The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-16
BLUEBERRIES.

Debbie and were standing on Sunset
Rock watching forest fire on the side of
old Shaunagunk. Debbie was crying.
A great tree she had been very fond of
had burst into red blaze, changed to pink
ashes, and dropped out of sight as we
gazed.
II cannot bear to see it," she said, hid
ing her face on my shoulder.
''No matter, Debbie," I said. "There'll
be plenty of blueberries next summer.
You know there always are the year after
these fires, and I'm as famous for eating
blueberry pie as you are for making it"
But Debbie would not laugh.
"There are always blueberries enough, "
she said. "But I loved that tree-the
tree we sat under when"
''When I asked you TO be my wife, u
said I. "And you said yes, otherwise
should not have made that remark about
blueberry pies"
But liked the tree, too, for all that.
Debbie took things OF that sort very
hard. She could not bear to see the
flowers fade in autumn, or the grass
grow brown. She often said that she be-
lieved the green things growing had
souls.
She had been just like that ever since
she was haby, when she petted every
thing in the place. The calves, the
lambs, the little piglets, even the old
black hog in his sty came in for a share
of her favor, though he was the most un-
lovable creature alive. And I remember
that one Thanksgiving Day-the turkey
that graced the feast had been herspecial
favorite-she absented herself from
table, and was found, after long search
and much alarm, hiding in the garret.
~ can't touch hum, MOTHER" she con-
fessed. II can't. We have been too
friendly" =,
"An odd child" the farmers wives
declared, and thanked Heaven their own
had more plain common sense and less
imagination. But even then, to my fan
cy, Deb5ie Doane was the sweetest, pref
tiest creature alive. A slender, blue
eyed, fair-haired wisp of child, as light
on her feet as any bird. She knew all
the birds in the wood, it seemed to me,
and where they nested, and never dared
touch one. I had boys natural brutal
ity, of course, but for Debbie's sake
kept it under, until it died natural
death with manhood, for we lived in that
pleasant place among the mountains
De5bie and Until she was eighteen,
and one-and-twenty.
Our parents were friends, and I was an
only child, while Debbie's little brothers
there were two or three of them, be-
Eeve-had passed away when they were
babies. Our liking for each other pleased
our mothers, and when one day I began
to know that did not love Debbie as a
sister, I was sure that no one would dis
approve; and up there under the tree we
had Just seen drop, we kissed each other
for the first time as lovers kiss, and said
those things to each other which only
lovers say.
And so had come to thinking of hel
as my future wife, and talking about hel
making blueberry pie for me.
But long before the blueberries sprane
up over the ashes of the dead pines every
thing had changed.
Debbie's father was a hot tempered
man, and mine nm obstinate one. They
got along wonderfully with each othel
for many years, and it seemed to be one
of those especial bits of spite which Fate
doles QUITO lovers, that they should have
their first serious falling out directly Deb
bic and I were engaged.
What was it about, you aska OF al
men on earth, farmers quarrel about th'
smallest thing. The ill-feeling begar
about bit of meadow land, worth mex
to nothing, was continued by our ole
pear tree, which projected its roots init
MIR. Doane's cellar, and finished by on
of Doanes COWS, who trod down on
corn; and one day the two elderly mel
faced each other, their faces crimson
their eyes blazing, blotting out the friend
ship for years by their mutual taunts ant
! reproaches, until, at last, Doane struei
my father, and my father knocked hin
down. He fell with his head against
bit of wood, and cut it, and the bloo'
flowed all over his face and neck. IN
women screamed; Doane lay at lengt
upon the grass, CORY spectacle. Mrs
Doane called one farmland to help hi
master in, another to run for the doctor
and the general impression that murde
had been committed was conveyed.
was a matter for bit of court-plaster
after all; but lifelong friendship wa
over forever; and it was conceded o
both sides that Debbie and 1 must Drea
with each other.
Up on the mountain, where the blue
berries were to be next summer, we me
for the last time. The ashes of the tire
we had first kissed under were all blow
away, and only grim, black stump I, r.
~