Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-03-13

never been and never would be
pressed by the foot Of an arriving
guest. The stone sill was hlgh
enough for a seat, and she sat
down, fitting her sun.bOnnet back,
and smiling at Willie. He was
Toured from head to foot. Little
of his boying beauty except Its
clear innocence remained to him.
His nose was large for his head,
and on his head the auburn surls
were shorn to a thin crisping layer.
His young sister was putting
supper on the table IN the dining
room, his brother was listing with
another boy on the railroad, and
mp the cow-lane came his father,
with the slow step and somewhat
of the ponderous white presence Of
the walking statuein Don Giovanni.
But, closest knit Of all this
family, mother and son talked
together in silence, some birds in
the mulberry tree over their heads
making the only calling and re-
plvinC that could be heard. Be
fore Willie reached her, he held up
his hands and signed in the deaf
mute language.
The preacher has como back
Mrs. HARRISON raised her hands
and darted her fingers into various
shapes, saying thereby, did you
see himi'
no. Willie replied as swiftly,
Il only saw his coffin in the wag'
on. and Nancy Ellen sitting be-
side it. She had to bring him the
whole twenty miles from where he
died, in a wagon
because it wasn't on a rail
road 2
Willie nodded.
His mother wove on: Poor
Nancy Ellen. Her father wouldn
let her have the preacher for so
long, and turned her off when she
did marry him. Now she's wild
ow in her honeymoon, and old
man Martin saying he told her a
preacher as old as himself wasn't
any match for her. Did you see
her father How did he actY
Gle got into the wagon by the
driver said Willie's fingers.
well, that was something for
for him
And they drove to his place.
Il suppose he'll let her come
back and live at home nOw.'
Il wish you had seen Nancy
Ellen
Pm going to see her after the
milking is done
'Seen her by the preacher in
sisted Willic's passes. 'Shc looked
like a captive coming in chains to
Rome
'Yes, I'll be bound she did
Every jolt Of that twenty miles is
stamped in her mind
Il wished, 1ashedl Willie, u
knew what the preacher sung to
himself all along the road
'What notion. You'll have
to fix it up in poetry now, wont
you?
Willie shook his head many times
and reddened. You said the
preacher used to sing home from
meeting in the dark
Eyes nc did, affirmed Mrs. Harb-
ison. 'And Nancy Ellen used to
listen for him to 90 by their place.
Their talk paused, and Willie
looked up ar the birds in the mul
berry. Having afterward caught
his mothers eye, he wovc out
slowly;
when in the tree above his head
The sap goes tinging through the bark,
She will remember it was dead,
And hear him singing in the dark
'Oh, Willie, is that the first verse
or the last2 Have you written il
down p
Willie smiled shyly, putting hl'
head down towards one shOulde
without making any reply. Hi
mother urged him with eager
fingers.
fPrint it in some place when yol
get it done. Nancy Ellen would b'
pleased
Il am not an obituary poet,
waved Willie.
But that's so good Mrs. Har
bison moved her lips, repeating i
to herself. 'And amt you ever go
ing to publish anything you write
I've heard Of people getting none,
for it,
Willie uttered n gentle sneer
lie laughed at his mother in wa,
that always made her laugh will
him.
But if you would let your fathe
fix up your writings she contin
ued, repeating an old plea, ant
send them to some publishing
house, | know they would put then
in a book for YOU
The gate, weighed by a stone
slammed to behind his father com
ing to the evening meal. But be
fore his mother rose, Willie foun,
time to make dance before her eye
the characters indicating thi
promise:
'Some day I'll get my bicycle AM
ride and ride until come to n pul
Usher. If YOU miss me, you'll knO'