Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-02-21

in cheer by the wlnder, jest as straight
an smart as could be, in her new black
bunnit an gown. was-Aunt Rebecca.
eva al. eff was to tell you what /
did, Almiry, s. pose you'd think it was
awful. But s'pose the sudden change
from feelin' SO bad made me kinder
highsteriky. jest sot right down in
the first cheer / come to, an laughed;
laughed till the tears was runnin' down
my cheeks. an it was all l could do to
breathe. There was quite lot of Tn
Gle Enos's folks settin' round the room
his brothers fam ", an some cousins
an they looked at me as eff they
thought was crazy. But seem them
look only sot me off again. Some of
the folks came In from the entry, an
stood starin' at me, but / jest laughed
harder Finally Aunt Rebecca comes
up to me.
s'.For mercy's sake. Sarah, says she,
what ar you dom so for?
"'Oh dear!' says [. L thought you
was dead. an that you was settin'.
And then began to laugh again. L
was awful ashamed of myself, but /
couldn't stop to save my life.
"'For the lands sake, Aunt Rebec-
ca, says I, is thar funeral or a we'd
din, an eff thar is a funeral, who's
dead2'
"'Come into the bedroom with me a
minute, Sarah. says she.
"Then we went into her bedroom,
that opened out OF the settin' room, an
sot down, an she told me that it was
Uncle Enos that WIS dead. 1t seems
she was the one that hailed the man, an
he was little hard of hearin'. an thar
was misunderstanding between 'em
some way.
'.Uncle Enos had died very sudden
the day before of heart-djsease. He
went into the settin' room after break
fast, an sot down by the winder, an
Aunt Rebecca found him thar dead in
his cheer, when she went in a few min
utes afterward.
lit was such awful hot weather they
had to hurry about the funeral But
that want all. Then she went on to
tell me the rest. They had had the
awfulest ME that ever was. The show
er had come up about one o'clock, and
the barn had been struck by lightnin'.
1t was a big new one that Uncle Enos
had sot great store by. He had laid out
consider BILE money on it, an they'd Jest
got in twelve ton of hay. Is'pose that
was how it happened to be struck. A
barn is good deal more likely to be
when they've jest got hay in. Well,
everybody sot to an put the fire in the
barn out. They handed buckets of
water up to men on the roof, an put
that out without much trouble by takin'
it in time
"But after they'd got that put out
they found the house was on fire. The
same thunder bolt that struck the barn
had struck that. too, an it was blazin'
away at one end of the roof pretty live
ly.
''Wa'al. they went to work at that
then, an they'd jest got that fairly put
out 4 few minutes before we come.
Nothin' was hurt much, only thar was
4 good deal of water round; we had
hard work next day cleanin' of it up.
Aunt Rebecca alters was a calm sort
of woman, an she didn't seem near
as much fustered by it as most folks
would have been.
Il couldn't help wonderin' an look
in at her pretty sharp to see how she
took Uncle Enos's death, too. You see,
thar was something kinder curious about
their gittin' married. I'd heerd about
it all from mother. don't s'pose she
ever wanted him, nor cared about him
the best she could do, any more than she
would have about any good respectable
man that was her neighbor. Uncle Enos
was pretty good sort of man, though
he was alters dreadful sot in his ways,
an | believe it would have been wuss
than death any time for him to have
given up anything he had determined
to hev. But must say never thought
so much of him after mother told me
what she did. You see, the way of it
was my Grandmother Wilson, Aunt Re-
beccas mother, was awful sot on her
hevin' him, an she was dreadful nerv-
Gus an feeble. an Aunt Rebecca est
give in to her. The wust of it was, thar
was some one else she wanted, too, an
he wanted her. Abner Lyons his name
was; he want any relation to the
Lyons woman / had when [ was sick.
He was real likely young fel.er, an
thar wa It thing agin him that any
one else could see; but grandmother
fairly hated him, an mother sail she
did believe her mother would rather
hev buried Rebecca than seen her mar
ried to him. Well, grandmother took
ON and acted so that Aunt Rebecca Give
in an said she'd marry Uncle Encs, an
the weddin' day come.
Mother said she looked handsome
as a pictur, but thar was somethin'
kinder awful about her when she stood
up before the minister with Uncle Enos
to be married.
"She was dressed in green silk, an
had some roses in her hair l kin i'm
agine jest how she must hev looked.
She was a good lookin' woman when 1
knew her, an they said when she was
young thar want many to compare
with her.
"Mother said Uncle Enos looked
nice, but he had his mouth kinder hard
sot, as eff now he'd got what he wanted
an meant to hang on to it. He'd known
Ill the t me jest how matters was. Aunt
told him the whole story; she
declared she wouldn't marry him with
put she did.
~ s'pose at the last minute that Aunt
Rebecca got kinder desprit, an a real
zin' sense of what she was doin' come
over her, an she thought she'd make
,ne more effort to escape: for when the
far l-oH hot xl,r