Milford chronicle., 1888-10-19
ONLY A DEAF WOMAN.

driven by Jehu so old that one instinct
lively wondered how he ever got up and
down from his aerial perch on the box
seat Mr.. Richmond and his friend Col.
Jones took their seats, packed their va
lses snugly under their feet, and fastened
their natty silk umbrellas in the rack
overhead There was only one other pas
senger-a woman in brown waterproof
cloak and green veil, with a lidded mar
ket basket in her lap and tremendous
car trumpet in her hand.
"Only deaf woman. said Col. Jones,
glancing toward her.
Il see" observed Mr.. Richmond, eve
need put no particular restraint on our
conversation"
Are we all ready driver?" shouted Col.
Jones, who was unused to the leisurely
methods of life ina place like Blue Station
The driver appeared to rouse himself from
a sort of doze.
Il be if you be!' said he. Git up,
Kate Look out thar, you SOrrelF'
And away they rolled.
Yes" said Col. Jones, rubbing his
neatly gloved hands. lit will be genuine
surprise. And I meant it to be. l want
to see for myself how things are"
Certainly" said Mr.. Richmond, lurch-
ing from one end of the seat to the other,
as the wheels took a big stone on their
way.
"The lad is over head and ears in love,
said Col. Jones.
Young men will be fools" observed
Mr.. Richmond, cynically.
but a school teacher; a district school
| teacherw sighed the colonel, who was tall
and portly and clean shaven, with very
black eyebrows and hair just dashed with
silver.
"a good many nice girls take to that
| business" " remarked Mr.. Richmond. Mr..
Richmond was a gaunt gentleman, with
hollow eyes, a parchment colored skin,
and a general dYspeptic air.
1T isn't that | despise the trade, said
\ Col Jones. you know that as well rs
do, Richmond. If the girl is good and
| pretty, I'd as soon she should be a school
/ teacher as anything else. But want my
/ boy to have a real home like home. My
wife gave me one, and 1 solemnly believe
/ it was the making Of me. And VictOr's
| wife must be no mere book machine or
wearer of fine clothes. If she can't sew
and sweep and cook she's no fit mate for
my son. Well, you sec have been
| studying the matter over.
Il see, said Mr.. Richmond, holding
| desperately on to the leather strap above
] p
| over u succession of stumps on the side of
the road.
Il give them no time for preparation, ="
said the colonel, chuckling 4 drop
/ down upon Miss Allen like a wolf on the
| fold. see Just exactly what she is. l
judge for myself wouldn't give a fig
for all the Latin and guitar music and
china painting in the world if a woman
can't make loaf Of light, sweet bread
and cook steak! Eh2 am sure l beg
a thousand pardons. ma am, as q sudden
swing Of the coach precipitated his head
against the basket and sent the ear trum-
pet rolling to the floor.
"Allow mel Did you want to get out?"
For the woman with the green veil was
making vehement gestures with her hand
to the driver. She put up the trumpet
with an inquiring expression of face.
did you - want - to ~ get - out?'
roared Col. Jones into its convoluted
depths, the veins starting out on his fore
head as he did so.
Yes, sir, please" said the woman;
and the courteous colonel himself got out
to expedite the removal of the basket, the
trumpet and sundry brown paper parcels
which constituted the belongings Of their
fellow passenger.
The green veiled head bobbed acllnowl-
edgments, the colonel lifted his hat like a
modern Don Quixote and the stage, en-
veloped in a cloud of dust, rolled away
toward the brightness Of the western sky.
The green veiled passenger caught up her
parcels, skipped over the stone stile with
with amazing alacrity for so apparently
feeble a parsonage and few like a deer
across the wooded solitudes until she
came to a low, red farm house, and en-
tered a cozy kitchen, where a middle aged
woman was making blackberry pies.
Here's your trumpet all mended, Aunt
ROxanna," said she. "And here's the al
paca dress and the three yards of flannel
and the basket with the tea and sugar
and spices. What are you going to have
for support"
Spring chicken, said Aunt Roxanna,
in the soft, subdued voice peculiar to deaf
people. "Theyre on the butt'ry shelf,
all dressed and ready. And baked pota-
toes; and l calculate to have them pies
ready to go into the oven right off.
Splendid" said Lurana Hopkins. 81
want one of them And / must have the
chickens and that loaf of gingerbread"
La mel' said Aunt Roxanna. ''Is the
girl crazy?"
"It's for the scboolma'm, Aunt Rox-
ana" explained Lurana, with her rosy
2 mouth close to the ear trumpet. "HeI
beau's father came up from the train with
me in Zadoc Hawleys stage and he took
INC for deaf woman, because of the
trumpet, suppose, and talked before me
to his friend real free. And he's come
ont here to surprise the schoolma'am,
and find out whether she Is a good house
keeper or not. And if she isn't, he's going
TO set himself dead against the matchl"
Il never heard nothing like it in my
life, said Aunt Roxanna,
''And she isn't-you know she isn't
said Lurana "She just lives in half OF
the Widow Skerritts house, and boards
herself on bread and milk. But she is as
sweet as peach, and people can't have
all the accomplishments at once
''No, to be sure not, said Aunt Rox
anna, her slow wits following Lurana's
rapid speech with considerable difficulty
''And she shan't be cheated out Of her
lover, not if car help it," said Lurana
hurriedly packing tho broilers, neatly
wrapped in napkin, into her. basket, ant
supplementing thesliwith loaf of spicy
smelling gingerbread, two unbaked black
berry pies, pan of biscuit and glass
Jar Of honey. "Now, little canister Of
pickles, and l believe that is all. You
must hunt up something else for supper.
And once more Lurana sped across the
fields, crossing a noisy brook on the peril
Gus span Of fallen tree, picking her way
deity through the hummOcks of a swamp
and reaching Widow Skeritt's cottage
while the Blue Station stage, travelling the
regular road, was still good mile and {
: ou0rter avvav