The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-11-06

remarked at is exceedingly sad to lose
ones friends, is itnotl But perhaps-very
possiblym,.you have had no experience of
| this sortl"
| Mis- Hit removed her pipe, with face
wholly unsuspicious. Her eyes shone in
| its darkened and withered surface with
suddenly increased brightness.
| 'l've buried four husbands" she said.
/ Her expression was mixture of solemnlty
and excusable pride.
"AhW the schoolmaster murmured
''The great consolation for death, ," he con-
tinued, lis the remembrance of the felicit-
Gus hours passed with the deceased. Your
married life-lives-were happy, were
they not?"
"Well, 1 doan' know" said Mis- Hit
! She crossed her knees and clasped her
knotty hands around them. 81 didn't
have such powerful good luck gittin' hus-
| bands.n
"Indeed9" said the schoolmaster. zone
might Judge from a casual view that you
had been highly successful
Mis- Hits seriousness did not alter. APP
| parently joke was not in the line of her
comprehension.
Thar want none o. my men what We
might call likely" she said, without dis
| tnrbance from the recollection of her time
| softened troubles. 'They was a pretty
| Urinary set, call 'em."
| She pulled away in silent rumination.
! 'Your first husband, for example!" the
schoolmaster suggested.
oval, he WANT much-Ike Hayward
wa'n't' the old woman responded. Her
] eyes were fixed unseeingly on the blank
stretch of sodden land; her face was intent
with the absorption of Renaissance. 81
| was nigh onto sixteen when married Ike
| and Ike, he was somewhat round twenty.
| | hadn't been calculatin' to marry Ike Hey
ward; Want lookin' to auweek aforehand.
| I'd had it fixed up with 'Rastus Carter for
a consid'abl spell; we'd got the day sat,
I : II l. T
don't know as | recollect jest what spilled
it; Rastus he iared up at somethin' err
mother; consid' able techy 'Rastus was
- sandy-topped, frecklY folks most GEM
ally be- Wal, 1 didn't git him." said Mis-
Hit Frightening the bowl of her pipe with
q puff or two. 'And Ike Hayward he
stepped in, and we was j'ined.
Lived with his folks, Ike did; dom
know as | should "a had no trouble with
Ike eff it hadn't been for that Had the
wing, Ike and me, and the rest o. the house
was the ole folks's; but ole Mis- Hayward
was into that wing enough sight more'n
| she was to hum, fussin' and pesterin' and
| nosin' around. She'd come in afore break
| fast, and set watchin' me gittin' it, and
tellin' as how l couldn't cook pork no
more'n cat, and didn't know no more
| bout fryin pancakes N did bout flynn: ;
and as how II WANT savin', and my
washin's looked yeller, and my soft soap
want half billed; and she'd go round
| cryin' bout Ike gettin' sech poor, shift
less piece She was pesky ole creeturn
Mis- Hits spoke placidly. Her long ago
grievances had developed with years into
impersonal facts.
'And Ike, he was jest as chicken-hearted
as ever | see; he WANT no more count n
a dish-rag. He didn't RELY know who to
side with; all he figgered on was to git out
| o. the muss He'd take his fish-pole and
go off and stay all day; oncet, whom we'd
| been havin' it pretty tough, his ma and
me, he staid off week. Long and spind-
lin Ike was, and saller: tt"as snortin'
round with cold, and wheezin' ap with
asthmy and ailin'; twan't no more'n l WAS
lookin' fer when he started in to cough
stiddy-there'd ben Heywards goin' of
| with consumption sence the beginnin' O.
| time. Ike, he went off sudden; but he
went dretful hard. / never see no sech
awful spells o. coughin' as he did have;
| seems though he'd git ripped to pieces and
the way that creetur used to sweat nights
wal, the sheets ID be wringin' wet.n
The schoolmaSter, listening with graft
flying interest, looked in vain for any
softening of tho old woman's calmly MARIA
tive tone. The tragedy of fifty years ago
had become a casual memory, interesting
only for its narrowing details.
| HE was jest skin and bone when he died
| ms arms want no bigger round IN a broom
| stick, and his checks was sunk in so It it
fairly scairt ye; he was a dretful lookin'
| hlOO buTHeu ner eyes upon
her listener in pleasurable anticipation of
| the effect of these items. He was buried
up in the old north buryin' lot-he was
took up afterward and put in the new one
and l went hum agin. l was powerful
glad to git shet o. ole Mis- Hey ward, now |
| tell ye."
| Our most poignant sorrows have their
| alleviating features" the schoolmaster OBJ
served
Mis- Hit pulled at her pipe. The chirp-
| ing of frogs filled the pause.
you were induced to repeat the matri-
monial experiment." said the school
master. You married again, inferg"
Il was wilder fer six six months Mis-
| Hit responded; but could ben married
afore that eff I'd amin to. 'Rastus Carter,
| he come round soon as Ike was put in under.
| He'd Scraped up enough to git place
pretty forehanded, 'Rastus was-and he
was caculatin' to buy way up to the
| Corners, clus to the ole tannery. Why, 1
! told him eff he was goin to live round that
ar tannery l wa'n't, and all the powers
| couldn't make me; the smell was fit to
knock we down, jest about; and as to livin'
with it right under my nose-it made me
| sick as dog, the idee ont. 'Rastus he
was mad as hornet; he went off a ram
| pagin', and 'twa'n't week afore heerd
| he'd ben married Pauliny Wiswell. She
| was gettin' along, Pauliny was, and she
was terribly glad to git him.
"Wal didn't lay out to wait forever to
! git another man; but [ vow | was clean sot
| back when Elihu Wilder came aidgin'
| round. Ole bach'ler, Elihu was; must "a
ben nigh onto forty. He'd ben livin' by
| himself for long spell, over in the boiler;
| hadn't never seen him more'n oncet or
| twicet. declar didn't know but l YVES
| gettin' loony and seein sperrits when he
como nippin' in. Want much highern a
| yard stick, Elihu wa'n't-seemed to ben
| stunted; and he was SO kind o. dried up,
thar didn't look to be nothin' to him
wal of I'd a-knew what twas keepin'
house for bach'ler, / wouldn't never
undertook it, busiest narvousest little
| creetur ! ever come within forty mile of,
| Elihu Wilder was. He'd lived thar by him
self till he'd got as notional as witch; he
WANT no ways used to folks, and come to
| the pint, he didn't RELY know how to STAN
it havin' me thar. l guess he'd a. give
considerable to git unhitched agin, and /
| wouldn't "a held off, nuther.
at was sight to behold, that ar house
| o. hisn. Thar hadn't been a hammer
| teched to it sence twas put up, and o. all
! the tarnal old holes. The front steps was
all rotted away. There WANT a hull
winder in the house, and the ruff o. the
keepin' room leaked like a sieve Elihu,
| ha wouldnit haar to fyini n uu-t.vht n