Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-02-08

moss heretofore necessarily delayed till he
reached the farmiat evening. SIS SIS
After the telephone was put in at John
Kings, Miss Sophronia found 1t great
solace 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 . new toy to q solitary
child, and when the lineswas extended to
Millers' Mills, and she learned their call,
she used her listener for the unworthy
purpose Of listening to her neighbours ai.
fairs.
I ] own that this was neither an honest
nor an honorable proceeding on >Sophro-
MAS part. do not mean to apologize for
it, but, as the papers gay, there were .'ex.
tenuating circnmstances." She had never
been taught honor. It was not recog-
nized virtue In the farm house where she
was brought up. People who wrest their
daily living from the barrenness of our
gaunt New England hill-sides do not study
the loftier trait Of manhood when they
have done their days work; and as for
honorable instinct, every man will allow
| that is not inherent in . woman.
Then she was very lonely; and now that
| 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, aud went from his
supper to his bed quite too tired to talk. g
i There was q certain social consolation
! on Mondays when black Dinah came to
wash; but even Dinah had little to tell,
since her old sh0nty was nestled down In q
| warm hollow on the south side of Huckle.
| berry Hill, quito 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 CONVEX
sation with the few friends in Stanton who
had telephones, should amuse herself ,by
hearing the conversations OF the two Mil
lers. the growls Of Aaron, the snarls of Jo-
seph, and now and then the shrill inferno.
cations of Lyddy Ann Granger, the objec-
tiOnable housekeeper. 81
Shocked reader! did you ever live in the
deep country on an isolated farm?
|, If 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 continuous
knell, where not one fly is allowed to buzz
u'o dSSluuOuS 1lA0 Oub Ou Lut1 SuuUy pUn0S,
where the very cocks and hens are abroad
all day in the far fields, and the dog lies
asleep just inside tho barn door; where the
Dir is still as q MINDLESS lake, and the
chirr of suddenly reused cricket makes
you jump; or the swift, ambiguous scurry
of a mouse somewhere in wall or wainscot
seems like the rush Of troop OF horse to
The strained and apprehensive sense; and
the rustic of your own garments sounds
like the trailing Of ghostly robes to the
tense ear; the shadow OF waving bough
startles the alerteye. and the roll of pass
ing wagon, the rush OF futtering swallows
inthe chimney, sound like peals Of thunder,
and constringe the heart with that e!emen-
tai dread. <-@- rs g. : .-e
Yes; this telephone was a real social Cos
pei to Sophronia, shiveriug and trembling
in her nervous loneliness; if she had been
reared in such a place, use aud want per-
haps, would have strengthened her against
it's terrors, but until Johns mother died
she had always lived in her brothers. fam
lily, 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 out of the garnet, or the mice
out of the wall, and where the neigh bors
were abundant and much given to visiting,
OOpnIOultt NdOS u0VcI Dccu COuSClOuS VI
nerves; nor did she know these terrors
now as the result of nerves; she only cor
tided to Hiram as she dealt out to him The
boiled dinner which he shoveled down III
grim silence after the fashion of his kind:
II do set sight by that telephone thing;
it's real company. hev been gettin' real
pernickity along back, it is so dreadful
lonesome here; but now I do sense that
the is people pretty nigh, seein' I can CAL
to 'em; it's follxsy to hear that little bell
60, 'pingr every now and then as though
somebody was there. 'Dinah, she is almost
scared to death with it; she says it is like
hearin' of sperit talk; same as Job says
in Scrip. err, when the hair of his head
stood up and he theard voice. But then
he see the sperit first, and that is more
fearsome. Dinah won't bark to it noway.
l can tell who tits every time. Myl can
hear Aaron Miller snap, just as plant and
Lyddy Granger bawlp' ~.
BIN a.talkin' to 'em, hev yea" CURLY
asked Hiram. ,.*
mo. haven't and amt agoin' to-"
responded SOphronia, sharply; "but they
spend the hull o. their time a-gabbin to and
fro. shouldn't think 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
can't help a-hearin' Of 'em holler."
Hiram shot a keen glance a. her from
under his busy, grizzled eyebrows: he had
long ago taken her measure, and he knew
very we'll now how she had been amusing
herself; but as he always said Of himself
that he ''was one who made a fortin' mind
In his own business, he offered no re-
marks. =. .,.. IL l..
Shortly after this conversation John
King went away from home to attend
sale OF, cattle IN New Jersey; he expected
to be gone 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 q risk.
The day he left q severe northeast storm.
set in, and Hiram set himself to do some
work in the further barn, which he had
kept to do In ''spell Of weather." so that
Miss SOphronia had not even the relief of
his occasional appearance In kitchen or
shed to beguile her solitude, her knitting
had stopped for want of yarn, and she had
''pieced up" the last bit Of calico she could
find. ~ ~ = 'ss2fs q
As she snt in the dull light Of the kitchen
window, listening 70 the heavy rush Of
<Irn mud mil