Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1888-12-07
MARIAN'S VOW.

it was bri hit March morning, the
blue jays darting ia and cut of the
cedar-trees, the river rippling along
under the willows, whose branche, al
ready began to be vtilcd with soft,
green mist, anGf the floor OF Seth CALI
per's kitchon had the pattern of the
two smaIl-panod windows printed on
its surface ia type of sunshine, when
Marian came in from her morning task
Of hanging out the clothes.
Mrs. Calliper looked up from the po-
tatoes she was pairing for the noon din
ner
"why, Mariap,p said she, -
the mattcrs Got the toothachc again =
1T ism the toothache, mother" said
Marian, dcpositing tho clothes basket
on the floor with something of bang.
'Itf-evOry thingI'
Mrs. Callipors faded blue eyes
opened wide.
Child, what do you meanl' said
she.
Marian's lip quivercl. The vivid
role3 mounted to her cheeks.
Mother" said she, 'I've suspected
something all along, but sometimes
these things come over you suldcn-likc,
you know. And when l was hanging
out thu kitchen towels, behind the
smoke house wall, Squire Var derbrug-
gen drove by with man, and they sort
o Stacked up when they came opposite
our gate and tho squire pointed with
his whip-handlo and heard him say to
tie other one: That old place is all
going to ruin. Look at the chimney,
toppling over; look at the gates, hang
ing on one hinge; look at the shingles,
Iotting on the roof; and the stono wall
tumbing down. Thing, can't go on that
way long. 1t Il be in the market press
emily and I'll buy it in. But twenty
years ago, say he, mother, S tn Cal
hper W the smartest man aad the best
farmer going. But h. woa a hun lred
dollar lriz. in the lottery, aad that un-
settled him. Every cent he made after
that went into the gift enterprise.
Nothing prospercd with HIM. Al he
could sell, he sold, ald all he could
mortgage, he mortgaged, until finally
lis brain gave W ~ and"
"Hu,h, Marian said Mrs. C4lliper,
with a quick glance at the room be-
yond, where a prcmaturelY white haired
man sat rocking aimlcssly to and fro,
with a. u read new papcr ia his lap.
Hes deaf, Lut sometimes ho hears
hings when we least expect it,"
mother, Is it truel You We kept m.
at Aunt Alma's until the elder girls
wero married. l know scarcely any
thing of what has happened at home l
it true, mother2
Mrs. Caiper burst into tears.
Yes, child, its true, she admitted.
"Wo are very poor; we can't keep "
the interest on the old mort cage; ano
how can folks blame us when the sea
son for summer boarders was so bad ant
poor father emit do a stroke O. work t.
help u,l
"And yet Louisa and Phebe married
and left you and father to bear all thi
alone!'
'Its human natur', child. VIVA
else can you expect"
Marian was silent a moment or two
then she spoke with choked voice.
81 won't so and leave you, mother =
said she, giving Mrs. Callipor such
hug that the good soul dropped he
potato knifo into the parings. 'G'I
never marry any one until the mortgag
is p id up, and the fences built ovyl
I and the roof re-shingled, and the oil
place made to LOOK like itself again
/ No, not if the President himself cam
j. TO ask m r
Mrs. CAlliper smiled through he
tears.
You are excited, dear" said she
"You don't mean what you say"
''Yes, dor persisted Marian.
mean it'll Are the calicoes read!
motherl It's a pity to miss even a