The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-02-02
MOAT-GRANGE.
BY MRs. HENRY Woon
CHAPTER IX.-CoSrrSvEp.

AOuSHiy ICtOItcu bt NJ. ldiH Hht
", and you've said the reason why.
Ma'am. do you see them ruins? Doe:
they make you blush?"
II am very sorry to see them, Dyke. >
answered Mrs. Dalrymple. 1T is nc
fault of mine"
should be turned out of the poor roofs
that sheltered us? We paid our bit OF
rent, all on rs, not one was defaulter.
How would YOU like to be turned on,
Of your home, and told the poor-house
was afore You and a order for it, if you
liked to 20 there?"
Il can only say how v,ry sorry
am" returned Mrs. Dalrymple. much
distressed: as well as terrified. Il wish
could help You. l wish could put
you into better cottages tomorrow,
but am as poweriess as you are
will YOU tell him to do 1t? We are
coming up to ask him. Will you tel
him to come out and face us and look
1t them ruins, and then 60 and sec
our wives and babies budding in
barns, lent us out o charityp Tell him.
ma am, please. :"
Dyke moved away. and Mrs. Dali
rymple lost no time in speeding away
to the Grange. Reuben, when he had
seen her safe in, returned home.
Mr.. Dalrymple was in the oak par
lor, comfortless and cold-looking at
that season without fire, when his wife
entered. She threw herself into chair
and burst into tears.
.Y A.. r
BY the commons with Reuben. the men
were there. and
what menp" interrupted Mr.. Dali
rymple.
Those you elected from the cottages.
They were not insolent to me, but they
stopped me, and began to speak about
their wrongs"
''Their-nrongs-d you say?"
YES, and must say it, she firmly
answered, goaded by fright and excite
ment to demonstrate against the injus-
terfere with. .'Cruel wrongs. Oscar,
II you 60 on like this, depressing al
on the estate. you will be murdered as
sure as you live. They will not bear it. y
''Who will not bear it?'
Amy of them. hear that there is
. meeting at Lees tonight"
"Their chance of meeting on my es-
tate will soon be ended" calmly re-
sponded Oscar Dalrymple. '.They are
. set Of wretches. all; all in league
against me, and that determined me to
get rid Of them"
cit is your own fault that they are
against you. They never We're against
papa"
reply.
1T is cruel to the farmers to turn
them away, but it is doubly cruel to
these men to have forced them from
their cottages" continued Selma
''They paid their rents. Their wives
and children, poor creatures, are to
refuge in barns. The men said they
would tell you to go out and look at
them, budding there. / would not
have acted SO. If had not shilling in
the world, for l should expect judg-
ment to over axe me for my cruelty"
Mr.. Dalrymple wheeled round his
chair. and fixed his eyes on his wife.
.Whose cruel conduct has been the
cause of it?' he asked, in his cold
voice, ten times worse than another s
anger. who got into secret debt.
to the tune Of some six or seven thou.
sand pounds, and let the bills come in
TO me-"
She dropped her eyes then, for his
reproach was true.
"And forced me to retrench almost
to starvation. and grind down the ten
ants, to keep me from a prison? Was
it you or l, Mrs. Dalrymple?"
"But things need not have proceeded
to these extremes" she replied, hel
courage returning. Il am sure the
debts must be nearly liqnidated BY
now, and we ought not to have lived
In this niggardly way, and made the
Grange by-word in the county. The
management of the estate might hav,
gone on as it did in papa's lifetime
and no oppression or cruelty been ex.
ercised. It would only have taken Q
little longer period to clear US. No
Oscar, though l have never liked te
say so much, it is is your mean, grasp
ing spirit which has prompted. to this
not the debts. ! foresee that when you
are clear and in the enjoyment of your
full income. you will still be q crue
landlord. 1t is your nature
IF by exacting the last farthins
from all who rent under me, mean.
cruelty, yes he replied, land shall
never live otherwise than we are living
now, 50 don't let your hopes involve
you In disappointment. The world.
against rne, and Ill be against tn,
world. I'll snap my fingers at it, ane
show that despise 1t. -
He took up q book, and set himself
down to read, as he spoke. Mrs. Dial
Tymple fell into silence. She leaned
her head upon her hand. and though
what lamentable thing it was tina
he should be at the head of fine es
tate. What lies prospect was be
fore her. And yet, perhaps, few woult
be inclined to pity her, for her owl
reckless extravaganza, her deceit to
ward her husband, had led to it. Blu
for that, he might never have become
what he was.
Suddenly an even tramp of feet wa,
heard outside the house, and before i
had struck Selma what it might be. ant
given time to bolt and bar the doors
the malcontents of the common wer,
In the hall, their numbers considerabl,
swelled. 1t looked formidable inva
sion-was it murder they intended, o.
was it arson, u what was it not? Sc
lima in her terror flew to the top of tn
house, three stairs at time, and tn,
servant maid flew screeching after her
they both, with one accord, seized upol
. rope, and the great alarm-bel
doomed out from the Grange.
Up came the people from far ant
near; up came the fire-engines, the lat
ter feeling exceedingly aggrieved q
finding no tire; the farmers, disturbe,
In the midst of their pipes and ale
rushed up from Miss Lees; Mrs. Dial
rymple and Mrs. Lynn, followed b,
Reuben, also went; and, in short, every
body went.
The hall was a scene of contention
Oscar Dalrymple stood in the midst o
his undesirable visitors; he could no
get rid of them, and they would insis
upon being heard.
Poor old Reuben, grieved to tn