Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1889-08-03

months. | hey u place IN Jim Bankers
uucle's store-Nnd I'm goin' TO take
it"
She took out the top bar slow like
and patted Brindlc's head.
.'WhatN the old folks do?' she says
and then | knew partly why her eyes
made me uneasy. But | wouldn't W
to her kncw-a slip of a girl as had
never been to the city in her life and
didn't krow how Il horse car looked
spoke up loud and confident; "Oh,
they'll do all right, and besides, a
mans first duty is to himself Hos
got ter make jest as much outer him
self as he ken and I'm goin' to
begin"
! had heard that sentiment at n per-
litical meetin' and it had sounded first
rate, but somehow here in the fields
with them gray eyes lookin' at me, it
didn't seem to have the same ring,
''May be you're right, lsr'el, may be
you're right. | don't know much
about such things. But any way, |
wish you luck, au'-an'-all happi-
ness.'
With that she turned and hurried
up to the house alcavin' the COWS
starin' over the bars in a perfect mud
die o 'ma2emcnt. Dunn fool that
didn't see any thing in that, but !
didn't, | druv the COW homo myself
and then cut across the fields into the
village.
The next day | was in the city, n
free and Independent citizen, but
somehow it want half the satisfaction
| expected it SO he. Jim Bankers
unclc's store was n o them they sell
things at wholesale in, and my part o
the work was to tumble round bags
aud boxes and SIGH things. 1t want
exactly what I'd looked for from Jim's
account, and | didn't relish it,
As the weeks went by | came to rel
ish it even les. The men | worked
with was frcer and Independence in
their words than any thing else. Be
tween du-t and oaths ! was pretty
nigh ch0kcd to death. And the noise
at night was worse'n a Methodist re-
vival in full swing. ! couldn't dcadcn
it down under the b~cdclolhcs, cause
there WANT enough o them, and
couldn't Groan out against if, cause
the man in the next room throw things
at the wall if | did. Boardin' house
biscuits want even second cousins to
homemade biscuit. and bOardin' house
gir.s-wcll. | got over my notion that
all girls was Kcziahs in pretty short
time.
| begun to think there want SO
much room in cities as had imagined,
| como TO hey dreams o rock pastures
and naples and h%emlocks, and along
o them come Keziah's face, sweet and
still as it had looked that afternoon.
OWN to dust and not relishin' my
v%iltals, Il scratchy kind o cough fast
cncd onto me and some fever with it o
nights. was lonesome | tell We, and
finally | couldn't stand it no longer. ]
says to myself, "may be this is the
way Presidents begin, and may be if
kept on and this cough didn't kill me,
IA nA,,a 10 no nnn CANA 1pV lint III
be hanged if III take the chances-l'n
goin' homc!i
1t want much Of n "sec the cor
q%uerin' hero come fcolin' tibet | hcC
when | got out o the AIRS. didn't fee
nigh so big a3 | he'd planned to, whcl
| went away, but | kalkcrlatc the
President goin' TO his inaugu atiol
WANT no ~gladdcr'n | was to see then
old hills again, | was so glad
couldn't wait for no wagon to carr,
me. but struck out across the folds o.
foot. 1t was jest the %plcasantcst after
noon in September | ever see, Tn
trees had begun to turn gold AM
crimson, and the bees was GROWN
lazy, and the late flowers was smilil
%contentcd, and the clouds nestled OF
on the age o the fields rs if thor
want no better place in the Who'll
world.
| didn't mind the scraggly bushes
didn't care Il mite for the holes the
tore in my trousers. just took clea
satisfaction in stumblin' over ther
and the hummucks. The hills, toe
; was so easy | almost wished there wa
more of en- 1t seemed as if tn
smell o them hcmlocks down in on
pasture was different from all othe
kinds. and when | got to 'em ! slowe
I to drink it in.
I, | hedn't thought o Kcziah-som'
how ! wouldn't let myself, | had ha
u strange sort o setness against
! But now was comm lear where st
> lived and | couldn't hold back no NOR,
| begun to trcmblc and a dull sort
ache crept into my heart. | went
> the naples we'd stool under that da.
and looked at thu bus where | hu
. seen her last, derin' if I'd ev,
! stand there again with hcr-me a fc
; low that had started out SO loud an
ended up so limp.
!, 1t was mostsundown, and ! wondere
i, il she'd got the lows yet. Then as
= in answer to my question heard
soft tinklin' and saw her comm ov'
the edge O. the hill, lookin' like
picture I'd once seer in the city. liz
4 dres, caught against the bushes M
her tun-bonnet lay way back on h,
n head, and her hair straycd round h
:, face Ike fine, soft silk.
!. Lik, a flash it came over me, Il
reason | wouldn't think of her was b
y cause | loved her; because | was wi,
~ awake and knew that wanted h,
and her only of all the women of Il
4 world.
d | waited like one waits for the ben
d diction in church, and US ! watch'
the little figure maxim its way dow
IS the hill, it come TO me that 81
n was the one of us who was ''maki
the most of herself" She was u
brave one stayin' here IN the far
with the old folks; | was the cowa
d goin' off to the city. | took off n
(. hat and bowed my head. | couldl
" look up any more, and | was glad Il
IA clumn nf mnnlos hid mo from her.