Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-12-02

I
Earling the elder, invading the Young
masters precincts at all seemly
and unscenly seasons, tossed up his
prospective heir with rough hilarity,
and freed his heart of many n ridicu-
lous prophecy and soft, odd-sounding
quirk of sladncss. There, too, Gram
dam Eric often came, clad in her
best apparel, and fairly exudiug Nurse
ry knowledge and odors of the pipe;
also sundry other danes of high and
humble station from neighboring farms
and the near town, called with recipe
end praise, taking in return furtive
inventories Of the fair Now England
woman and her belongings, under the
large frcemasonry of the event. And
Absalom Heater, the painting youth
who seemed ever In n perspiration and
bearing a half-healed hurt upon his
nasal member, and whose habitat en-
braced the kitchen and great barns
lying backward from the dwelling,
came worshiping with many a low
whistle of approbative astonishment.
Hottie, too. the florid young person
who sang and made merry with
Absalom and the kitchen dishes.
brought every day some dainty
edible in her fat rod hands to
tempt the future MASTER So time ran
on, and when the apple bio os-oins again
were nodding at the windows, the
plump brave babe began knocking
Justify about the furnishings of the fair
old rooms, and when the autumn came
he was tumblng rather helplessly
among the juicy globes beneath the
hillside apple-trees. Here Elizabeth
Earling often spent the sunny after
moons, watching the little walker in his
waddling feats with happy eyes, or
| looking laughingly up from her needle
work to note the break-neck p-anks of
the sweating Absalom, performing the
arduous part Of harlequin to the heir
| apparent Back of and above them
the old dwelling held its gables against
the blue sky and circling swallows, and
below them the green ground swayed
softly down TO meet the meadows, and
they in turn the glinting levels of the
stream. Ever and anon a boat went
laboring up the broad river, breaking
ITS CLASSY surface into crinkled silver,
or one came fleetly down, Haunting
Its backward streaming plume of
smoke, and sank away around
the great bend TO the south. A road
ran northward obeying the l9ng
iiexures of the mighty stream, dividing
the meadows here, entering the wood
!and there, and crossing many brook
that came purling downward from the
upland, ere it found the bustling viii
lage, family deserted from Earling
farm. Midway on this curving will
lowy highway lay the estate of lvyl
Snaer. Evil Sheer was the pseudonym
old Jade was wont to give him in his
growlings, though this slightly obese
bachelor was commonly as bland as a
summer morning. About this respect
able person, however, there seemed
always a sort Of aroma of acquisitive
greed that chilled little the sensi tive
instincts of the Just and generous.
Still his affable and oily air, despite
many curious, if not questionable, busi-
ness habits, went far to make his social
place reputable. Though not yet
arrived at mid-life a not inconsider-
able portion of this worlds
goods had come glibly into his
possession. True this prosperity had
brought pain and privation to some,
and inconvenience at least to many,
but since the social scepter then, as
now, awarded seats of honor to the
successful cleaners of gold. rather
than to the acquisitive in less gaudy
and less potent metals. the horizoa OF
his influence was rather widened than
diminished. A sort of land-broker
was this Ivyl Snaer; ostcnsibly
worker Of the soil, his personal opera
tions uDon that honest quantity con-
eiHaraH rather ffe ttffI;t,~ &
trade than rs an agent of more palpa-
BILE fruits. A foreman on his big farm
contiguous to John Earrings estate.
directed the energies of the ground |
into gain. while lvyl, from the van
tage-point Of a partial residence at
public house in town, cast invisible |
nets into the sea Of other mems neces- |
sites, bringing up many golden lien !
and swiftly ripening mortgage. What |
the exact inclinatigA of his sentiments |
were as touching religion lay some |
what in doubt, but real or simulated, |
he indisputably sought the house Of |
God with much regularity and meek |
ness of expression. With much deco |
rum, too, as became staid and opulent |
example OF good morals, he sat at |
the spiritual board, regarding not the |
length or breyity Of its ministrations. |
Perhaps his eyes of washy blue were a /
trifle null, and his fingers, laced to-
gether across his ample stomach, |
drawn little tight, but nevertheless |
the impressive sObriety of his attitude |
went far to indicate to others the rev.
erent sincerity Of his heart. Very
suave and defcrcntial was Iyyl Snaer
with bluff John Earling. whether i'm
acknowledgment of his iron-like in.
tegritY, or out of some unspoken hate,
II were at best impossible to discover.
The gruif ScOtchman at least drew even
ly in the social yoke with smiling Iyyl,
for in that rather obscure corner of the
fat old Commonwealth of Ohio
they two perhaps were richest This
fact may have contained the kernel OF
the matter; in any case, it was patent
to all that Earlng held his howery
fellow in something little milder than
and whatever the true COM
pleNion OF lyyl's feelings. their express
SION, even for this master of adulation,
was strangely purry and obsoquious
In one presence alone did Iyyl Snaer
seem unworthy of his reputation. Be-
fore the clear, deep eyes of Elizabeth
Earring his rather unsteady Orbs went
down. and his tongue forgot its cum
ming Did isseem 10 him that his soul
was stripped in these moments, and
his motives AL uncovered? Did his
spirit shrink down instinctlvely before
the lofty purity Of her womanhood?
Was he like boy made bashful by the
beauty Of her flesh? She at least saw
the swift confusion Of his wits when
chance or purpose brought them
face 10 face, and wondered at
IT, Doubtless the fact that
ot all the women of that
region. Elizabeth Earring was perhaps
The falrest and most gently bred,