River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-08-14

shut up the troublesome cases, Salu
the matron. q can't stand this run
ming away business. and WON'T
The Jug, perhaps, proved efficicious,
for old Miss Abby did not appear again
for week. At the expiration of that
time, however, she crept noiselessly In
just at dusk and seated herself like a
silent shadow in The chimney corner.
tits so good 10 be at home again, !"
she said, rubbing her wrinkled hands,
II some how sem to get lost of late.
Elnathan is gone, and Betty's gone, and
I am left here all alone. Yes, cup of
tea, please-sugar and milk. They
never remember how / like my tea at
Tewkstown. This is good and butter
on my bread, too! We don't get but
ter at Tewkstown."
Mary burst into tears.
Mother" said she, Miss Abby shall
not go back to Tewastown- she shall
stay herei Mother, how should / feel
if you were wandering friendless and
alone through the world?"
But my dear"
''She shall sleep in her own old
room, out of the kitchens" persisted
Mary. "She will DO no more care than
a canary bird. Oh, mother, do consent!
She will think then that she is in her
own old home. Oh, if you knew how
dreary it is at that poor house, with
the grass all trampled out, and piles of
clam shells lying round the door, and
not so much as dandelion or daisy to
be seem"
And Mrs. Miller yielded to Mary
fearful solicitations,
"Do as you please, my child" said
she. The Tewkstown authorities were
but too glad to be rid of the poor incu-
bus; and Miss AbbyDabney settled down
in her old home, as contentedly and I'M
questionably as if she had never left it.
She ate and drank but little; she talked
still less, and seemed to regard Mrs.
Miller and Mary as guests, who had
come to visit the old farm.
"The widow Miller and her darter
must be rich folks, to undertake to sup
port old Miss Abby, sneered one neigh
Dor
"She was well provided for at the
poorhouse," said another.
II never yet saw farm succeed that
was managed by women-folks," ieered
the third.
"There'l be the biggest kind of a
smash-up presently" observed number
four, "and an auction sale of everything
and I'll be on hand-for I don't deny
that them little Alderney cows is the
cunningest creatures / ever set my eyes
on, and good mixers into the bargain.
But time wore on, and there was no
hutter of a red flag over the porch.
On the contrary matters throve, and
Mary declared ioyously that farming
was a great deal more profitable bust
ness than working in a factory, and she
only wished that the had found it out
before
Until one gray autumnal evening
Mary and her mother came back from a
brisk walk to the village, and found a
stalwart, sun Drowned man sitting OPP
posite to Miss Abby, by the red glow
of the fire.
The old lady rose up in an odd, UNI
certain way.
Ladies" she said, fumbling in her
snuff box, "this is my dephew, Cyrus
Dubrey, he as ran away from home
twenty mine years ago come Mich@lmas
Day, and we all supposed was dead.
Cyrus, these are the ladies who are 50
good as to visit me here. don't quite
recollect their names; but then it don't
matter much, and after all my memory
amt as good as it used to be. Nothing
ottorc ,,o1,ah nouy-o Iaua ~
And Miss Abby sat down and fell in.
to "daze" again, as if all necessity for
conversational effort were over.
Cyrus Dubrey stood up-a bronzed,
bearded giant, with dark eyes and SUI
perb stature.
Ladies, beg your pardon" he said.
"But Supposed when l came here | was
coming home I knew nothing of all
these changes. | never could have
dreamed my cousins would let this crea-
ture go to the poor house. don't know
who you are, ladies, with husky rat
tie in his throat, "hut thank you from
the bottom of my heart for giving her a
shelter in her old age. And if money
will pay you for it"
at will mott" said Mary, sharply, as
if the words conveyed slur.
"No, suppose not" said Cyrus with
a sigh. "But I've plenty of money now.
The dear old auIty shall live like a
queen the rest of Ter days, for she was
good to me when all the rest set me
down as black sleep. I've made my
fortune out in Panama, and have come
home to redeem myself"
81 have heard o: Cyrus Dubrey," said
Mrs. Miller, gently.
"And III venture, mann. you heard
no good of me" said the young giant,
with short laugh, "Ill not deny that
I was wild boy enough, but there
wasn't any actual evil in me, let folks
say what they would. And now I've
come back a rich man, and there's
nobody to bid me welcome home,
except old aunt Abby out of the poor
house"
He could not long have made this
statement however.
All the town was up to bid the rich
government contractor welcome to
Tewkstown within twenty-four hours
But Cyrus cared little for the friendly
oyertures of the old neighbors
Aunt Abby was the only person fol
whom he seemed to care, and his great
est grief was that the old woman re-
fused to leave the old Dabney farm
house to live in the stately brick man.
sion which he built on Prospect Hill.
And then he asked permission to deck
her little bedroom with the curiosities
he had brought from the Isthmus, and
in lacking up draperies and arranging
shells and silver coine he and Mary un-
consciously became quite good friends.
Friends. She never knew that it was
any thing else, until one day old Aunt
Abby took strange idea into her head.
And Mary, holding a rich Oriental cord
for Cyrus to loop into knots for picture
frames, heard her introduce Mrs. Mil
Ter to a neighbor as my guest, Mrs.
Miller, the mother of the young lady
that nephew Cyrus is to marry"
Cyrus looked at Mary. Mary drop
ped the ball of cord and turned crimson,
MARY !" he stsid piteonsly, "say that ii
shall be SO. For / love you'll And
and you were good to old Aunt Abby
when all the world turned against her,
/ sometimes think, Mary, that you must
be like one of heavens angles.
And this was how they became en-
gagged.
They still live at the old farm house
the happiest of married lovers, and
Aunt Abby firmly believes that they are
all her guests; for to her the woart
stands eternally still-the world that is
so full of bloom and beauty to Cyrus
and Mary
During services in one of the Presby