''She is drudging as you
could hire no foreigner to drudge. She
is rising early, and lying down late; she
is offering up her life on the shrine of
your farm and its requirements. I have
seen her grow thin and pale even during
the few days I have been here. I have
carried water and split wood for her, be-
cause there was no one else to do it. I
have seen her carry up Mrs. Belford's
breakfast daily to her room, because