River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-08-27

W ueu they emerged INTO the Kitchen
with their garments festooned with
cObyebs. grandpa said: 'Glad of it!
Abigail thinks she is awful neat. She
takes charge of the house now. The
garnet was as slick and clean as the
parlOr in mothers day
Next they went TO the barn and the
shop. the Toulouse and the sheep
she'd Il haven't been over the prem
ises SO thoroughly since was a child. -
said Aunt Anabel
They looked in the well and then
went down the open bullxhead into the
cellar and peered into the ash hole,
looked on top of :he cider barrels, in
the apple and vegetable bins and the
butter closet
There's one place we haven't
looked" whispered Kate, at length,
and that is into Aunt Abigail's closet
under the front stairs I've no doubt
she knows where that hat is-she
never could bear old Mr.. Nevers, I've
heard mother say. because grandpa
made himself unpopular in town be-
friending him, and presume she was
so vexed that day that she put the old
hat out of sight. ! don't know how we
are going to manage to get into that
closet"
I'VE can go up the back stairs, whis-
pered Aunt Anabel, as ready as a girl
for the frolic, land squeeze through
the narrow passage between the old ell
part and the new upright part of the
house. go down the front stairs and in
80 ha oil 81.
ing thing"
Away they went on tiptoe, and as
they We're making their way through
the narrow closet, George, who was
six feet tall, exclaimed:
Hold on a minute. I've hit nv
head against something crowded up be-
tween the rafters and the partition.
II feels like a high hat-and it is a
hat,''
oh, take it down please"
''Oh, this cant be the one?"
"That Is Lieut.. Never's old hat" said
Aunt Anabel. I've seen him with it
on a thousand times when was a
child. feel rs if had seen a ghost. &"
How came it here? asked George
II do not know" said Kate. but
grandpa told me once as a secret that
his old friend the day before his death
whispered to Tim that he had discov-
cred the papers giving him a clear
title of the land AMI had sent them to
him by a :rusty messenger, but that
Abigail. when hegot home. gave him a
bundle of papers that were of no use
whatever"
- 10
bandanna handkerchief" said Aunt
Anabe,, ''and / believe there are
papers between the outsid. and the
lining. Let US go down into the parlor
and look them over"
I'VE shall freeze in here" whis-
pered Aunt Anabel, as they tiptoed
into the large. northwest square room.
where everything stood at right angles.
Let Us light the fire that is already
laid on the anderons"
DO you dare?" asked Kate THE
kindling has been arranged in that way
for years. but | never saw il lighted.
Aunt Nabby always says she don't
want the litter of it"
Il will take the responsibility said
Aunt Anabel. striking a match and
touching the responsive blaze to the
dry shavingS- Il have some rights i'm
the old home vet. ! am astOnished to
see the way sister Abigail tyrannizes
over father and mother. DO You find
anything in the old hat?"
Yes whispered Kate. beneath her
breath. land believe it is the very
paper needed to straighten out those
old titles
1T Is. indeed. said George. after a
hasty examination of the old time-yel-
lowed document Il have no doubt
of it
But how came that old hat slowed
away in such placer
1T must have been Abigail's doing"
said Aunt AnabeL ''She was probably
afraid that father would wear the hat
The old man sent il by her-she was at
the house every day during his illness
they were our neighbors, you know.
OF course Abigail put the hat where
she thought no one would ever find it. -
Il will astonish her with it," cried
Kate. grandpa shall wear it to our
wedding Tomorrow
so YOU intend - be married. after
alp" cried her lover rlpturousiy. catch
ing her in his arms and whirling her
about the room.
Aunt Anabel discreetly took mp a fall
en- brand of dry pine wood and placed
II carefully between the andirons IL
caught quickly and the flames went
racing up the chimney. sending dane
ing CLEANS of light into the farthest
corner of the heavily suffered and cur
tanned Parlor-
Instead of availing herself of this op-
portunitv to receive the kiss her lover
was stopping TO give her, Kate slipped
from his arms with little shrek and
darted to the furthest corner of the
large room.
''Oh. look. look. in this black hair
cloth rocker in this corner. 1t is grand
pas best hat lit Is. it is,-'
Don't touch il. said Aunt Anabel
Let them all come in aud see it for
themselves. !" and speeding through the
long hall she marshaled the tr o. grand
pa. grandma and Aunt Abigail. into the
shut up parlor. known in the family as
''Abigairs paradise"
Yes. there il is" said grandma,
with a long breath of relief There
il Is in the cushion of that black-cov
cred chair. and its been there these
six weeks, and such a time as there's
been over 1t 1t speaks well for Nab
by's sweeping and busting and airing
up. Such things were done once a
week when took charge
such works." sighed Aunt Abigail,
holding M both hands. "A fire on
the hearth and the parlor all stirred
up"
'.And my best hat found by the
means, cried grandpa, jOyfully. Il
remember all about it now. / was a