Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-05-16
OLIVES ADVENTURE.

MAAA1lAA MM@~~M N~~~@~~--
the scented dead leaves, among which it
had lain all the autumn time, upon the
blazing FIRE In the first place, We've
got Iothing to steal-and in the second
place, if we were all murdered, cant
see any particular good It, would. do
anybody. So calculate We may sleep
quietly in our beds.
"Ses-but, father" said Mrs. Jaynes-
ford, with an anxious look tshe Was "a
modern Martha, numbered with many
cares. this angular. Woodworking, yell
low-faced farmers wife,; II really th. ns
you ought to get an extra bolt on the
back door, and l never did think a hook
and staple was q safe thing for the little
hall door. If there is gang of bur
glars and murderers going through the
country"
And Olive Morrison, the little lame
schJolmistress, who happened that week
TO be boarding" at Farmer Jaynesford S,
moved her seat instinctively closer into
the angle of the chimney corner, and
lifted pair of large, gray, startled eyes
toward the good-humored face OF her
host.
''Fiddlestickl" CALCULATED Mr.. Jaynes-
ford, II keep a loaded rifle and old
Towser has throat like trumpet, and
! guess if they come here they II clear
out again pretty quick. Anyway, I'm
not afeared of EN-
There is such thing as foolhardi-
ness, lothian" said his wife senten-
tiously, as she stirred the batter for the
mornings griddle-cakes in a squat stone
jar with high-shouldered handles on
either side.
Olive Morrison went to her room that
srz nd &c
having set up by the family fire as long
so sitting up and lingering She was q
soft-eyed, osy-Complexioned little
Se%Tg, with q tender, tuneful yoice-a
girl who would have been very beauti-
full, were it not for the paralysis of one
limb, which made it necessary for her to
walk with a crutch, and somewhat
dwarfed her natural height. Every
body liked Olive.
The parsimonious opened their hands
to her simple nceds-the churlish grea
almost courteous-the hard hearted in
stinctiyely softened, and those vino
believed in the hopeless depravity of
human nature, made an exception in
favor of Olive Morrison. Even the
riotous, rebellious young horde of the
district school were more malleable, by
far, under her gentle rule than they had
been under that of the male teacher,
who had just resigned his position in
despair.
AS she stood lefore the glass unbraid-
ing the brown, shining strands of her
long and luxuriant hair Mrs. Jaynes
ford looked into the room.
'It a sharp, frosty night, Miss OIL
i've" she said; hadn't you better have
an extry comfortable on your bed:''
Il don't think / need it, Mrs. Jaynes-
ford, said the girl But do-do you
really think there is any danger of our
being robbed and murderedl'
Il only know what We heard, there
bein' gang o. lawless fellers in the
country" Mrs. Jaynesford answered
with sort of gloomy satisfaction in the
prospect. "And don't know why they
shouldn't come here, as well as any
place; faint likely they know we hahn
no silver, and lothian keeps all Is
money in the county bank. Towser
all very well, but I've heard o. better
dogs than he is, bein' settled by a dose
of poison, and I'd like to know what
good Jotham's loaded rifles goin' to do
us, arter he's had his throat cut from
ear to ear in his sleep
''Oh, Mrs. Jaynesford" shudderel
Olive, the brush falling from her nerv-
Gus fingers, Il can't stay alone tonight
will You send Bessie in TO sleep with
mel'
But in spite of little Bessie Jaynesford's
peaceful breathing at her side, Olive
Morrison could not go to sleep until mid
night, and when at last a few snatehes
of capricious slum5er visited her eye
lids, it was embittered by frightfui
dreams of black-crape- masked burglars
standing at her bedside, and pistols
presented close to her eyebrows.
Il shaw" said Olive to herself the
next morning, as she viewed her pale
face and swollen eyes. 81 am goose
and I'll be one no longer. What good
could any one gain by hurting a poor
lame girl like me." | don't believe
there are any burglars around-and if
there should be, l don't believe they will
come to Farmer JayneSford' S.
But the walk was long and lonely,
and lefOre Olive could reach the fallen
tree, just beyond the rocky spring.
where the school children always
stopped to drink, she sat down on the
trunk OF fallen tree, to rest little.
ere pursuing the remainder of her weary
way.
AS she did so, the sound of human
voices reach ed her ear-the grUff, low
voices of two men talking by the sprlng
beyond. Olives heart stood still, as
she suspended her breath, in order to
listen. Who could they be: What were
they doing there at that hourl Should
she scream and ty, or should
she trust to her dark dress and the OBJ
security of the twilight to screen her
from discovery? She chose the latter
alternative, and shrank further into the
deep shadow of tie withered beech
copse.
"A brown house, said one man, with
a big chimbley in the middle and a new
stun wall round tt tell yer, YOU can't
miss il.
A new chill of terror crept through
Olives veins as she recognized the de-
scription of the Jaynesford farm house.
And how the plague are we to get in
without rousin' the house, retorted the
second man, rather harsher and more
grating than the first.
lie told me. Thar amt no fastenin'
but haSp on the shed -doOr-it's easy
lifted with bit of crooked wire. We
can slip in when they're asleep, an
whew, the things done in a minute"
Il don't believe in no such way of
goin' to work as that, " growled the sec
ond man.
What would you do? Go round to
the front door and rouse 'em all up
Pshaw, Jim, you're a deal too sof
hearted, and that's what | have alway>
saidn'
II don't like the job, anyhow" sui
lently retorted the other man
Its soon over" was the Indifferent
reply, sand where's the oddsl Amt it
all the same hundred years from nowl
Pooh, Jim, / didn't 'spoSe you was such
a soft-stomached Miss Nancy of fel
ler!"
Il amt no wuss than anybody elsew
growled Jim, but I'm human, and I've
little gal of my own to home, no big
ger than Jaynesford's little Bessie,
and
The Jaynesfords heard her tale with
breathleSS horror aud dismay
Il knowd it, cried Mrs Jaynesford,
with prophetic JUNCTION. 81 told you
how it would be all along, Jotham but
you wouldn't listen TO me- I'm a
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