Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-11-26
FRIEND DECKER'S REWARD.

THE days are shortening" sig he'd
Friend Decker, as he folded up his
spectacles and replaced them in their
tin case; or else nay sight isn't what
it used to be. Well-a day, one can't
expect to be young always. Is it thee,
Leah? did not look for thee soon"
Leah Decker came into the room
ike breezy young Whirlwind. She
mad none of the repose of manner
which il at present Sc much in vogue
Born and bred Quakeress, there was
nothing Of the Quakeress about her,
except her quaint Scripture name.
''I IS, it's me, said Leah, shortly.
did three 90 to Friend Anastasia?"
gently inquired the old man, readjust-
ing the big pine logs so that they
should burn brighter for Leah's bene-
fit.
'Oh, yes, [ went there"
II hope she is better of her rheuna-
tism?"
Yes, she is better. But-but-she
viii not buy the apples, Father.
Mean, stingy old thingp cried Leah,
wrathfully, finging her coal-scuttle
bonnet on the table. ''She says she
can buy all she wants at fifty cents a
barrel, of old Jacob Joyce. So she can,
perhaps; wretched, gnarly, wormy
knots, not fit for pigs! Ours are
apples! She says thee asks an exorbi-
tant price"
Friend Decker slowly shook his
head
Friend ADastasia is under mis-
apprehension, SAID he. Eighty
cents barrel is what they are paying
at the cider mill Only one does not
like to see such beautiful, rare-colored
fruit ground up into baleful spirits to
set mems brains on fire"
''Much she would stop to think of
tx at, y said Lean, still ru filed.
81 am sorry" said Friend Decker,
mildly. 81 need the money very
much, and I think she would have
been better satisfied with my apples
than with Friend Jacob Joyce's."
and after all that" flashed out
Leah, the spirit of Indignation rified
within her, ''she had the impudence
to ask me for a jar of that plum sauce
I made. She says Friend Mary Moore
told her how nice it was, and"
And" quietly interposed her faith
er, thee said, nope, that thee would
be glad to oblige her2"
mo, I didn't" bluntly answered
Leah. II said that I gathered the
wild plums myself in the Crook wood,
and cooked them after Aunt Manala's
recipe; and that there were four jars,
and that [ wanted to keep them for
thee; especially since thy health hath
failed and thy appetite was SO vari-
able"
81 am sorry, dear" said Friend
Decker. Friend Anastasia is very
old, and old people are apt to be fanci-
full about trifes. Moreover, she's our
kinswoman, degree Or so removed,
perhaps. but"
Then why don't she do something
for us2" flashed out Leah, "besides
giving US advice and tormenting us
with her fault finding? didn't mean
to mention, father, but she told me
out and out that she had adopted
Moses Sawyer, and that she meant to
make him her heir"
"Well, daughter, why should she
not?" composedly questioned the old
man.
Because he is no relation to her at
ALL? cried Leah, land the property
all came from our great grand
father, Lennox, thee knows"
Thee. attaches too mucbIimportance
to mere dross, Leah" said Friend
Decker. ''Thee must study the text of
the lilies of the field in the Bible We
shall all be provided for, if only we
can have patience TO wait.
Leah bit her full red under lip as
she glanced around the sparsely fur
nished room and noted her fathers
dropping figure and rapidly whiten-
ing head, but she made no reply, as
she took up the coarse pile OF vests
on which she had been working but
ton holes for a neigbboring clothing
contractor.
Fathers a saint" thought she,
''but I am not, and I'm afraid | lever
shall be. I should like to cut off An
astasia Akerly's ears. If every one
had their rights half of that big Len
nox farm would be ours. She gained
possession of it by the merest legal
bubble, and If father was like anyone
else he would have gone to law about
it long ago and got back his own.
And now to see it willed deliberately
to some one else"
And Leah's needle how vindictively
in and out of the cloth like minia-
ture javelin piercing the heart of some
unseen enemy.
But the next morning when Leah