Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-10-29

she shanty, and the next day John Par
sons took them over to Mr.. Meeker and
got the money for them.
On the way home he stopped at an
other neighbours and borrowed a heavy
wagon, and the dav following started
30 town bright and early with the letter
TO Erastus stu carefully concealed in
his inside pocket
'.Bet that'n fetch him home on a
rum" he unused as he dropped it into
the Office at the landing just in time to
have it get into the mail bag as it was
being got ready for the down boat
''He' ii be here in week eff that letter
goes straight, er else he amt as good
ut takin' hint as | think he isl
Mrs. Parsons noticed that her hus-
band was unusually jolly that night
when he returned home, and all the
next day and the days that followed
after it.
He had always tried to appear cheer
ful in the presence of his family, and
had never failed to respond to any eff
fort of Johnny's to get up a laugh,
though it often caused him an effort to
do SO; but on this particular evening,
although it was late and he must have
been tired, he really felt jolly, and he
joked Lucy about one of the clerks at
the store. where she and her mother
had traded when in town, and also
about a neighbor's son, who had shown
q disposition to seek her society, but
who, not receiving any encouragement,
had decided that she was 'tstuck up"
and so informed the other young peo-
pie of his acquaintance.
The letter was three DAYS in reaching
its destination, and then lay in the
post-office several days more before
being called for.
Erastus had no correspondents other
than the members of Mr.. Parsons
family; and as there had been little that
was pleasant to write about on either
side, letters had not been frequent be-
tween them OF late. and the young man
seldom went to the post Office.
One day as he was working with
several of his neighbors upon ditch
which was to be the means of irrigating
their claims, another neighbor, who
had been to town, rode up and, stop
ping his horse. called out:
Here, Hemingway; here's letter
for YOU
Erastus was in his shirt sleeves in the
ditch, shoveling, and the horseman
leaned from his saddle and handed him
the letter.
eff that's from your girl, she dom
write a very purity hand,'' he said, with
a wink at the other ditchers, who had
stopped work and stood leaning on
their spades.
Glancing at the superscrption, Eras-
tus saw that it was in Il strange hand
The post mark, however, proclaimed it
to be from Phippsburg, and his first
thought was that something terrible
had again happened to Uncle John and
his family-that they were all dead,
may be, and stranger had written to
inform him.
Hastily tearing off the envelope. he
looked at the signature and saw the
name, John Parsons" in stiff, awk-
ward letters, at the bottom of the page,
and it flashed over him that Lucy was
married and that Uncle John had writ
ten to tell him of it because no one else
liked to do so, and the blood rushed to
his heart, which beat so that it seemed
his companions must hear it.
But no; the letter said: Lucy and
her mother had gone to town."
Then she was not married yet The
blood began to return to its proper
channels.
Lucy has given Annelsey his walkin'
papers,
Could it be possible that she was not
going to marry the New Yorker after
all!
And if not. what then?
The letter seemed plain enough to be
understood without possibility of mis-
take. yet he read it the second time be-
fore its full import came to him, aud
then the blood rushed to his heart even
more violently than before.
"Lucy might be his yet-that is what
Uncle John meant" he said to him
self. eff she had not loved some one
else better she would not have dis
missed Annelsey" And sshe did not
encourage any of the young men
there that was what the letter said,
and it said he was to come at once.
He had climbed out of the ditch and
was brushing the dirt from his overalls
with his hands.
MIR Johnson" he said, addressing
the neghbor with whom he boarded,
{" will you let me have your roam horse
for couple of weeks and use my colts
while I'm gomez I'm going home and
want to make the trip as quickly as
possible, and neither of the colts can
stand hard jaunt under the saddle
very we'll. I'll take good care of the
roam and promise not to hurt him. If
do you may take your choice of the
colts to pay the damage"
whats up?"
ssFolks sick?'
"Why don't you 60 to Frisco and
take the steamer?" came from one and
another of the crowd.
1.-The fact is" replied Erastus, with
his usual straightforward honesty, ''I
have not got money enough. You fell
lows know how it is yourselves. Morey
don't grow on these sand ridges until
they are irrigated; but l can ride
through i'll four days by travelling late
and early and resting in the hottest
part of the day, and not hurt the horse
q bit if Mr.. johnson will let me have
him, ard it won't cost half as much as
it will to go by the cars and boat"
"You can have the horse if you want
him." replied Mr.. johnson. Il know
YOU won't hurt him; but you haven't
told us vet who is sick or dead"
There's no one sick or dead, boys;
but I'm going, and going to start to-
night"
"Girl run away with another fellowe"
asked one of the men. with a grin.
"No. my girl hasn't run away with
another fellow" replied the young
man, with laugh that some way re-
ninded him of what he had often called
che " giggling" of the girls.
How could he help it when reminded
80 forcibly of what, up to the moment,
he hardly realized; that instead of rum
oil h<a