Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-01-16

and strong, ''Pll see to the askin' of 'em,
and do you tend to the feeding"
Never fear" nodded his wife, confidently;
'Tll give 'em good square meal''
Catching up little Sallie, Uncle Aaron
| kissed her on both her rosy cheeks and put
her down again. Then he took up Tom, the
| two year-old baby, and, grading him a mo-
| rlent II his great, strong arm, looked down
| at him curously. 'Poor little chap! It's a
| long world you've come to. do you know it
| he whispered. The child's brown eyes
| smiled back at him and the little face nestled
close. Resting his brown face over the wee
| one for moment, the mans heart heaved.
| In another moment he put him down and
| strobe out at the door.
| Outside, mischievous Jacob, with a tri-
| umphant grim, was awaiting him. His father
smiled back at him, and began to go down
| the mountain. Jacob followed at his heels.
| "Where yer golng!' he said.
'To Susan's and Ellerys and Dan'rs to
| see if they'll come over"
''What to doc" said Jacob.
| "a quiltin'-yer mother has wanted it
this good spell.'
"Lordy!' cried the boy, his eyes spark
| ling, twill yer femme sit up2"
ooh, yes" answered Uncle Aaron, 'if yer
| behave yourself See here,'' he said,
| STOPPING and picking out pale blue blossom
| half hid at the root of a tree, ''aint-that-
| prettys"
Yes" said the boy, looking at it with in
| terest, ''it be-
cit just bout matches the sky up yonder,
so pretty and so blue" caressing it softly
| with one of his huge fingers, sticking it care
| fully into his trousers belt, half APOLOGIZE
cally. at seems scrter too bad to leave it
die here, and no one to keer for it,
The boy nodded Understandings and
broke off a bit of birch bark and began to
/ chew on it. Both went rapidly down the
ain side. icy soon came to the
house of the CELERY folks" Two little
mites, seeming to be all pink calico and big
suu-bonnets, were sitting IN the dirt out
side. A woman was busy washing with q
| big tub that stood in the doorway. Chill
dren and country folks take up the thread
| CT existence just where they have dropped
1t.
Mothers a. goin' to have her quiltin' to-
/ night, can you Gomez" said Uncle Aaron,
| without ceremony.
Mrs. Ellery rested her soapy hands on the
| edge of the tub and answered: ''Mebbe.
| Who's comin'!''
Most all the north side folks, reckon.
| Sarah and Tom, and the babes, and Dun
| ham and Susan-most everybody" said
| Uncle Aaron, sweeping out his arm COM
prehensively
Sdlu IHo WOuldil. we II COIlc-DuI
| tell Sarah not to expect much from me.
I'm tuckered out now, and haint had no
time to do my own sewing"
That's all right said Uncle Aaron;
''tell Tom to bring his fiddle with him.
eyes," nodded Mrs. Ellery, lifting her
| head for a moment, hell fetch it,
"Come Oh, Jacob" said his father, but as
he strobe off,he stopped long enough to drop a
| lump of sugar into the laps of the pink calico
| mites, who received this gift from the clouds
without a CLEAN of thankfulness. One of
them, indeed, inspected hers very closely,
at which Uncle Aaron smiled and said:
| ''She's a wise un, she isl
The two trudged along, crossing the long
stretches of distance that lay between the
various houses, with scarcely a break in
their silence; and yet that walk was not Il
lonely or a void one, either to the father
or to the son. The man saw more than the
boy, had lived more-had felt more-but
there was that in the lad of comprehension
by sympathy that is the next best thing to eX-
perience and knowledge. And then the man,
although 4 great man, was half dumb him
self, not having the gift of expression, so he
did not speak words that went beyond the
BOYS understanding.
At last every body had been asked that
they wished to ask to come that night to
the ''quiltin'.'' Finally they came back to
their original starting -point-the old log
house upon the ledge of the mountain.
'Well, mother" said Uncle Aaron, "they
be ali comm, so do yer cleverest to-day.
How many plates and mugs have vera"
"Count 'em,' SAID Aunt Kate, pounding
into a batch of bread vigorously; "ul of
'em's on the shelves thar"
few moments of silence, wherein Aunt
Kate went on kneading up the loaves, and
Uncle Aaron, with puckered-up brow and
much head-work, kept murmuring low:
THAT'S thirteen, fourteen, fifteen-I tell
you, mother, there's fifteen all told, countin'
in them two ere tin ones you bought O. the
peddler. What'n we do! There bees mose'n
that a. comm"
''They will have to wait their turn, Them
said Aunt Kate, cutting that knot of the
difficulty with single stroke. THAT
makes no differ. We're not supposed to
keep chiney store''
The superior air of wisdom with which
his wife said this was not without it's eff
feet upon Uncle Aaron. He felt a sudden
humbling estimate of himself that he had
often felt before in the presence of his
wife's practical remedy for an embarrass-
ing situation. He stood big and awkward,
rubbing his cheek with one hand. 'Recllon
I'll go and fetch in some Of .hem ears of
dried corn, We'll want 'em tonight he
said, after vainly searching around for
something that he could do to help along
the approaching celebration.
You'd better fetch IN some logs for the
big chimney" said his wife, I'VE hain't got
any"
''All right" answered Uncle Aaron,
cheerfully, that's more IN my hne-1'u
fetch en- and picking up his hat off the
floor, where he had thrown it, he went out.
Aunt Kate went on pounding the bread,
with q smile uOOn her face
CHAPTER IL
BY half-past three in the afternoon all
was in readiness to receive the company.
The ''store stove'' shone with a brightness
that did honor to Aunt kate's muscle, and
still little later the children's rosy faces
were bright through the same cause.
Big logs burned and cracked in the great
chimney; the wooden shelves glittered
bright with polished tins; the box bed in
the corner had on it's best sunflower
spread, and Aunt Kate herself, resplen-
dent in solferino-colored merino, stood in
the center of her room, looking about her
with pride. A large quilting frame resting
upon four upright logs stood over at the
east side of the room. The first to arrive
was Mother BanSom, noted for being the
'sbest quilter'' for miles around. Her well
come was cordial.
''Give me your bonnet Cold weather for
spring. Sitttar,'' said Aunt Kate.
Mother Bausoms wrinkled face looked
gray and old after her bonnet was off. Her
long, bony hands kept moving restlessly in
her lap for a moment, and then from the
n he of hiO ,,.afipp ha Sh 10 bronpht forth