Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-08-05

/ have not fathers heart for me will think
worse things of Jenny. Oh, may God lend
me wisdom to know the right thing to do,
and forgive me the sorrow this night cause
my motherr'
She bit her lip cruelty to restrain her tears,
for she feared that the sight of them would
move Mrs. Mead to hinder her desperate reso-
/ luton.
Before you move step or say another
1 word, ye shall have something to mend your
spirits with" said the old woman, briskly,
and entered her bedroom, whence in a few
moments she returned, with gown and
shawl on, and, going to cupboard, produced
little flask Of cherry cordial of which she
obliged Jenny to swallow glassful
1T is strange thing for you to do" said
she, resuming her chair and twisting her
scant gray tresses into knot at the back OF
her head. Doth your cousin, Mrs. Lloyd,
know you are coming to herr
No" Jenny answered. 81 did not make
up my mind to leave home till father told me
to get ready to quit for London with hirl in
the morning. I should fear to be with him
if we could not find the church. If he does
| not think me truthful then am sinner to
him, and not fit for his house; and that is
why l am leaving him foreverln
Her eyes flashed as she spoke, and the hard
look of her mouth might have reminded Mrs.
Mead of the deacon at his sternest But the
anger melted away, and she cried piteously.
You viii tell my poor mother that you have
seen me, and why / have left herg Fathers
harshness to me is breaking her heart, and
what will she do when she finds her ,retty
one gone| and she paused again to battle
with her tears
Miss Jenny, if We are wise, veil go home. n
said Mrs. Mead, nodding her head "Why,
what'll folks say when it's known you've room
awaya Sure enough they'll call We a guilty
wench, and you would not like that"
"They will call me that if I stay-why
should they not, if father thinks ita-and
never could go into the street, nor meet
human eyes, with this shame upon meln she
cried, despairingly.
Its hard to know it's hard to known
groaned the old woman. "Would We wish
your mother to hear where you are9'
mol! she answered quickly. $50 that !
am living and with friends, as you must tell
her, Mrs Mead she will not despair But
no one must be told where am-not one,
Mrs Mead. Promise me that Swear i'll"
II swear it if you please, Mrs. Jenny, !"
replied Mrs Mead, sympathetically giving
the girl hr wifely prefix "But before We
make me take an OATH just think awhile If
| swear, they may drown me and not get the
truth. Suppose Mr. Cuthbert-n
"Ah!" exclaimed the girl, with short.
passionate cry, "if hs should come-why.
why, Mrs. Mead, you would tell him in
stantly; he would be eager and mad to find
me, and l to be with him. o, heavenly
Lord! if thou wouldst but give him to me
nowl' she cried, raising her clasped hands,
while her voice died away into a soft, ex-
quisitely musical plaintive note.
Il don't like this business-truly would
rather have no hand in it." said Mrs Mead,
slowly turning her face from side to side
Thy father would come and burn my house
down if he knew | had helped you to leave
the town"
"You need not help me, will go away
now. Mrs. Mead, and leave you to your rest +"
THAT you shall not, cried the old woman,
jumping up and laying her skinny hand on
Jenny, who had risen. "Sit down, sit down,
my pretty. Why how long win it take We
to walk to Winston? Two hours, will its
And so you shall come to the village at
three i the morn, ana have five hours to
count the daisies in afore TIL coach comes
Sit down. sit down. Yell not leave this
house yet bit, Use warrant
But viii be ON my way before the light
comes and the people are up" answered
Jenny, still standing.
80 We shall, but not afore the light comes
Sit, mistress. Lord save your heart, tits
easier nor standing, and for one niver can
think on my feet Nowheers like bed for
thinlin', say 1, and then you're fiat Yen be
changing your mind, doubt, if ye'll sit and
ponder"
"Do not say that, Mrs. Mead. have al
ready left home, and it is as bad as if were
a thousand miles off. | will not go back, in
deed. Bid me goodnight, and be sure my
heart is warm to thee for thy kindness"
"Ahw cried Mrs. Mead, forcing her, but
not untenderly, into her chair, Eye come from
an obstinate father, and arguments, as I've
always said, is wasted on stitch If We mean
to go, I'll not stop you-and who should know
best but you' But the job needn't be worse
nor it IS I'm one" said she, going to her cup
board, "as loves crature comforts. Crature
comforts" she continued, producing a couple
of cups and saucers, loaf of bread, some
eggs, and a strange looking vessel of tin in
which was some tea, made precious by the
price of it in those days, sis true voice of
consolation to the afflicted, to my way o
thinking. Niver did l attend buryin' or go
a nursin', or help to lay body out, but first
l laid in meal O. food. Niver doth the mind
do duty on an empty stomach. If its but
crust o hard bread and a spoonful o. gin, let
me have it, | says, before l go to work.
There's no sperrit in fasting"
And so she ratified ON, in subdued voice
for fear of disturbing the tailor and his wife
overhead, all the while kindling a fire, and
preparing the table, and ceasing her gable
only to go and draw a kettle of water from
some back place.
There was dispatch in the old woman's
method of going to work, and quiet, too,
were it not for the sabdued, eternal cackle of
her tongue, that would have made sick man
love her. She produced another candle and
frightened up the room, and presently the
kettle was blowing out its fiament of steam.
Now, mistress" said she, there be a dish
of tea which all CLANCY, where the herb
grows, as I've heard, couldn't match. Just e
shred of bread, with this fine new butter, IL
give that egg q relish as yen niver
cease to remember. Come, come! sim we nun
both keep awake, there's naught like tea--or
tay, as my mother used to call it; and that's
the right word, though in these queer times
a body hath no liberty. Well, will We not
laugh over this feast some dayl l reckon
Mr. Shaw II make We see joke in it, for
niver knew blue eye like his that Didn't
mean a merry heart; and this will say of
your husband, mistress, that since the days
when poor VIII Hacket coorted me i silk
stockings, I've niver seen prettier lad than
Mr. Cuthbert Shaw Crack the egg, my
dear, an if We shall tell the inside of it from
cream, Tll swallow the she'll It's middl ng
late for supper, but as thy father once said
to me fifteen years ago, when | loved bit o.
riband as has no relish now, we're all arti-
fetal creatures-which is the Lords truth
Why shouldn't a body eat i the middle o. the
night as well as the morn' Come. come,
make beginning, or I'll not go along wi
ye."
But do not want you to come along with
me. Mrs Mead Indeed, l should not allow
You to leave your house after keeping you
from your bed-no, truly, though l love you
dearly for your kindness" exclaimed Jenny.
$40 YOU think l should let a pretty young
woman walk alone to Winston at this time
O. morn, with her box and her sweet face to
court livery smock she may come across!'
cried Mrs. Mead, poising a saucer on level
with her nose, and straining her eyes at
Jenny over it, "What is summers morn
ing walk to mel If can't hinder thee from
leaving home, I'll see thee safe in t coach any
WAYS, and thatll be something for me to tell
thy mother"
The need of compani&nship was strong in
Jenny. All the way to Winston, with a long
waiting for the coach, was a weary under
taking, and what society should she have
but bitter thoughts' Besides, little touch