, 1888-09-08
ONLY A DEAF WOMAN.

did it especially matter whether 1t was OF
not, as Blue Station was one of those
'lodges in the vast wilderness" where
time was not reckoned according to the
Wall street standard and where people
took things easy.
The stage for Hemlock Hill was wait
ing t4ere-a clumsy conglomeration of
musty leather, faded paint and ancient
wood, drawn by two sleepy horses, and
driven by a Jehu so old that n 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
Uses snugly under their feet, and fastened
their natty silk umbrellas in the rack
overhead. There was only one other pas
senger-a woman in a brown waterproof
cloak and a green veil, with a lidded mar
ket basket in her lap and a tremendous
ear trumpet in her hand.
"NOnly a deaf woman" said Col. Jones,
CHANGING toward her.
81 see," observed Mr.. Richmond, 1--WE
need put 10 particular restraint on our
conversation.
care we all ready, driver2" shouted Col.
Jones, who was unused to the leisurely
methods of life ma place like Blue Station.
The driver appeared to rouse himself from
q sort of doze.
81 be if you bel" said be. "Git up
Katel Look out thar, you Sorrell"
And away they rolled.
Eyes" said Col. Jones, rubbing his
neatly gloved hands, cit will be a genuine
surprise. And 1 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. -.
1.-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
teacherl" 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.
at isn't that l despise the trade" said
! Col. Jones'. "You know that as well as l
do, Richmond. If the girl is good and
pretty, I'd as soon she should be q school
teacher as anything else. But l want my
boy to nave a real home like home. My
wife gave me me-, and I 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 see, l have been
studying the matter over"
81 see," said Mr.. Richmond, holding
desperately on to the leather strap above
his head, as the driver guided the wheels
over a succession of stumps on the side of
the road.
Il give them no time for preparation, "
said the colonel, chuckling. 81 drop
down upon Miss Allen like a wolf on the
fold. see just exactly what she is. 1
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 a loaf of light, sweet bread
and cook a steakl Ell? am sure 1 beg
a thousand pardons, ma'am," as a 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 outf"
For the woman with the green veil was
making vehement gestures with her hand
with an inquiring expression of face.
did -you- want to = get -out?'
reared Col. Jones into its convoluted
depths, the veins starting out on his fore
lead 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 yelled head bobbed acknowl-
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 yelled passenger caught up her
parcels, skipped over the stone stile with
with amazing alacrity for so apparently
feeble a parsonage and flew 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.
Heres your trumpet all mended, Aunt
R%oXanna," 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"
in the soft, subdued voice peculiar to deaf
people. They're 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"
'~'Splendidl" said Lurana Hopkins. 81
want one of them. And 1 must have the
chickens and that loaf of gingerbread"
10 Aunt oxanna. "1s the
girl
III for 10 schoolma'm, Aunt Rox-
ana," explained Lurana, with her rosy
mouth close to the ear trumpet. "Her
beau's father came up from the train with
me in Zadoc Hawley's stage, and he took
me for a deaf woman, because of the
trumpet, l suppose, and talked before me
to his friend real free. And he's come
out 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"
81 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 Skerritt's house, and boards
herself On bread and milk. But she is as