Richland beacon., 1888-11-17
CHAPTER III.
E'AIl CARTEL.

Ii va, in the flush ana glow OF goc
gcoaS sunset Ina, you nigh. have seen the
dark form of the P:tkin farm house risin.
OIL Il green hill against the orange sky.
The red house, wit its oyerhangine
canOpy o; elm, God out like an old missai
picture done OF q ell ground.
Through the elimmer of the yellow twi-
light might he seen thes acks OF dry corn-
stalss and heaps o golden pumpkins in
the neighh ring lie dS from which the
slow oxen were bringing home a cart well
laden with farm pro .uce.
1t was the hour before sap; er-t me, and
Biah Carter, the deacOn'S hired man. was
leaning against fence. waiting for his
evening meal, indulgiag the while N A
stream OF conversational wisdom which
seem al to Ow all The more freely from
la ing been damned up through the labOrs
of the day.
Bah was, in those far di>tant time; OF
simplicity, mute. inglOrious" new,pa
per man. Newspapers III those days were
as rare an uaheard of as steam cars or the
te egraph, but Diah had within him all the
making Of thriving modern reporter,
and no Taper To Il it on. He was q
walking Biographical AMI statistical die
tionary of all the affairs of the good folks
at Mapieiol. He knew every piece Of
furnit re IT, their houses, an what they
gave for il; ever foot of land an what
IL was worth; every oI. ass and sheep:
every man, woman and child in town. And
all coul give pretty good arac,er
pictures also ali whoever wanted to in.
form himself Of the status q. any person
CT thing in Mapleton woUll have done well
t. have tuTno The faucet f Bah stream
of tax, and watched it respectfully as it
came, for IL wa commonly conceded that
what Eiah Carter didn't know about
Mapleton was hardly worth knowing.
''i'utt piece o. prope ty this ere far ~
he said, surveying TIE s:ene around him
with The air of a cOnnOisseur. "NOne o.
yer stun pasur lands where the sheep
can't get their noses down through the
rO,ks W thout file to sharpen 'cm. Dea-
con litGin did putty fair stroke o. bus
mess when he swapp, d o his old place
for this ere. That are old place was all
swamp land and stan pa.tIr; want good
for IA sin nothin' bat niper bushes and
bull frogs. But | Eel! yea" proceeded
Biah. with shrewd wink. that ar mort
gage pinches the deacon; works him like
a desc OF n Ces and picry, it dos. lea
con fairly gets lean ont
Why" 81 d Abner jerks, stolid
pillow boy. whom tbs stream of remark
was ad lressed; this ERE place amt
mortgas led, is it? | u tell, naOwr'
why, yis; d MT ye know tat are?
Why, there's risin' two thousand dollars
due on this ere farm, and if the deacon
don scratch for it ana pay up sluar to the
mint old ) ,uire OccrOssl foreclOse on
him. It'd squire hain't 10 bowels, / tell
yea, and the deacon knows he hahn t: and
j tell you it keeps the deac, n dancin'
lively as corn Oh hot shovel"
1.-The deacon $ master hand to work."
said Abner; SOS the boys
'Wal. yis, the deacon is" said Bah,
turning contempatively to the farm
house. There ain a ttur in that are
house tina there ain t the most work got
out of 'em that ken be, down to Jed and
Sam, the little uns. They work like
t gers every soul of EN- from four O'Clock
In the morn n as long as they can see,
and Mis- Pitkin, she works all the even
ing-wonan' S work amt never done, they
say
shes good woman, Mis- Pitkin is
said Abner, land she's smart worker"
In this phrase Abner soiemnly express
ed his highes ideal of a human being.
Smart amt no word for I" said Bah
with alertness, ''reclar tor t, the grit o.
that are woman beats me. Had eight
children ri-ht along in string th0ut
stoppin' done all her own work, never
KEEP no gal nor not in; al ers up and
dressed; alters 10 meetin Sunday, and to
the prayer-mce.in weekly, and never
stops wor.iin: when tain I one thing it's
another, ,0okin' washin' ir min. making
butter and cheese and tween spells
cuttin' aud sewin'. aud IL che amt
doin that, why, she's braidin' straw to
sell 70. the store o. knitting-shet the
perpetual nos,oa ready soand, MIS- rttkia
Ia