Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-02-10

table knitting as uSual. one na
just begun to narrow for the toe o
the stocking, when a step sounded o.
the walk. She threw down the stock
ing and opened the door, and holdin!
the lamp high above her head, he
eyes resting on the amazing spectacle
of the deacon in all the Sunday mag
nificence of white shirt and shin,
black broadcloth. "Well, / never,
she CALCULATED, and then, feeling tina
her reception had been hardly hospit
able, she lowered the lamp and sale
kindly: sCome IN, Deacon, come in
"Thank We, thank ye; [ dom
mind if / dew"
ssTake a seat, deacon"
''Thank you; / don't mind if
dew"
The deacon surveyed the attractive
room, which, with its CHEEKY fire and
comfortable cushioned chairs, seemed
a veritable paradise in comparison
with his untidy, ill-kept home. He
placed his hat on the floor beside his
chair, displaying his scanty gray
locks ingeniously plastered over the
top of bis head so as to cover as
much of the bald surface as possible.
There was long pause.
"Anything going on deacon p
asked Miss Keziah, resuming her
knitting. She was greatly puzzled
to account for those Sunday clothes.
'Nothin' within the range of my
observation. There won't be much
agoin' on now till lection time;
things'n be pretty lively them
''Want to buy any hay this year,"
chirped Miss Keziah. Mine is extra
good this season my hired man says
it's the best harvest yield in town."
81 rather guess I'll hev' enough to
carry me thro' the winter. If | don't
shall know where to come fur hay
is hay. L declare your farm does
beat all ! l feel kind O. rugged like
when | think the best farm in town
is managed by a woman
Miss Keziah smiled graciously and
the deacon drew his chair little
nearer his hostess. cit must be a
great load for we to carry alone.
Such large farm is a tremendous
responsibility for lone woman"
''Oh, 1 don't mind it; it keeps me
proper busy"
The deacon hitched his chair along
a few inches farther. eyed oughter
hev brother or cousin, or some rel
ative like, to share the burden with
ye."
"My shoulders are plenty strong,'
returned Miss Keziah, good natured-
Iy. "I'm glad to show folks that
there are women who are good for
something besides giddy-gaddying
and tattling."
"Yis, yis," answered the deacon,
''we can all testify to your valley and
worth. You're a real honor to your
sex. You're-you're a bright and
shinin' beacon light to the trifiin' and
vain-minded women of the world -
and the speaker waved his hand at
the conclusion of this little oratorical
flourish
Then hitch, hitch, hitch went the
chair Miss Keziah-ward. "Don't
you feel sort O. lonely at spells?'' he
asked lnsinuatinglv.
Miss Keziah glanced suspiciously
at the rapid advancing chair. She
dropped her knitting and went to the
fire and piled up the blazing sticks
of wood. Then she came back to
the table and set her chair on the
farther side of it, thus putting a bar
rier between her and her visitor.
"Tm never lonely, deacon plenty to
do is the best medicine for loneliness"
'But woman's a tender, dependent
creatur' Woman's a vine," here the
deacon took up his prayer meeting
drawI, ''and needs sunthin' to cling
to when the troubles, desolatin' waves
and winds O. affiiction and sorrow roll
over her."
Stuff and nonsense y exclaimed
Miss Keziah, with a cOntemptuous
sniff. 81 shouldn't have expected
that a man of your sense, deacon,
would repeat such silly trash. | have
no patience with the people who are
always talking as if women couldn't
stand alone and needed propping up
like a rag doll that hadn't any back
bone. I'm no vine or such creeping,
helpless thing, | can tell you. | can
stand alone as we'll as anybody, if
the Lord so wills it, altho' | admit,
deacon that its pleasanter to have
some one to keep you company"
"That's jest it; you have hit the
nail squar' on the head It's pleas
anter to hev company in our sojourn
on this mortal yearth."
The deacon seized his chair with
both hands, and by a circuitious line
of hitching placed it within three feet
of Miss Keziah's table. tYou're a
fore-handed woman, Miss Keziah
Pm a man of prominence and infu-
ence in the community it seems to
me that it would be good thing if
we could walk hand-in-hand thro' this
vale of tears. Providence seems to
pint his finger that way The dea-
con was thinking at that very moment
of the money he would save by a
thrifty manager like Miss Keziah in