The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-10-24

learned She used to ask me questions
about everything, about the States an
the people an the towns. That was
when she'd come home, and then some
times at school she'd write me letters
with questions in 'em, an | sit up
o'nights to answer 'em. Do you know,
/ kind got to longin' for them letters
an a-watchin' for 'em? Yes, sir"
Jim was thinking again. Once he
got down from the platform to the track
that ran by and kicked mechanically at
the cinders that formed the ballast.
Then he picked up loose washer that
was there, and like a boy sailed it off
into the field. But he couldn't shake
off the heaviness of his mood.
81 don't know how it happened, but
when she was about twelve or thirteen
ton and New Orleans an people, an
commenced to tell me things-history
an old stories. | remember one about
a girl named Charlotte Corduroy, that
killed Frenchman in bath-tub. Did
you ever hear that? Yes. Well l
guessed you had, but there was lots of
things like that, an tben-then -
What, Jim?''
"Then-I was trying to think how to
do it-but when / would try to tell her
anything, instead of looking interested
like an her brown eyes gettin' big like
they used to, I'd catch her laughin',
quite like, jest as if she'd read it so
much better than / could tell her; an
every vacation she seemed so much
bigger an so different that | began TO
stand off like, an once / went to call
her name an | called her Miss Bella,
Just as if I'd never knowed her when
she was baby or carried her on my
saddle when | went to bring in the
cows, or anything like that"
" You called her Miss Bella?"
Eyes, an ever since that, whenever
I've forgot to say Miss, and it's only
been once or twice, she kind o. smiles
in her queer way an lifts her eyebrows
like fellar would if he was askin' if
YOU hadn't forgot something"
"Well, that shouldn't depress you,
jim. That's way with all girls. There
comes time when they freeze their
old friends and have to be called Miss. :"
sob, faint that sortl But ! got to
thinkin' about her so that / couldn't
work, an when I'd take her back to
school l felt like | wanted to kill any
Teller that looked at her. You see, sir,
| was likin' her too much"
q" | see, jim"
"Well, last summer, | made up my
mind I'd tell her about it an | did.
asked her one night to 90 with me, and
we sauntered along the edge of that
holler whear the timber is. The
evenin seemed so still that / could
hear my heart beatin', and when one
o. them meader lalks whistled il
sounded like the express to me. She
would drop on her knees every now
and then to pull some of the violets
that grows over there, and once she
lated and pinned some of them on to
my shirt an wouldn't stand that. |
took hole of her two hands an she
Jumped kind O. skeered like, but ]
held 'em and looked straight in hel
eyes an told her that / loved her, an
that I'd try to make her happy all hel
life. | told her I'd loved her ever
since she was little girl and used tc
set her on my knee"
Jim put his face in his hand anG
seemed lost in the recollection, either
of that evening or of the baby girl OF
whom he talked so tenderly.
81 tell you it was tough, sir. She
said she used to like me once, but that
since she'd been goin' to school hel
learnin' had made her dissatisfied with
the Iniun country an the people here
She said if she married it would haf tC
be man that had read a heap an knew
lots about books. She said her ideal
] ,f oil
Young teller that could write a news
paper. She said | was a good enough
teller in the saddle, and she liked me
as frien,' but to be even that | mus
never mention the matter to her again
Then she walked straight back to the
house. | watched her pass this depo
on them stones there an 90 in the door
and then | went down to the holler
faint no use, sir; I've tried to brace
up again it, but | can't, an the foil
can't see why l 90 down to MuskogeC
and get full, and wrastle with TIT
deputy sheriff"
"Why don't you go away, jim
Leave this quiet place-go up in tn
busy states. You can't forget he
when she's daily in your sight"
III tell you. She's home now OF
what they call the Easter vacation, an
she won't graduate till June. See?"
Hardly"
Why, she's set her heart on her ed
ucation. She's learnin' Latin and his
tory an all about the stars. She's go
'em all named. Well, it'd break he
heart to quit now before June. Eff
was to go away the ole man wouldn'
keep her in school a day longer
There's so many things to git. He
ma and me has planned to go to Kansa
City to buy her fine dress to gradual
in an all that kind of stuff. Why,
want to stay till then, an then"
can them"
"Why, then Pm going with Fore
paugh agin drivin' stakes, an tray
elm"
Jim, does she-does Miss Bell
know you are doing this for her; tina
you are paying her tuition and proviC
ing her eXpenses?"
, " Why, bless you, no sir. She think