Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-13
however, and otten more frcanmtlY.

they were was 80 kini, t;.;.g tl!oSe at
 home had no esrec;ai anxiety about them. They were kept supplied with money. and occas onal boTt-.; of hone-
 baked pies and cakes. CT iar of fresh sweet butter was sent them by steamer, and every few days t-ras!sis CT Mrs. Par sons wrote to them, thus keeping tin, In fully advised as to all that was going on upon the ranch or among the young people in the neigh borhood.
 1hI:r father did not wri;c-he had never been much acciIsio med to Mrt, letters until he left tlc Sf"t"S ard NJ nt to ihc mines; and hrrt Lis oHpor- u..i:i for sending letters had b,cl So feu- as t. pr,Nrnt frs t .i.t t.<c:vi>3 Of ,,i;Ht li!t;" ta!"nt lie i'u>~;s>,,'ti il Inal Girec. t:ON, - sat ID : I!G iii ID Inclination to ;:i>,.!y '.i> stit,rn@! .;-.,:', tp ;G" He rf j.'- l.>'n, IT. N;'- col!:..2. ;.,li.r.aI ii" :".t>'i@ Received ~-e: X 7. a:l with sel-A l.-c !uH>-;.2t.a oJ love T: Ito .l of E~as:lts md h!., wife: b;it "> g.., s.rs approached for the Tcts:rG oi .!!e m.r!, for | l!. long vacation h4 Wis ga-.r for their cnliH:!. and was at t.:u 4;,.i::inr Walt.n < for then more than an lour be- fore the steamer Wa- duc: &n when Siic came, hurl iel on ho&r 1 he in-ttnt the gan plank Was lowered.
 "iIow'd d do. Jennie; how'd d.. I.ncv: glad you re lack Hg,iin. Give vour ulu lather a ;iug;' and Ee gatllu1rd them ia his arms ant; put his D, ar,,ed face down to theirs for a kiss, and then turned away and Crew the back of his hand across his eyes and led them on s!,ura and helped them i"to tho s!}rin- wagon.
 "Mothcr Il be mOnstrou3 glad tp sec you he said, aS thcy drove honiewurd; ''and soil IIas;us and JohDnv An the young foli-, in the ncig1borhoot are arran@in for q picnic an dance in tho woods fer one das' next week. par pose SD you can Ill ~'' .a.h other a@ in.
 Srcct the ' .;n.c .ct5ows are mi ghtv anxious to hayt you acil in the neigh borhoou, ein' icrc ;,in't hal dly girls enough to go around anyway 1 was just a-tellin' mo her only yesterday tlat If you girls haGlt got your heads set on goln' to school another year. I'd a heap ruthcr yoI stayed tp home and helped her to make tho hoUS chpcry like. but if you want to 90 back l ain't a-goin' to ,bjcct. reckon 'Rastus will be gittin' marie fore long. An may be he'll brng h's wife hon!c; I'm sure there's room enough in the cottage fer all of us, even if we were all 10 home, and 1 s'pOSc we can't always keep vou girls. Even cf you was to leave srhuOl for good, some of tic young fellows would be coaNin' you away from us.'
 "Oh, no, pa; l am sure lie thcr Lucy nor have any thou -ri's of Ge. ing mar Tied, have we, Lucy? laughed her sis ter.
 "You don't mean to say 'Ras is in love with any of the girls though do you?' she continued. Il wonder who it can be. Funny. i>n' it? but never thought that he could ever get married, had you, Lucy?'
 Lucy said she had never thought of it, though of course Era$l,i> would m r. ry some time. she slppo.cd; nearly everybody did.
 Then she tried to talk of something else. but Jcnne insisted on knowing who it was that Erastu. was cour;ing.
 Oh 1 don't know as anybody in par ticular. her father replied. "only he's lidin' around Wi!h the nei~hhors girls some. and it's natural he should marry aforc many years. lie is a man now. and he knows We arc ,;.viu' money 10 buy him Il ranch with :!it r a.pril
 It will be nI:.ri.I lonc.ulur, he addvd, If ha should marry aul leave mother 2nd ne: $. vc,;!Iy fl you girls should go, too."
 The @irl5 both protested that they never meant :o marry: had not thought of such a thing.
 You mus: not talk so, pa,' said Lucy. ''bccaisc We arc never going 10 leave you; bat i:.st as soon as We get through school will como home and stay always with you and mother.'
 jennie noticed that her sisters voice had q little suspicion of tears in it when she said this, and that she turned her head and looked the other way when sine spoke, but forgot it immediately iu wondering if 1t were true that Ras real y had any on" picked out 10 marry, and ii so, whom? She thought over all the girl, in the neig ghboihood. and finally decided that it was Mary Jones. Mary. she knew. had always liked Erastus. She liked Mary herself, and the two had been together a great deal, and if Erastus was going to marry any body he hoped it would be Mary,
 "There' $ johnny coming to meet us" said John. Sen, as they caino over the hill anei struck the lttio stretch of level ground in front of tha cottage.
 ''l ou bet he's got a good eye for sce- in' things 'Srcct hes been watchin' for Us for an hour. I!e thinks heap or ms dad, don you, Johnny: he said, as he pulled up the ponies, and req ching down, lifteu the youngster into the wagon ''whcre they could get at him,' as the girls said; and straight way they began to hug and kiss h.m. keeping it up until he squirmed away from them, and getting in between his fathers knees, insisted On being al- lowed to drive,
 Mrs Parsons was at the gate waiting 10 welcome her Gir,s back with :, smile and a kiss. The olI dog frisked about and parked a> if he were still puppy, fairly knocking johnny down and up- setting one of the travelling baskets which had been set out preparatory to driving the wagon to the barn. Johnny would have cried. ordinarily, at such rough usage, but now it would have out of rI;,co amids the,Gcn- eral re, ,oicing, and so instead of getting angry or crying. he laughed and tried to mount and ride old Bose as he fol-