The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-10-18

NAii.-1CNIiNGED
30 1t was decided to sell the calves
and buy the lumber for an addition to
the shsnsy, aud the next day John Par
sons took them over to Mr.. Meeker and
got the money for them.
On the way homo he stopped at au-
other neighbours and borrowed heavy
wagon. and the day following started
70 town bright and early with III. letter
to Erastus still carefully concealed in
his inside pocket
'.Bet ,hat'll fetch him home on
run" he unused as he dropped it into
the Office at the landing Just in time to
have it get into the mail bag Is it was
being got ready for the down boat.
stffe'll be here in week eff that Letter
goes straight, er else he amt a. good
Ut takin' hint as think he is
Mrs. Parsons noticed that her hus-
band was unusually jolly that night
when he returned home, and all the
next day and the days that followed
after it.
He had always tried to appear cheer
full in the presence Of bis family, and
had never failed to respond to any ef-
fort OF Jchnnys to get up . laugh.
though il OF en- caused him an effort to
do SO; but on this particular evening,
although it was late and he must have
been tired, he really felt jolly. and he
joked Lucy about one of the clerks at
the store. where she and her mother
had traded when in town, ard also
about a neighbor's Nn, who had shown
y disposition 10 seek her society. but
who, no. receiving any encouragement.
had decided that she vas stuck up"
and 80 informed the other young peo-
pie Of his aclua ntance.
The letter was three DAYS in reaching
is destination, aud then lay in the
post-otfice several days more before
being called for.
Erastus had no correspondents other
than tho members of Mr.. Parsons
family; and IS there had been little that
was pleasant to write about On ether
side, letters had not been FIRE luent be-
tween them OF late and the young man
seldom went to the post o flee.
One day as he was working with
several of his neighbors upon ditch
which was to be the means of irrigating
their claims, another neighbor, who
had been to town, rode up and. stop
ping his horse, called out:
Here, Hemingway, here's . letter
for YOU"
Erastus was in his shirt sleeves in the
ditch, shoveiing, and the horseman
leaned from his saddle and handed him
the letter.
If that's from your girl, she don't
write . very purity hand" he said, with
wink at the other ditehers. who had
stopped work and stood leaning on
their spades.
CHANGING at the superscrjption. Eras-
1us saw that it was in q strange hand
The post mark. however, proclaimed il
to be from Phippsburg. and his first
thought was that something terrible
had again happened to Unc,e John and
his family-that they were all dead,
may be, and a stranger had written to
inform him.
Hastily tearing off the envelope, he
looked at the signature and saw the
name, John Parsons" in stilf, awk-
ward letters. st the bottom of the page,
and It flashed over him that Lucy was
married and that Uncle John had writ
ten to tell him of it because no one else
liked to 10 SO, and tho blood rushed to
his heolt, which beat so that it seemed
his companions must hear it.
Bat no; the letter said: Lucy and
her mother had gone to town"
Then she was not married yet The
blood began to return to its proper
channels.
Lucy has given Annelsey bis walkin'
papers"
Could it be possible that she was not
going to marry the New Yorker after
al.
And if not what then?
The letter seemed plain enough to be
understood without possibility of mis-
take, yet he read it the second tine be-
fore its full import came to him, aud
then the blood rushed 10 his heart even
more violently than lcfarc.
"Lucy might be his yet--that is what
Uncle John meant" he said to him
self. IF she had not loved some one
else better she would not have dis
missed Annelsey.' And "she did not
encourage any of the young men
there that was what the letter said,
and it said he was to come at once.
He had climbed out of the ditch and
was brush ny the dirt from his overa,ls
with his hands.
Mr. Johnson" be said, addressing
the neighbor with whom he boarded,
Twill you let me have your roam horse
for couple of weeks and use my colts
while I'm gone? I'm going home and
want to make the trip as quickly as
possible, aud neither of the colts can
stand hard jaunt under the saddle
very well I'll take good care of the
roam and promise not to hurt him. II
do you ma, take your choice of the
colts to pay the damage
"What's up?"
"Folks s;ck?'
why don't you 60 to Frisco and
take the steamer?' came from one and
another of the crowd.
Tho fact is" replied Erastus. with
his usual straightforward honesty, II
have not got money enough. You fel-
lows know how it Is yourselves. Money
don't grow on these sand ridges until