Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1889-12-27
A NEBRASKA IDIL.
The Story of "A New Years Conspiracy in
the Town of Bubble.
BY Kate NJ. Cleary.

BY Kate NJ. Cleary.
Bubble was booming and it was the
eve of the New Year in Bubble The
certainty OF the former accenttlated the
pleasure of the latter fact. Crops had
been good, and the past week of fes-
tivitics had demonstrated that it had
been year of abundance and therefore
OF comparative content. So the farm
ers who logged i'll on or jOlted behind
their hcavy-hoofed horses admitted the
leading statement with supremely
satisfied conviction that other towns
were not booming rs was Bubble and
an absolute Indifference TO the proba-
bility of its being New Years Eve else
where. \ delicious day it was, too.
although not the typical winter one
which imagination invariably asso-
ciates with New Years day. There
was no snow; the air was crisp. keen.
in its frosty sweetness eNhilaratinr as
wine; by SKY of subdued Vet intense
blue was the billowing prairie domed
and bounded; against that serene and
perfect back ground fields of ritfed but
unrivcn corn flung out their tattered.
tawny banners: the winding. brownish
roads rang like steel To- every passing
sound along those dcsolate country
ways the sumac shrank in blasted
beauty. and skeleton suniiOwcrs reared
aloft the bare. brown hearts fl>m
which had fallen long aro the disks of
gold. But the old man. who mounted
on the front seat of ponderous. creak-
ing farm wagon. drove over the hill
and down the one new. ugly. bustlino
IL. ii.
barter and the commercial enterprise
Of Bubble. thought not at all of his sur
roundings, not even of the day. He
did not stop at either general store. at
the tiushop. the saloon. or the drug
store. With an occasional nod to
familiar faces he steered his team
straight down the street. past the pre-
tentious hotel, the gaping livery barn.
the big, bleak lumber-yard and drew
up beside the platform of the railroad
depot.
''Whoa-ah. thar! Train most due,
Tom? Hope It's. Olive n sort of a
niece aboard-me cousin Moike's child.
Did We know that?"
The station agents assistant smiled
hack at him. Did he know that? Who
did not know that old Rafferty, had
some months ago sent money to Ire
land To bring out Young relative of
his. A queer character, old Rafferty,.
Seventeen years of his life had been
passed as sailor. He claimed to be one
of the survivors of the battle between
the Mcrrimac and the Cumberland.
and that il was he who fired the last
shot on board the latter vessel. when
il. with colors still bravely flying. sunk
beneath the waves. Dearly did he love
to tell Of the affair. particularly of the
part that concerned himself. of the
three hours spent under the water be-
fore rescue was effect. At the close of
the war he took up "a claim in Ne
hraska. and by slow degrees, in loneli-
ness and pri,ation, had accumulated
not II little wealth. Out of pcriious-
ness he had seen peace come. \ friend
ly and familiar figure was he TO all.
Somehow people always smiled IT old
Rafferty, cordially. too. There was
eomical kind OF fascination in the face
visible between the shabby felt hat and
the huge comforter" of purple, red.
and yellow yarn-a shrewd sallow old
face with grizzled beard. bushy brows,
and youthfully alert, bright eyes. Then
his accent was delightful. his own
broad and hearty brogue being flavor
ed with Western infections wholly for
eign Ia it.
On time, sir.
A whistle another. A puff of smoke;
q distant roar; vibration of the rails;
u shrek of steam; a glare of light
then the train was laundering up-had
paused. painting. snorting, .iisgorging.
A girl stepped out aud down on the
platform.