Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-04-17
FOUND.

hickory logs and the dresser
full Of gl1ttering tins put mathemati-
cally straight, after the comming meal
this was the scene upon which the au-s
tumn sun glowed redly for an instant
through the narrow window panes, ere
it went down behind bank Of slate
colored clouds in the west-and Miss
Jemima Buxford, glancing up ct the
clock on the wooden shelf between the
windows saw that it was half past five.
"Bless me how the time does 60 on, :"
said Miss Jemima. "And It don't seem
as if I accomplished nuthin', what
with runnin' arter your e9erlastin' whims,
Ebenezer.
Ebenezer Buxford, his autocratic
sisters senior by twenty good years,
looked deprecatingly up from his cush-
toned nook in the chimney corner-a
weak, feeble. kneed old man, with scanty
gray hairs brushed into d meek little
whisp on the top of his head, watery
blue eyes and complexion like we'll
cured parchment.
II know I'm g deal o'trouble, Jemi-
,uv," said the old man, alphabetically,
hut I try not to make any more than /
can help"
"No, you don't ne1ther!" snapped
Jemima. Il hain't no patience with
your CID pipe and your everlastln smoke,
smoke, smokin', till we all smell like an
old bar room, and there amt curtain
in the house that don't tell its own story.
I tell yo what, Ebenezer Bux1ord,
you've got to leave off that mis'able
habit"
Ebenezer shrank instinctively at the
hard, cruel tone.
"But-Jenlimy"
"Im in earnest, Ebenezer."
t'But Ellen Dennison says"
"I don't care two snaps O my finger
what Ellen Delnison says--a pert mink,
Just as full O airs and graces as her
mother was afore her, though she was
my own sister. If Ellen chooses to
make fuss over you and indulge you
in every whim, I don't-that's all there
is toit' Iaint going to have this smok-
in going On. You've just got to quit
it,"
ST might just as we'll quit livin', Je-
mimy. For forty seven yeah"
Miss Jemima, however, did not stay
to hear the end Of the speech, but
burst out of the room, muttering to her
self sentences Of which the import
BODIED little good
''He'll be right down vexed, though, y
thought the spinster, 'when he kn ows
I've sold them there packets Of Virgin
ny tobacco he brought home on his last
sen voyage. It's odd man can keep
yoyagin' to furrin parts all his life and
not lay up no money, after all: But
Ebenezer never was sayln' like the rest
O. the Buxfords.'
And Jemima Went up stairs to rum
mage in an old red chest where she
kept her treasures for hank Of mixed
yarn to finish pair Of socks she had
on hand.
Old Ebenezer waited patiently by the
kitchen fire the while, until he heard a
light footstep on the doorstone without;
and his face frightened as Ellen Den
nison came in.
She was q tall, fresh-complexioned
girl, with face which, if not absolutely
pretty, was pleasing, and light figure
whose grace was patterned after the
waving rushes by the riverside and the
tall young elms in the meadows below.
"Well, uncle!' she said, cheerilv.
Give been waitin' for you, Ellen, " the
old man whispered, beckonlng to her &c
come close to him. ''She-she won't
bring me no more 'bacoy, and haven't
had Whit since 4 o'clock"
Ellen bit her lip.
''I'll bring you some at once, Uncle
Eben.
"There amt none left in the tin box =
went on the old man, OBTAINING her
with a grip of her neat calico dress.
You'll have to go to the packet o'blue
paper in the corner cupboard up stairs
the genuine stuff brought from old
Virginny years and years ago, when ]
warn't the old wreck lam now! Gel
the top package, Nell--the top one re.
memberp
eyes, Uncle"
And away tripped Ellen, carrying
her lighted candle through the gloomy
entries, like rustic embodiment o:
Dawn bearing her herald star.
Miss Jemima met her at the head o.
the first flight of wooden uncarpetee
steps. =.
"Where are you going, Ellen Den
nison?"
ITO get some tobacco for Uncle Eb'
enezer."
"There amt none Left"
eyes, there is, in the packet he
brought from Norfolk in the Lively
Sally"
"But tell you there ANTI" reiterat.
ed Miss Je1n1ma. II sold it yesterday
to a pedler that came along. He gave
me IS for it,"
"You sold it?"
Miss Jenlima nodded her head def.
antly.
"Yea, I sold it; and you needn't stare
at me as if I'd committed state prison
offence, miss. I'd do the same thing
over again. I mean to break up Eben.
ezer's miserable trick of smokin'. An
old man that's dependent on his rela.
tives for his daily bread hain't no bust.
ness with luxuries like tobacco-and
he'll get no more in this house."
Ellen Dennison answered nothing,
but she turned and went quietly down
stairs, with her cheeks flushed an in.
dignant scarlet. Miss Jemima followed
her. ...a /
"Uncle," said the girl calmly, as Tie
old man raised his bleared, expectant
eyes toward her, "there is no tobacco
there"
tive sold it!'' quoth Miss Jemima,
putting her arms akimbo.
you've sold my tobacco! My blue
Virginia brandt" 'rE's-