Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-24

! wrong if sssp into the honse nom mt
I And really, Lucy. those things are your
business and not minef be added, irri-
tably.
| Lucy ceold not help laughing all to her
! self as her husband ran up the steps. But
| it was a very sad little laugh, and coon
! changed into q sigh. &" wonder" she said
in a whisper, " if my poor, tired-out ghost
would haunt these stone payementS and
| scrub shelves If were TO die? never
| heard Of q ghost in a dairy before, but
think it might easily be-"
| But this little bedroom was fitted up for
| all that, as fresh as a rose, and Uncle Paul
arrived, q dried-up, yellow oompiexioned
! old man, with an Old-tashloned craYat tied
| in many folds around his neck, and suit
of navy blue with brass buttons. He had
| the polite way of half century ago, and
Lucy thought she should like him very
much, if she only had time TO get acquaint-
| ed with him. But she was cburning ten
| pounds of butter day, and there was the
; baby and the company, and the young
| chickens, and the baking to do for the sew
| ing society, which was to meet at her
\ house that week She was almost too busy
| TO sleeD.
But Uncle Paul was watching her quietly
all the time. He came out one day to the
| barn where his nephew was putting new
| handle on sickle-blade.
Pretty busy time-eh, Uncle Paul Z"
asked the farmer, scarcely taking the leis-
ure to look up. Aye" absently answered
| the old man Did l tell you, Nephew
Seth, about the reason left your cousin
! Eliab's?' Not that / remember" said
| Seth, breathing on the blade and polishing
! it with q silk handkerchief. Dorothea
! died-his wifei" Oh, yes" said Seth.
"Nalarial fever. wasn't it?" Mop blunt
! " answered Uncle Paul 1T was hard
I work That woman, Nephew Seth, did the
! homework for eight persons. Eiiab didn't
even let her have woman TO help her with
! the washing and ironing"
Must have been o regular brute" said
Seth, tightening the handle, little. All
the sewing, too" added Uncle Paul
"mending and making. Never went any
where except to church. Bliab didn't be-
| heve in women gadding about" THE old
savage" said Seth. "She was fond of read
| ing, but she never got any time for ii, said
| Uncle Paul. " She rose before sun-up, and
never lay down until IL o'clock. It was
| hard work that killed that woman, and
| Eliab coolly declared that it was sheer lazi-
| ness when she could not drag herself around
any longer And when she died he rolled
/ up his eyes and called it q visitation of
! fTOYlQenCe.
why didn't the neighbors lynch him 2"
| cried Seth, fairly reused to indignation at
/ last. Uncle Paul took off his glasses, wiped
| them vigorously, and looked his nephew
! hard in the face. Why dom. the neigh
! bors lynch you 2" said he. Seth dropped
| his sickle and stared.
Nephew Seth" said Uncle Paul, i'm
/ pressively, "'thou art the man 7 Are you
not doing the same thing2" Up gasped
| Seth, Your wife is doing the work OF
! household of sixteen people," said Uncle
| Paul. "She is drudging as you could hire
| no foreigner to drudge. She IS rising early
I and lying down late; she is offering up
/ her life on the shrine of your farm and its
requirements. have seen her grow thin
and pale even during the few days I have
! been here. | have carried water and split
wood for her, because there was no one to
do it. / have seen her carry up Mrs. Bel
! ford's breakfast daily TO her room, because
/ Mrs. Bedford preferred TO lie in bed, and
( cooking dainty dishes for Helen Patterson,
| because Helen wouldn't eat what the rest
liked. No galley slave ever worked assshe
does. And you, with your hired men
whose board only add 10 her cares-and your
laoOr-saying machinery, stand coolly by
and see her commit slow suicide. Yes,
Nephew Seth, think it is 2 case for lynch
Ing.
Seth had grown pale. IL never
thought of this" said he. Why didn't
some one tell me?' Where were your
own eycs?' asked Uncle Paul.
Seth Bellenden rolled down his shirt
sleeves, put on his coat, and went into the
house. He told the Belfords and Patter-
sons that it was inoonyenient to keep them
any longer. He gave cousin Susan to un-
derstand shat her room was needed He
made arrangements to board he hired men
at the vacant farmhouse, and engaged a
stout dairyman and house servant TO
wait on Lucy. And he telegraphed to her
father TO come TO Sylvan Bridge at once
She deserves a treat he said. He
shall spend the summer with us"
She had tainted among the buttercups,
picking stra wberries for tea Poor little
Lucy The machinery had utterly refused
to reVolve any longer. His heart grew
cold within him. She win diel' he
thought, and I shall have murdered herr
But she did not die. She recovered her
strength by degrees. 1t is better than
medicine" said She to know that Seth is
thinking Of me and for me" And Uncle
Panl-" the last straw Us she called him
had proved her salvation.
" / didn't want her to 90 as Eliab's wife
did, said Uncle Paui.-Honse Circle