The Press., 1886-02-04
FRIEND DECKER,s REWARD

M
 1.-The days are shortening. 2 sighed Friend Decker, as he folded mp his spec tacles and replaced them in their tin case ]; .sor else my sight isn't what 1t used to be. We'll day, one can't expect to be young always. Is it thee, Leah !? Idid not look for thee so soon.
 Leah Decker came into the room like breezy young whirlwind She had none of the repose of manner which is at preR- ent so much in vogue. Born and bred a Quakeress, there was nothing of the Quakeress about her, except her quaint Scripture name. s5IEE#sE Efss Ibid thee go to Friend Anastasia q gently inquired the old man, readlnsting the big pine logs so that they should burn brighter for Leah's benefit
 "Oh, yes, I went there"
 ''I hope she is better of her rheuma- tism'
 s'Yes, she is better. But -bnt--she, will not buy the apples, father. Mean, stingy old thing !' cried Leah, wrathfully 1inging her coal-scuttle bonnet on the ta- ble. tShe says she can buy all she wants at fifty cents barrel, of old Jacob Joyce. So she can, perhaps, wretched, gnarly, wormysknots, ,,not fit for pigs Ours are apples She says thee asks all exorbitant price,
 Friend Decker slowly shook his head,
 'tFriend Anastasia is under misappre- hension, said he. Eighty cents bar rel is what they are paying at the cider milE Only one does not like to see such beautiful, rare-colored fruit ground up in- Q baleful spirits to set men's brains on tire'
 ''Much she would stop to thiuk of that said Leah, still ruffied.
 T N..s ly. 'sI need the money much, and think she would have been better satisfied with my apples than with Friend Jacob Joyce's."
 'tAnd, after all that flashed out Leah, the spirit of indignation rife within her, "she 5ehad the irnpudence to ask me fpra a jar of that plum sauce made. She says Friend Mary Moore told her how nice it was, and-''
 ''Aud," quietly intcrposed her father, ''thee said, hope, that thee would be glad to oblige her?' -
 tsNo, didn't, /" bluntly ans swered Leah. II said that I gathered the wild plums myself in the Crook wood, and cooked them after Aunt Mahalas recipe and that there were four jars, and that I wanted to keep them for thee; especially since thy health had failed and thy appetite was so variable" t...... ss..s.....a --. II am sorry, dear," said Friend Decker. "Friend Anastasia Is very old, and old people are apt to be fancifuI about trifies Moreover, she's our kinswoman, degree f or so removed, perhaps, but
 "Then why don't she do something for us ?' flashed out Leah, "besides giving us good advice and tormenting us with her fault finding? T didn't mean to mention, father, but she told me ont and out that she had adopted Moses Sawyer, and that she meant to make him her heir.
 ''Well, daughter, why should she not t?" composedly questioned the old man. Because he is no relation to her at all, ' cried Leah, ''and the property all. came from our great grandfather, Lenox. thee l knows" ''Thee attaches too much importance 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 1 to wait.
 1 Leah bit her full, red under lip as she l glanced around the sparsely furnished room and noted her fathers dropping fig ure and rapidly whitening head, but she made.no reply, as she took mp the coarse pile of vests on which she had been work ! ing button-holes for neighboring clothing contractor 1 "Fathel :, saint, thought she, s'but am not, and I'm afraid never shall be. I should like to cut off Anastasia Akerly s ears. If every one had their rights half of that big Lennox farm would be ours. She gained possession of it by the merest legal quibble, and if father was like any one else he would have gone to law about 1t long ago and got back his own. And now to see 1t willed deliberately to some one else !"
 l And Leah's needle flew vindictively in and out of the cloth like miniature iavelin piercing the heart of some unseen enemy. But the next morning when Leah had l gone to carry her bundle of vests home, and get another batch of work, Friend Decker put on his hat and buttoned the l great coat which was getting so worn at the elbows and shiny at the seams.
 ''It is bright, clear morning, albeit a trife frosty" said he, 1T think l may walk as far as the Lennox farm without aggravating my cough
 And under his arm he carried neat parcel.
 Old Anastasia Akerly was winding blue yarn before her fire when he came in. She greeted him not without shadow of sus- picion- I Had he come like . spy into the elre= my's quarter? 2
 1T hope thee is well, Friend Ahastasid, d'' said he 1T have brought thee a jar of my daughters wild plum sauce. Perhaps it may tempt thy appetite.
 Anastasia Akerly colored 1 'I ain'tof no consequence" said she. l ''I dunno as care so mfich about sweet things. Only there used to grow a wild plum bushaon the hills at home, and moth- CT used to boil the plums with molasses. They were drefful sour, but there was a flavor about em I haint since tasted. And when Mary Moore told how good Leah s was, l kind O notioned I'd like taste O 'em. But Leah said she hadn't none to spare.
 "Leah was mistaken, said Friend Deck CT, Gin our house there is always some l thing to spare for an old friend like thee. 2
 Anastasias yellow old face was oddly mottled with crimson for a moment
 ''I didn't know that you looked on me as n friend" she said, sharply.
 ."Thee ought to have been certain of 1sthat.' 1 There was ugly things said about the way the Lennox property was managed, ; said Miss Akerly.
 Nothing was said by me, friend An astasia, 7 observed the Quaker. ssAnd as far asa&in ma li0et n1 a y1I1 iona 4E Ixo @sf