The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-20
CLEVER KITTY.
She Opened Her Uncle's Eyes and
Saved Herself.

In the struggling, forlorn, unhealthful
Northumbrian village of Blackford there
was, half century ago, only one comfort
able-looking building. 1t was none of the
dwellings of the coal and lime carriers, the
hedgers and ditchers, or the drainers, who
formed the bulk of the population, for their
low, dropping roofs, mended here and there
with tarpaulin, spoke too eloquently of
damp draught and over-pressure; it was
not the red-tiled croft-house inhabited by
Willie Allan, the clever lazy, kindly, cock
fighting, dog-fancying, boxing, wrestling,
swimming, Bookkeeping tenant of the little
farm. for bachelordom and neglect had
combined with Willies devotion to hobbies
OF one kind and another to create of it and
its surroundings an embodiment of pictur-
esque disorder; it was not the great austere-
looking, square-built Presbyterian meeting
house, with its prison-lilIe walls and narrow
windows; far less was it the slated, shabby
genteel manse, for in cold weather the
effect of the whitewash upon it was to
threaten the spectator with a fit of the
ague. No: on any guSty day in November,
when the trees on the hilltops seemed to
have turned their shivering backs to the
breeze that whistled through their branches
and whirled away their red-tinted leaves
in madcap dance, and the diminutive
cOt-houses looked almost as though crouch
ing to escape the blast which the gaunt
old manse faced in haggard despair, the
"The Lion" inn alone, with its comfortable
Overcoat of impervious thatch, retained
its aspect of quiet comfort, and
toward evening the ruddy glare of its
kitchen fire pressingly invited the toil-worn
cottars to forsake their scolding wives and
brawling children their scanty fires and
draughty houses, and enjoy its comfortable
warmth. And often at the same time there
would be light at one of the two attic
windows that peered out from the roof like
pair of open gray eyes from under lids of
thatch For one of these rooms was the
favorite resort of Adam Black the thriving
publican of Blackford. Hither at night did
he often resort if business was dull down
below to smoke his pipe, to think over his
plans, and to calculate his ingoings and
outgoings; for, as he would sometimes re-
mark: ut took deal of worry for man
as could neither read nor write to keep a
true reckoning" and Adams natural abili-
ties had not been frightened up by educa-
ton
That did not hinder him from being
greatly liked and respected in Blackford.
The worst that could be said about him was
that he was rather hard, and as matter of
fact there was little softness in his nature,
though he never failed to greet his custom
ers with smile and jest, and if the smile
was little mechanical and the jest the
worse for wear, it mattered little to the
country lOlhs WIN were HOu dSudlHtu
to laugh at the twentieth repetition of u
witticism. And it was everywhere agreed
that he kept model public house-never,
for instance, allowing any fighting to go on
in a conspicuous place, but forcing the COM
batants to have it out, if they really meant
business, in secluded back yard where
they could black each others eyes with the
most perfect safety and comfort. Any man
might go to the Red Lion" with the as
surance that he would not be made fool
of. Adam knew the drinking capacity of
every full-grown male in the neighborhood
of Blackford. and would let none trans
gress his limit or if an accident did hap
pen managed to avoid anything i'll the
nature of apublic exhibition. And besides,
the villagers all knew him to be, in their
own language, as game as bantam: AT
times Adam might, III bargain making,
show himself not over-scrupulously above
board, and, generally speaking, what he
could get he took; but, nevertheless be
steered notably clear of paltry meanness
and he was known to be stubbornly faith
full to all his friends-a man, on the whole,
with conscience not too troublesome, but
far from dead.
In domestic life Adam was a martinez
He ruled his son Aleck, his red-headed
servant Bet, and even his niece Kitty with
a rod of iron. Prompt obedience was the
unwritten law of the household. Only
Kitty, besides being the smartest, pretties
and cleverest girl in Blackford, was sc
hayward and spirited that not even hel
uncle, who liked her better than he liked
any body else in the world was able to keel
her entirely under control.
1t was great grief to Adam when h'
found out that Kitty was in a mood Il
throw herself away upon Willie Allan. No
that he disliked Willie-nobody could do
that-but he thought him unlikely to be I
good husband, that is thriving one, abl'
to keep his family comfortable, for he new
OF gave his mind to his business, but wasted
his time over what Adam sometimes callet
his menagerie, for the croft-house was al
most a Noah ark in its way. The chanc
visitor was certain to find at every seasol
of the year litter of pups before the kitch
en- fire, and an old owl and still NOR
ancient magpie carried on an unceasin
struggle for the favorite perch above tn
kitchen clock. What had once been tn
best bedroom was converted into high
for canaries, and there were always hang
ing about cages containing finches, linnet'
thrushes, blackbirds, and even sparrow
for Willie was noted experimentalist /
the art of crossing, and could show an a.
IOrtment of the most strangely marke