Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-09-26
as to show lines 81 scalp at the sides,
like frozen pullies 81 a winter field.


'Thet you, gra'mawp' she said,
looking up from her crochet; then she
wrought again at the coarse mesh, but
there was a lurking trouble in her
face. II wonder ef she could "a met
Uncle Henrypn she was thinking. He
told me not to say q word of whut he
KEN for, but I can't keep any thing;
it's just on the end o my tongue now.
Oh dear!''
Mrs. Giltner lowered herself into Q
chair with wary caution Of her joints;
she undid her bonnet strings, and gave
several long breaths before she spoke.
Yes, I'm back, Verandy; you kin
see for yourself that I'm nigh Almost
give out; them steps IL lay me in my
grave.yit.
"They do beat the bugs" assented
Veranda, with easy sympathy; her
voice was at once slow and shrill.
'I'll never tell you how I've stood
'em all these years. pursued the old
woman, qperulously; Il he'd my five
boys to raise, an till ev'y last one of
'em wuz growed clean out o. dresses
into long pants / never knowed
whut peace meant. Eff one Of
'em give cry I jest churned right
sick a-wond'rin' which one he'd bruk his
neck head over heels down them stone
steers" She rambled on, with a kind
OF pleasure in her dreary memories.
Veranda gave patient ear, though she
had heard it almost daily since child
hood. She was the orphan daughter
OF Mrs. Giltner's Oldest son, and the
old woman had reared her, petting her
as she never had her sturdy boys,
three of whom were now owners of
bluegrass farms hard upon the viii
lage.
"Ain't you goin' to tell a person
whar you've been, gra'maw?" asked
Veranda, with kindly regard to the
fact that her grandmother was waiting
for the query.
II wuz down to Smiths fer spell, :"
said the old woman when she had come
at easy speech after her mournful dis
course, ''you must go and see their
new baby, Verandy; it's mighty cute;
the very spit m image of it's paw.
Smith he wants to call it Sary Jane,
arter his mother, but Mis- Smith won't
hyear to nothin' but Stuller May
The last trace of uneasiness was
blOtted from Veranda's face by a smile
of pleased interest.
''Stuller May" she echoed; Il won
der whar Hetty Smith gothold of thet
name; it sounds kind of booky. Eff
'twuz my child I'd ruther hev it Gladys
or Blantche. believe
Mrs. Giltner's upper lip fell visibly.
when I think O. you-'ns marryin'-
we'll, pears like I can't ha'bor the idee
no ways. SEEM the house an ev'y
thing in it IL be yourn, 'cept thet lawg-
cabin quilt I pieced last spring fer
Johns Marthy, it's more'n likely you'd
live yere AFTER you wuz married; you
haven't the peth in you tibet he'd
when l wuz young. an when study
bout you worryin' over them mean
steps like I've done, an a-strivin' to
keep your chillern f'om KILN their
SETS on 'em, churn right sick"
That her granddaughter was young
and well-favored of nature was Mrs.
Giltner's firm belief; that Veranda
would marry seemed to the old woman
q deplorable, but none the less iuevi-
table, circumstance of the future.
Veranda had never in her life had q
lover, yet there were chests full of bed
and table linen marked with her name
against the time she should need them
in her husbands household; she spent
her spare time in making lace that
was boarded away to deck her bridal
fnery. Perhaps it was because she
seemed youthful to herself by
comparison with her grandmoth.
er's eighty years that these
preparations never appeared futile
to her; her poor little womanly
instincts buiit a nest of hopes in the
green paper boxes where she kept he1
yards of rickrack and feather trim.
ming, and though she wrought from a
curiously blind impulse, it's mere pres.
ence made her happy, as it makes the
bird who weaves a nest when Hedging
time is past ..,-...a
SNOW eff I could live to hep you
raise your family, I'd feel different .
went on Mrs. Giltner, viewing the mat
ter from another standpoint; ''but
I'm gittin' old, Verandy; thar's cricl
in my back most O. the time, an I'm
awful, short winded; dun know but
whut my legs are some stiffer'n they
wuz last year; I'm failin' FAST 49,
Laws! no, you amt, gra'maw," ex-
postulated Veranda, very seriously.
She knew the old woman's complaints
of her health led by design to q forci-
BILE contradiction. ''Uncle Henry wuz
yere while you wuz cut, an he lowed
you wuz pearter-lo okin' this summer
N you'd been fer right SMART. -
Why, you never told me Henry wuz
yere!' cried Mrs. Giltner. =
II knowed I'd let it OUT" breathed
Veranda, in q whisper. Eyes, he wuz
yere. He he'd business down street,