St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-08
now rearing.


yard gifts green agin L won't be hyere
to see 'em," he said one day in Febru-
airy, the strain of weakly sentiment in
his withered old form giving him a
kind of pleasure in the thought. "I'll
be sleepin' calm an still by the time
robins gifts hyere. / may ez we'll 60
1 amt skesly ever able to git to work
no more, an sence you've takin' in
sewin' I've noticed tibet yeh hewitt
treated me like yeh ulster to, Ellen"
He looked to see how his wife was
touched by this remark, but she went
out of the rsom so hastily that he was
unable to judge of her feelings. She
hurried into the back yard, and sat
down on a washbench behind the
woodshed, her apron thrown over heI
head, her whole bony frame shaking
with emotion.
"He's goin' to die-oh, 1 know he's
fixin' to die!" she groaned. can yit
thar's nothing the matter 18th him,
'cept jest low sperits an a tech of
agyer. He needs strengthenin' things
to eat, sOmethin' tasty, an we're most
out of ev'rything in the way of eatin.
Adkins wouldn't hyear to me borrow
in nothin,' an | can't seem to git no
more sewin1. Oh, l wish I'd never
ben born, eff 'twuz on'y to lose Adkins!
AM me bad frien's 18th all the kin got
in the world ~
She lowered her apron after while,
and stared unseeingly into the clear
sky, against which the stark trees lift
ed their empty hands fat fir tree
near by her blotted up all the shadows
of the landscape, and crouched close
to the ground as if soggy with gloom.
Ellen regarded it with a shiver of hor
ror. "Them evergreens alwuz did put
me in mind of grave-yards an fnn'ruls
an sech like. hate 'em on the face o.
the yearth."
Just then movement in the lower
branches caught her eye; white hen
was coming out from the dim region
below the tree, the cackle of triumph
that strained her neck seeming to pro-
.ject her along by sheer force of elias
ITCHY.
"Thet's one o. Liza AIMS hens,
thought Ellen 81 shouldn't wonder eff
thar wuz an egg onder the tree" She
gazed at the dusky pyramid as if fas-
cinated. OTIS in my yard" she
thought again. eggs are awful high
yit. 1t nd do Adkins heap O. good,
sof' Billed"
She gasped in a choking way at the
guilty purpose that was forming in her
mind then she remembered her hus-
bands reference to his grave, and was
decided. She stepped forward, and
went down on her knees beside the
tree. A thick mass of piny needles
covered the ground underneath, and
Il r1r ho1 To-
was some little time before she reached
wind caused a sharp branch to smite
her harshly on the cheek, as if with an
accusing finger again some of the res
inous twigs dragged at her sleeve like
hands stretched up from the lower
world to pluck her down. She started
back, but finally grew firmer, and laid
hold of the egg. Then she futtered
toward the house with nervous I'M
certain motion, as if blown by the con
fict of her thoughts.
Adkins ate the egg with something
like a relish. 81 kind o enjoyed my
dinner today" he admitted in rather a
surprised tone. "Mebby eff yeh'd try
to git me up somethin' sorter tasty a
little oftener it wouldn't do me no
hurt. l reckon it's better fer all hands,
though, fer me to jest fade away 18th
the winter, kind o. like a snowflake
meltin' in the sun; it's best shud CO."
Ellen did not reply, but there was a
curious sternness about her purplish
lips.
'I'm glad I stole it," she thought,
with n distinct notion. that her soul
was now irrevocably signed over to
perdition. OFF he enjoyed it one
smitch, Pm glad Pm thief; 1 AMI
am"
The next day she stole out to look
under the tree; the egg she saw shin
ing whitley in the understanding
shadow looked to her as mama must
have looked to the starving Israel
ties. She took it with less trepidation
this time, so easy are the descents.
"The gates to the Bad Place hev
mighty smoof hinges" she thought,
grimly. "Ole HoOf-7n' Horns keeps
'em lied slick"
Adkins never asked where his wife
got the fresh eggs he ate daily. If
there was any remote idea of their I'm
holy procurement in his mind, it did
not trouble his digestion at all. In
fact he seemed to gain health in a slow
kind of way, his returning bodily
strength marked by growing mental
caprices, in trucking to which Ellen
began to lose her own wiry vigor.
Long lines commenced creasing the
wax-like texture of her face, and dull
brownish crescents hung themselves
under her eyes like the sickly haze
that encircles storm touched moon.
Sleepless nights paid costly tribute to
her troubled days; but she never spoke
of these; so long as Adkins peaceful
snOre indicated the restrictive condi-
ton of his mind and body, she was
we'll content to lie by the hour watch
ing the darkness rush about her as if
it were full of seething atoms. Some
waxed intolerable to her; and it was
in one of these moments that she got
up and went out in the kitchen to sit
by window that fronted east.
1t was still dark, though the smoky
dusk of the sky had faint suggestions
of gray in it, as if daylight hung far up
behind the lower vapors. After a lit
tie the waning night took on sort of
dim transparency, in which objects
were plainly visible. AS Ellen sat
looking toward the east, with the hope
that it would soon tighten for dawn,
her eyes caught a movement in the
yard which held them strained with
fear. She knew presently that fig
ure was crossing the garden, and al
most at one with this PERCEPTION came
the knowledge that it was the sturdily
built form of Liza Ann.
Over the dark stretch of grass the
figure went, on toward the looming
blackness of the single fir, beside which
it stopped with a wooden stiffness, as