Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-06-28

You please
'sOf course Johanna II have to go
with me-
Gideon gave little start and opened
his mouth suddenly, but closed it with
out speaking, while his face flushed
scarlet, as Miss Electa noted, and her
! voice was less harsh as she said, ffOf
course she'll have to 90 with me; you
never In the world could do for her; but
/ amt going to say she shan't come TO
see you often, though / never expect to
bother you none myself.
'sAll right, 'Lecty.'' replied Gideon,
for the third time. SEQ ahead. an do
as ye please, and he ne took the axe
he had been sharpening on the grind
stone behind the barn and walked away.
while his sister went back to the house,
her bps quivering little, and her head
ess erect and defiantly than when she
came out.
Johanna was the only child of the
brother Ehhu, who had died ten years
before. Her mother had died when JO-
hanna was born, and in the eleven years
that had elapsed since that sorOwful
day, Johanna had become very dear to
Uncle Gideon and Aunt Electa.
Gideon hardly dared think what the
house would be like without Johanna,
and Miss Electa did not fully realize how
cruel she was in taking the little girl
away.
She thought more about it the first
night she and Johanna spent in their
new home. The child's questions trOu-
bled her aunt. She and Gideon had
been wise and kind enough not to quar-
rel before Johanna, and the child could
not understand what had caused the
change In her uncle and aunt's af-
fairs. It gave Miss Electa something of
a shock, when Johanna said as night
came on.
There won't be anybody to get IN
there, Aunt 'Lecty? Don't you s'pOse
he misses his little Joey dreadful? And
what's he going to do without his sup
per 90
He's got it himself many time when
I've been down with my rheumatic, an
I reckon he won't starve now, replied
Miss Electa.
'sBut I always helped him, said johann
ma. ''YOu know you said he mussed
things up so if didn't help"
Although it was hers no longer, a Wis
ion of the probable unused up'' cOndi-
ton of things in the house she had left
so tidy troubled Miss Electa greatly.
There was a lump in her throat, as she
said to herself while she made her own
kitchen tidy;
Things won't be fit to be seen in the
old house in two days. A mans as much
out of place in kitchen as a bull in a
chany store There if I didn't come
away and forget to leave any dish rags
out. He'll use a corner of the table-clOth
or one of the best towels like as not,
/ And I don't s'pOse he'll sweep under
4ho bod OvOa a month o7,I the M limo NO
/ IL get sour, and his bed IL never be air
/ ed, and-I wish that roam colt was in
! Guinea %
She rocked vigorously to and fro in her
creahng little rocking chair, and dashed
away a tear or two as she took down her
/ scanty, irOn-gray hair, and began get
/ ting ready for bed.
The little house that Miss Eilecta now
lived in was on a strip Of meadow land
close to a narrow, shallow river, while
/ Gideon s house stood on little hill nearly
a mile distant. The houses were in plain
sight of each other, and the occupants
of each looked toward the other many
times every day, and always with more
or less longing for the peaceful days that
were gone. Each, however, was too
stubborn to make an advance toward a
reconciliation, and the breach between
them seemed growing as the days wore
on.
They had not met since the day Miss
Fiecta had left the old home; but they
heard often of each other, for Johanna
had worn path across the meadow, and
by the roadside between the two houses.
She went up to see Uncle Gideon every
day and often twice a day. He was
''shifting for himself" now, to Miss
Electa's distress and dissatisfaction.
Ah0A - h01I
a hOusekeeper right of, !, she said to
herself. ''Things mnst be in purity
clutter up there"
The reports Johanna brought back
strengthened this conviction.
sob, aunty, said Johanna, one day,
''Uncle Gideon amt a bit nice house
keeper. Why don't you go and clean
things up for HING just think, he only
washes the dishes bout once a week,
and then he washes them in the big
wooden bread bowl.
''O-O-O-h my!" exclaimed Miss Peak.
''And just think, he put crackers on
the table right in the bag, and mOlasses
in the Jug, and he had fried potatoes the
other day in the big glass preserve dish
you kept for company, and to-day he
wiped the dishes on the table-clOth, and
the table-cloth was one Of your linen
sheets!"
Don't tell me any more, or I shall
go raving crazyl'' cried Miss Peak.
Uncle Gideon was also sOlicitOus
about his sisters comfort.
Chow does your Aunt 'Lecty git
along?" he often asked of Johanna.
'rWho splits her wood for her and gifts
the kindlin So
, sob, she splits most of it herself, and
picks up a good deal of drift-wOod down
| on the river bank.
ssHumphi'' said Uncle Gideon. s'Sheu
bring on her rheumatic if she goes tC
traipsin' round on that river bottom.
Does she milk the old COW herself?
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