Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-06-27
OLD UNCLE BILL.
BY NARY KYLE DALLAS.

wandered about the place dressed nil
summer in white shirt and linen vest
and trousers and iisherman's hat. and
all winter IN Il wooden dressinn-oown.
tie was meek, till, bald old man, and
people Mt first took him for a SUPER
animated old servant; but, finally. his
ME- linen, his neat hands and certain.
weN-bred tone of voice, if, by chance,
they heard him speak, mado them ask
"Who is that2"
If they inquired of Miss Belle, the eld-
lest unmarried daughter, she would ans
wcr:
can old connection of poor mammals.
can't see why pa has him hcre-horrid
thing!"
If they asked Mr.. Norris's maiden
sister, she would reply:
Conc of the blessings my late sister
ln-iaw brought with her into the family.
a miserable meier do-wccl of relation"
IT the question were propoundcd to
pompous Mr.. Morris, us he sat in his
armchair Oh his piazza, or drove about
his property in one of his handsome
vehicles, he would answer:
"Wcll, that's sort of n relation of nv
wife's, II nc'er-do-wccl. The black sheep
OF the flock, you know. ALWAYS is one
in every family. For her sakcEshe was
q very benevolent woman-wc let him
stay about. lie prefers eating by him
self. He's very stupid, very; but she
wanted him here, and she had her way,
poor soul. l grudged her nothing. Yes,
that's poor BILL"
But If it was Miss Picnic of whom
the question was asked, she always an
severed.
''Why, that is Uncle Bill Hes lit
tie eccentric, but the dearest old soul.
I'm very, very fond of him, and he of
me. Dear old Uncle Bill"
Certainly Phcmic was the old mans
only friend in that pompous household
: She 1t was who went up to his little room
with his meals, and sat with him while
he ate them; who saw that he mad the
newspaper and his pipe; who had fixed
that little, out-of-thc-way place with a
pretty carpet, book shelves, students
lamp, lots of pretty ornaments in worstcd
and painted silk; who never received her
monthly allowance without buying some
thing for him.
His pretty, snow white shirts were her
gift, and she saw that they were "donc
up" properly. The flannel dressing gown
he wore in winter was of her contri-
vance. In fact, up in that dormer rooted
room there were hours that were more
home-like than any spent in the great
parlors, or the big dining room, where
Miss Belle was only afIectionate to sspa"
when she wanted him to give him more
money TO spend; and Miss Norris, the
slider sister of the master of the house
made bitter speeches in the pauses of the
needle work i'll which she was perpetual
ly engaged. Sometimes directed at her
brother, sometimes ut Belle, sometimes
at Picnic, but all wortled so circum-
specify and clothed in such guise of
piety that no one dared resent them.
"What comfort youar Uncle Bill, ="
Picnic would say, as she poured out the
old mans coffee.
"And what Il comfort you are, Pho
mic, old Uncle Bill would say. eff I
was rich uncle, just home from India
like those in plays and novels, you
couldn't make more of me-"
81 shouldn't make so much. uncle. "
Picnic would answer, "for you'd be
victim OF liver complaint, and that
would make you i!l-natured, and you'd
se2ld me, and say naughty words. They
aMHao, you know. Now you haven't any
mcacy or stocks to worry about, like
poor pa; and you're not irritable, and
like to be with you. You're like nam
ma, too. You have her eyes"
''1ou arc sister Susan's image thc
old man would say. ''Do you remember
the day that you came to the hospital
with herr"
EYES," sid Picnic. sI was lust
twelve yeaIs old and mamma was CRYING
over the telegram. 'NTy only brother,
Picnic, she said $50 sick that he NAV
die, and so poor that he's in hospital.
Then we came and saw you in bed and
after while we brought you home, and
ma nursed you we'll again"
"And died herself, just rs got about, =
said Uncle Bill. "And your father and
the rest did not like shabby old man
around the house. Well, was lucky to
get home, suppose, and luckicr still
to- find such disinterested love as yours.
You're like Susan. She was the dearest
girl that ever lived. Yes, you're like
Susan"
But they did not always talk thus.
! They were very busy often, over books
over Phcmic's embroidery, for which he
designed patterns; teaching her little
dog thousand tricks; feeding the blind
kittens Picnic saved from drowning
making little well, from which the
=. canary drew buckets of water. And
Picnic and the old man would wander
off to the riverside, where he would fish,
seldom catching anything, and she would
read or knit.
None OF the family knew of these init
macics. Belle, older than Picnic by SIX
years, preferred that she should con
aider herself child until Miss Norris
was married. And Aunt NInrcin do.