The Red Cloud chief., 1888-02-17
mes. heretofore necessarily delayed till he

ness heretofore necessarily delayed till he
reached the farm at evaning.
After the telephone was put in at John
| Kings, Miss SoDhronia found il: q great
| so,ace to her loneliness, nightly enjoying
| the few moments Of daily gossip with her
friends in the village who happened to be
| possessed of an instrument. In fact, it
| was to her like q new toy to a solitary
child, and when the line was extended to
Millers' Mills, and she learned their call,
| she used her listener for h unworthy
| purpose Of listening to her ~neighbors' Al
fairs.
/ own that this was neither an honest
nor an honorable proceeding on Sophro-
MAS part. / do not mean to apologize Tor
il, but, as the papers say, there were "ex-
tenuating circumstances" She had never
been taught honor. 1t was not q recog-
nized virtue in the farmhouse where sue
was brought up. People who wrest their
daily living from the b~arrcnness OF our
gaunt New England hill.sides do not study
the loftier trait Of manhood when they
have done their days work; and as Tor
honorable instinct, every maj will allow
thai is not inherent in . woman.
XuCu BIC WAS very AOAACAy = Ouu sN
Johns gray horses were hItched every day
in front of Mrs. Carter's house she saw less
than ever not only Of John, but OF the hired
man, Hiram, who had double duty to do in
the masters absence, and went from his
supper to his bed quite too tired to talk.
There was q certain social consolation
on Mondays when black Diuah came to
| wash; but even Dinah had little to tell.
since her Did shanty was nestled down in q
warm hollow on the south side Of Huckle.
berry Hill, quite OF the high road. Yet
she was some one to speak to; an item not
to be disregarded in such solitude.
1t is not, after all. very strange that Miss
Sophronia, limited to FIVE minutes conver-
sation with the few friends in Stanton who
had telephones, should amuse Earse.f Oy
hearing the conversations OF the " MIL
lers. the growls OF Aaron, the snar,s OF Jo-
seph, and now and then the shrill interrO-
cations Of Lyddy Ann Granger, the objec-
tionable housekeeper.
Shocked reader! did you ever live in the
deep country on an isolated farm:
Il not, YOU do not know what silence and
solitude are. Imagine q clean, sparsely
furnished house. where the ticking Of the
old Clock rasps your ear like a continuous
knell, where not one fly is allowed to buzz
his assiduous life out on the sunny panes;
where the very cocks and c are abroad
all day in the far fields, and the dog lies
asleep just inside tie barn door; where the
air is still as 8. MINDLESS lake, and the
chirr of a suddenly reused cricket makes
YOU Jump: or the swift, ambiguous scurry
of q mouse somewhere in wall or wainscot
seems like the rush Of a troop OF horse to
the strained and ~apprehenSive sense: n
the rustic Of your WI garments sounds
like the trailing of ghOstly robes to the
tense car: the shadow of u waving bough
s~tartleS the alert eve. and the roll OF o pass
ing wa On, the rush OF fluttering swallows
in the chimney, sound like peals OF thunder.
and cons.ringc the heart with that elemcn-
tai dread.
Yes: this telephone was G real social Cos
pei to Sophronia, shivcring and trembling
in her nervous loneliness; il she had been
reared in such u place. use and want per-
haps, would nave strengthened her against
its terrorS, but until Johns mother died
she had always lived in her brothers fam
ily, and in his great house where ten chill.
dren and a busting wife made noise enough
through the round year to brighten the
very ghosts ont Of the garrett. or the mice
out Of the wall, and where the ~ncighbors
were abundant and much given to visiting.
ScphrOnia had never been conscious OF
nerves: nor did she know these terrorS
now as the result of nerves; h only con-
fiLed to Hiram rs she dealt out to him the
boiled dinner which he shoveled down in
grim silence after the fashion Of his KIND:
II do set q sigh. bv that telephone thing:
it's real company. l hev been gettin' real
pernickity along back. 1t IS so dreadful
lonesome here; put now ! do sense that
the is people pretty nigh, seein' l can call
to 'cm; it's folksy to hear that little bell
90, ping. every 10Y and then as though
somebody was there. Dinah, she is Almost
scared to death with it; she says it IS ike
hearin' of q spcrit talk; same as job says
in Scrip:er, when the hair OF his head
stood up and he heard q voice. But then
he see the sperit first, and that IS more
fearsome. Dinah won't bark to 1t noway.
can tell who IT'S every time. My! can
hear Aaron Miller snap, just as plain! and
Lyddy Granger bawl!"
BEN a.talkin' to 'em, hcv yet" CURLY
asked Hiram.
mo. 1 haven't! and I amt agoin' to-"
responded Sophronia, sharply; but they
spend the hull o. their time a-gabbin to and
fro. shouldn't thinx there'd be no grist
ground, never, to that mill. can't take
the horn down to speak to nobody but what
they've got hold o. the wire first, and l
can't help a-hearin' Of EN- holler."
Hiram shot n keen glance ut her from
under his busy. grizzled eyebrows: he had
long ago taken her measure, and he knew
yery well now how she had been amusing
herself; but as he always said OF himself
that he s.was one who made a fortin' mind
in his own, business" ne offered no re-
marks.
Shortly after this conversation John
King went away from home to attend .
sale OF cattle IN New Jersey: he expected
to be gone a week. as he meant to drive
home what animals he bought himself,
rather than send them by boat or railway,
which he considered was too great . risk.
The day he left a severe northeast storm
act in. and Hiram set himself to DO some
work in the further barn, which he had
kept to Go in a ..spell Of weather." so that
Miss Sophronia had not even the relief OF
his occasional appearance in kitchen or
shed to beguiIe her solitude, her knitting
had stopped for want Of arm. and she had
..pieccd up' the lest hi: Of calico she could
find.
As she sat in the dull light OF the kitchen
window, listening to the heavy rush OF
rain AGAINST the house and the wild moan