The National tribune., 1890-12-18


habitatiOn, dOmestication, joy, rest, love,
home.
il seemed 10 Perry like saving the bones
Of ones pastor or parent, 10 have rescued
those beams from fuel and rot and set them
again in her grandfatheris house.
} So she overlooked the whole operation,
and helped herself, 10 remove the stones
from the wood, still picking chestnuts when
she could.
SHE FOLLOWED THE WAGON
along the western ledge of the mountain TO
see that the house beams were carefully
transferred, but picked chestnuts with a
squirrels eye and activity, still thinking Of
the dollar 10 be the prize of the afternoon.
Once before she aud CoOrOO had picked
chestnuts, while children, TO pay for their
grandlather's stony lot. They picked n
whole season and the farmer took the chest
nuts at n cent per quart, in exchange for his
stony rood. How much greater was 10 be n
dollar for one days competition
Therefore Perry had no sooner seen the
wagonload Of beams discharged at the top
of the steep near Holdlast than she darted
back into the woods and opened chestnut
burrs.
They were sticky things and more than
eats had 10 be rubbed the right way, and
with all slight they still wounded her
hands before noon till she felt as If she had
been in nettles; but she kept on and once,
when a mood of pain or impatience or
despair came from she knew not where IL
seemed TO her that Brian had kissed her on
the hand rs on that day she cried and he
had found her in the very bed-chamber of
the House in the Wood with no one by.
At this ghostly salutation she laughed
aloud i'm youth ard compensation and went
on picking chestnuts The last load Of
house beams was soon delivered, the last
hbers of vegetable growth gone from the
house of stone.
There still the ruin stands upon the de-
clivity, with its face 10 the mountain and
It's back TO the flowing spring, no more than
any other heap of stones which have fallen
iortultously together in the freak Of gravity
and the worlds decay.
Old Creeper Turtle, with his black goat,
the imp Of himself it seemed, and his yelp-
ing mOngrel, was al the cliff top TO receive
the precious beams and sledge them 10 his
hut
My childl my child!n he exclaimed,
"yOu are my angel, and bring me the house
not made with hands. These beams ] shall
build with have descended from heaven,
think. God bless you with more beautiful
home one day!"
So Perry went into the lower, easier
mountain behind the dwellings in the Gap,
working at the fallen nuts sent down by the
late frosty wind, and contending with their
burrs Now and then some old head Of
family would hide himself TO watch her tall,
subtle anatomy working like a graceful
engine perfectly oiled, STOPPING, straighten-
ing, looking up where the burrs were thick
est, throwing the stake at the laden bOughs,
standing upon a stump 10 strike the
branches, and all her actions were uncOn-
scious beauty, with hight of person and
deliCacy of wrist and foot and with rounded
form where form gave interest and over
all happy face in spite of thought Pain
itself only oxidized into her bright linea-
ments like better bronze.
The spirit Of Perry was now set loose
from old conditions, and gods and goddesSes
of better quality than the naiads and wood
dryads were educating her. The peTmeatiug
gray matter of the uniyeTses, the gray brain
fiber of love and species which fills the in
terspaces
FROM PLANET TO PLANET
and star TO star, was deposting its grains
within her nature. She felt intelligence,
! spirit, purpose and bounding health, and yet
the altar for all these accomplishments was
the service Of the dead, the will of the de-
ceased one.
She had followed those old house beams
10 the Calvary of her grandiather's mount
ain, with the hope Of the Notary believing
in his fragments Of the true cross; but the
education of her inner home the care Of her
/ physical persOn-thOse beams of her living
anatomy which studded and braced the
house of life, she dedicated 10 her compan-
ion in the celestial land who had flashed
upon her like an angel for few brief days,
folded her in his wings, kissed her with his
silver lips, and SCARED away.
The schoolgirls were assembled at a point
| called Long James, where fine smooth
rocks above a low cliff let those who wanted
TO rest and look, see down below them a
kind of shady pasture or level, fit for games.
and almost for dance. There the chest
nuts were being measured by umpires, the
| spectators letting down their baskets and
bags from the higher level and watching that
there was fair play.
One man in that circle was deeply infect
ed with the lust Of money. lie could not
keep IL from his nature, and it tinged every
thing with sort Of leaden, clankinC sensu-
ality.
lie had determined that day as soon as
the dollar prize was in view 10 carry ii of
for himself, and being willy, knowing sort
| OF curmudgeoB, he had watched Perry, with
her mountain habits and strength, fearing
that she alone might excel his gleanings.
lie saw her speaking TO the two Virginia
pupils, and guessed out the sudden spirits
| Of their separating
When, therefore after nearly all the bags
and handkerchieis, pals and baskets had
been let down, that of Perry was sent and
Outmeasured them all, and every body seemed
glad, and gave a hearty hurrah except this
man, who, with his four or five farms, hun
gered for that dollar prize.
" Hold on, now!n he cried, with a fiat,
mean voice, like a coin sounding on it's face,
" this must be fair play. j want Miss Perry
Beatty 10 tell us the truth; did she pick all
them chestnuts herself?"
There was n pause. Voices were heard
from the young men, saying:
"sHET UP, OLE PENNYHEARr!D
No, the naked truth /" continued the
miser. shall leave IL to our pastor whether
or no il was fair play for Miss Beatty to
have two gals from Yirginny 10 flll her bag.
j contend that she had help, and ii she did,
the prize is mine Let her answer!"
=" Shame! shamei" from the rocks above,
mixed with mutterings that Pennyheart
would take the pennies off dead mans
eyes.
The pastor was behind in his salary, for
Pennyheart had kept his own subscription
back.