The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-03-21

/ AOOhiuB- lou anu Laura AdNOlS bAS
Lemarcs, but you are nothing like what
they were in my young days. It's a
blessing you didn't take after the Gar
Nets. Your dear ma is painfully stout,
and has about as much expression in her
face as a pan of skim milk"
please don'tmake such remarks about
ma, Aunt Bates, said Laura, Indignantly.
''Honey, it isn't biting your dear
ma to tell the truth about her. Unless
she is pulled up with vanity, she must
know, honey, that she is too fat and has
no waist"
MAS just right" contradicted
! Cynthia.
"Weil, honey, your saying so doesn't
make it so. You girls of the present
day have no idea what grace or beauty is.
Oh, honeys you should have seen Aunt
Bates in the bloom Of her girlhuod. They
called me the Mountain Rose, and duels
were fought about me by the dozen. I
was as fair as a lily, with large eyes as
blue as forget-me-nots, and hair like
sunbeams. Besides, every one said I
was as graceful as a fairy. 1 have had
many romantic adventures.
Here the girls exchanged expressive
glances. They knew what was coming.
'One day, " Aunt Bates continued, ''as
I was on my way to school, met such a
handsome young gentleman on horse
back He looked at me fxedly, and at
ter he had passed, he kept turning
around to get one more glance. After
this, I often met him, and, one day,
when I dropped my satchel of books, he
leaped from his noble horse, and handed
it back to me, with a courtly bow. This
led to an acquaintance that ripened into
an engagement-withth the full consent of
my parents, honey.
- His name was Harcourt de Percival.
He wrote the most beautiful poems, and
he used to bring them to me, and we
would read them together. But he got a
brain-fever and died. For two years I
mourned him as a widow but, one day,
the servant came and told me a gentle
man wanted to sec me. As I entered the
room, I nearly fell in faint, for I
thought that Harcourt de Percival stood
before me. For moment he stood
transfixed with admiration Of my beauty. -
Here Kate Harrison suppressed a
giggle.
- And then he said, Madam, my late
friend, Harcourt de Percival, left me in
his will u manuscript collection of his
poems, which 1 believe you have in your
possession"
{. Why was he so long in coming for
them2" Cynthia asked in an artless tone.
Don't ask such silly questions. How
do l know2 was not so bold as you
tleman. As 1 was saying, gave lin the
poems and we became very good friends.
And, honey" concluded Aunt Bates, i'm
pressively, " I married Uncle Bates be-
cause he looked so much like Harcourt
de Percivalr'
Aunt Bates's visit was a lengthy one.
It-lasted until spring set in, and was en-
lvened by many eccentricities.
On one occasion some visitors inquired
whether Mrs Lemsrc had had any peas
from her garden.
Before she could answer, Aunt Bates
stuck in: ''Peas, honeyl Why, we've
had peas-peas-peas-until we're sick
of peas"
''Aunt Batesw Sabina demonstrated,
eve haven't had any peas at all"
s'Well, Sabina, but we will have, re
torted the imperturbable Aunt Bates.
At last, she left the Lemarcs, after
having worked up" every man, woman
and child on the place into a state of ex-
ASPIRATION.
''Aunt Bates is a regular torment,
cried Cynthia.
"Hush, deari" said her mother. ''You
know she is poor, and she was really fond
of your father"
Il believe he is the only person she
does not abuse, said Laura.
After this, Aunt Bates decided that
she would try boarding for time, so
she went to interview Mrs. Bond, an old
friend, on the subject.
''Oh, Mrs. Batesi'' cried Mrs. Bond,
who knew her well, az am afraid our
house wouldn't suit you. 1t is a very
lonely place"
&" Honey, there's nothing I like better
than peace and quietness, which-good-
ness knows-I didn't have at Sabina's."
." But, you see, Mr.. Bond is so often
away, and then have nothing for din
ner but cup of tea and some bread and
butter"
" Honey, there's nothing relish more
for dinner than tea and bread and but
ter"
" Besides, would have to give youa
room upstairs, and you would find it
fatiguing to climb SO many steps"
" Honey, there's nothing so nice as an
upstairs roor.-so cool and airyl"
but Mrs. Bates, there's another
thing" said Mrs, Bond, driven to des-
peration, ''Ncw mind, l don't say there's
anything in it, but the negroes declare
they see strange sights here at night
You know we are very near the grave
yard"
Aunt Bates's face changed. She was a
bundle of superstitions, and had de-
cided fear of ghosts.
'Wel, honey, she said, 81 reckon, on
the whole, it wouldn't suit me to live
with you. It would be fatiguing to climb
so many steps, and don't think I could
get along Just with tea and bread and
butter for dinner-particularly as I've
heard people say your tea is never any
thing but hot water"
As the price Aunt Bates wished to pay
for her board was a very small one, she
had some difficulty in finding a place.
At last, she settled herself with the
Taskers, poor family living in the vii
lage, and there she was seized with
dangerous illness.
She fingered painfully on the confines
of death for some weeks. Sabina would
have taken her home; but she was too ill
to be moved; so Sabina and her daugh-
tiers paid her frequent visits, though Aunt
Bates's tongue had forgotten none of its
sharpness.
Toward the last, her mind wandered
back to the days of her girlhood. She
was child again, and she called upon
''Phil-y" to look at the dead bird she had
found in the grass. The little brother
and sister were at play together once
more.
Then, she talked in Language TO