Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-06-27
FUSED BY FIRE.
EY HELEN F. SMITH.

EbeDcZeT Parsons, commonly called
Eben, had taken advantage of a stormy
day in the midst Of the haying season to
take his horses to the village blacksmith
to be shOd, and also some tools to be re-
paired or sharpened, and was now on his
way hone. The farm wagon path worn
into ruts, between which the short young
clover grew courageOusly, ran for some
distance alongside of the picturesque vine
or bush-hidden rail-fence that separated
the Parsons land from that of the Buck
leys, until 1t reached a spring whose al
most icy-cOld water dubbed iOvOusly out
from a gravelly hillside, and ran down
in a slender purling stream until it be-
came lost in the Hitchcock Swamp. From
the spring the farm road turned sharply
to the left, and up the hillside between
two of Eben's own fields, to the low,
broad, slOping- rooted arm-house, old in
days, as we count age in this country, but
stronger than many new houses, and far
more picturesque beneath its wide
branching elms, and half hidden in a
wealth of lilacs, syringas, snOwballs, June
roses and LEAKAGE Of that beautiful utili-
tartan, the hOp-yine-
The ram mad almost ceased, and Eben
did not in the least mind the light driZ-
Zle which had wetted his red flannel SHIRT
until it chung tightly to his 1.-the, firmly
knit and graceful figure. Comfortably
riding along, guiding with one hand the
horse beneath him and with the other
leading, or rather pretending to lead, the
second horse, which would have followed
his mate as we'll without a touch, Mr..
Parsons was IN specially good spirits, for
he had had day of rest, and heard all
the neighbOrhOOd news, and exchanged
opinions on the prospects Of the crops
and condition of the herds with his
brother farmers, and come to the cOnclu-
sion that, on the whole, his OWL business
was likely to prove as prosperous as that
of any Of the others, and had perceived
with satisfaction, as he rode by it, that
Jason Buckley's corn was a trife less
promising than his own, having been
planted on low bit of land, too cold
and wet for corn during this cool, wet
summer.
Yes, > said Eben to himself, turning
in the saddle and resting his sinewy
brown hand on the sleek back of the dap
pie gray horse he was riding, while he
sCrutiniZcA the corn tield-''yes, Jasons
corn looks mighty yeller and minchin'.
He'd orter ha' put hisn on tn upland. as
/ did mine. Git up, Bladder, ole Teller!
What We standin' here fur, nippin' s if
we hadn't tasted grass in week."
So, content with himself and his cir
cumstances. and smiling as he thought
of the welcome that he would surely get
when he reached his own door from his
eomely wife and glad hearted children,
he went On whistling a stave or singing
catch until he came to the turn in the
road by the old spring.
The sight of this spring, so innocent
and smiling, like child's happy face, al
ways brought frown upon handsome
Eben's Drowned features, for it had
been the subject Of dispute for sixty years
or more between the ancestors of Jason
Buckley and his own. The Parsonses as
serted that in the lifetime of Grand
father ParsOns-whO was a mild-tem-
pered, meek sort of man, deacon in the
church and superintendent Of the Sun
dav-school, a man ''altogether too good
had undoubtedly belonged to the Par
senses. But old man Buckley, who held
In slight esteem his neighbor's business
qualities, and thought that the Lord
ought not to have trusted him with the
care of so much of this worlds goods,
had set cOyetous eyes upon the overflow
ing and almost ice-cold spring, so useful
place to stand the Churn to make the
butter firm in hot weather. and SO handy
to wGter the cattle in winter, when all the
ponds and streams were frozen over, and
had so crooked his rail-fence around it
that it now lay within the Buckley in
closure.
Deacon Parsons, holding literally to
the admonition to give the coat where
the cloak has been taken, refused to take
any steps for the recovery of the spring,
until at last old man Buckley held it by
right of possession.
The sons Of Deacon Parsons, who sue
ceeded to the inheritance Of his father,
had proved to be of different stuff; was
by no means a meek sort of man, III
fact. Having his fathers strong ideas
of right and wrong, but none OF his hu-
.lility, and being firmly assured that
eternal justice always lay on whatever
side Of any controversy he had taken his
st~nd. he had not hesitated to ''make 1t
warm" on all possible occasions for old
man BucIlley's son George, who had
bought the rights of the other heirs to
his fathers estate, and held himself en-
tiled to the spring, which he had been