St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-02-05

came back just as sweet and good as
ever, not bit proud aud stuck up (;
| for all her travelin' off on the cars.
Alden was dreadful ingenious, every
body said; he got up some invention
that fall and went off down to Wash
| ington to get it patented.
''He was coming back in about four
weeks, when he and Susy were going
| to keep house over to Hawleytown.
Susy was busy gettin' ready, she made
sheets AID pillow-slips, and beddin',
and towels, and the time went round,
and they a lookin' forward to the day
when Harry'd come home.
| "'Twas Saturday-such a lovely In
dian summer day-and the four weeks
was over. That night Harry would
come.
"Susy said after dinner: Il guess,
Aunt Polly, Harry will come tonight,
and | will go this afternoon to Col
groves wood and gather a bundle of
PUSHES; : for every good housekeeper,
then, kept rushes to scour tin with,
and Aunt Polly told me that she said
to Susy, That will be all right, an
I'm glad you thought ont. / wish
you'd get some for me, too, as long as
you are over to the Holler.'
"All that evenin' Susy kept runnin'
at every noise down to the little gate,
an lookin' up an down. the road to see
if Harry was in sight. When the clock
on the kitchen shelf struck ten, Susy
went to bed. Aunt Polly said that
somehow she felt kind o. worried, and
sot down with Uncle Jerry before the
kitchen fire. The evenin' was kind o.
cool, the wind started up, and blew
real meurnful-like through the cotton
wood trees, and once when the rose
tree beat against the window, she
thought twas somebody knOckin', and
leaped right on to her feet and gave a
little scream, and Uncle Jerry, s'prised
enough, exclaimed right ont, why
massey sakes Polly, woman, what ails
your
"Polly didn't know; but she said
she reckoned she'd go to bed. SO she
laid down her knitting, and Uncle Jer-
ry put away his pipe, and they cover
ed up the Goals so that if Harry came
they would make him cup of tea
quick, and went to bed.
aunt Polly never could tell how
long she'd been asleep; but she woke
sudden, an started straight up in bed.
On the threshold, where the moonlight
streamed in through the window, stood
figure, the long, black hair falling
down around the white dress, and she
was so frightened she thought twas a
sperit until she heard Susy's voice, Il
sayin'. Aunt Polly, did you think you
heard any body IL knockin'?
"'Why, no, child-why 2
H'Because three times I've heard
some one knock, and thought twas
first time, and when no one was there,
said must have been mistaken the
second time when l opened the door
and saw no person, | thought Harry
had hid in the shrubbery to tease me
minute. called but he did not
answer. The third time | was broad
awake, the clocks were striking twelve,
| heard Harry step on the flat stone,
heard him knock three times; but he
is not here
"Aunt Polly hoped out of bed. Susy
was shivering as though in an ague fit.
Aunt Polly told her she was dreamin'.
hope ] was, hope l was was all
she said.
"Next morning they come down and
told Rob all about it, and he broke it
to Susy as gentle as he could. She
said, Il knew it, Rob, knew he came
here last night
at seems he was taken sick on the
way home. He was deliriOus but the
landlord when he died knew, by pa
pers he found, where his wife was, and
sent man with the body, and all of
his letters, and papers with particulars
of his illness. They reached Hawley
Hill at midnight, they did not like to
come upon friends without any prep
aration, so waited until morning.
"Susy never shed tear, never muir
INJURED but she lost all interest in ev-
erything, Stunned her friends, would
go nowhere, save to stray away by
herself. Days and days she would
wander off, and stay in the woods
where she spent her last happy day.
In Colgrove Hollow, rushes and reeds
and pussy willows grow, and the drag
on fly and gnats are thick by the little
brook that runs through the marsh
the saddest, loneliest place is Col
groves Hollow, and there was where
Susy used to stay most, gatherin' the
green spikes of the rushes and a bundle |
of birchen twigs. Then she took to
going across the dusty highway to the |!
grassy country lane, where she would !
wander on and on until she got all |
tagged out. The farmers wives soon |
came to know her and all would give
her lodgin' and meal for the asking. |
"Then Rob, tryin' to watch Susy,
got as bad, he took the same turn
you see there was insanity in the fami-
ly on the fathers side, and twins, they
say, are apt to feel the same shocks.
Uncle Jerry did all lie could for 'em,
no end o. doctors saw 'em; but they
were declared incurables. The old