The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-09-19
GYPSY ISAlAH'S WIFE.

I
or n grist mill; nothing but bleak hill
sides, scantily clothed with scrubby
pines; grim, black boughed evergreen
woods and pasture lands, where the
cattle liuddled in the corners Of tue
fences to escape tho knife like point Of
the Keen west wind!
And, OF q gray sunny afternoon like
this, with the sullen rush Of the river
booming in the valley below, and knot
Of crows cawing mourntuliy in the treo
tops above the farmhouse roof, IL was
lonelicr still.
Mr.. Trott WIS in the kitchen, with u
solder kettle bubbling over tho fire; he
was mending huge kettle whercwith
he proposed 10 riha the sweetnessof
neiahGoring grove OF maple trees in the
coming month OF March. Mrs Trott was
studying out the complicated pattern
OF new device in patchwork, lent her
BY friend, with half dozen blocks OF
Turkey red, four OF white and two Of
corn coloretl calico; and Deborah, the
only daughter, was trimming over her
Sunday hat with newly ironed pink
ribbons and cluster OF artificial rose
buds, which she had bought cheap at
the clearing oil sale Of the Stockbridge
milliner-and all three were silent.
suddenly the clock struck, with a
whirring sound, like N asthmatic To-
cust
still puzzling over the blocks OF Turkey
red.
looking into the boiling silvery mass
over the stove.
ave shall have to light a candle
soon" said Mrs. Trott. For she had
never seen that modern abomination, n
paslirht, and made it her boast that no
drop OF kerosene had ever crossed her
threshold. She burned symmetrical
white candles OF her own running, in
old-iashioned brass crndlesticks with
snulTcrs and extinguishers to match.
II wonder where Isaiah is? We need
new logs for the sitting room fire TO-
night. Squire Draper's son told me he
should drop in, in a friendly way"
Pretty deborah frowned over the
bunch Of rosebuds; she was Q. dimpled,
bluc.eyed girl, quite unaccustomed TO
the business OF frownlng, SO that it
WAS rather an effort for her to contract
her bronze brown brows.
%Isaiah," slowly repeated Mr.. Trott,
still intent on tho kettle. Why, I've
sent Isaiah over TO Marshal Hills with
that fifty dollar bill.
Mrs. Trott dropped her spectacles. :.
"Thomas Trott! You haint, never"
cried she. -,
"Why shouldn'tI? Whitefoot IS lame,
and I've no notion Of walking over to
iill's with my rheumaticky old bones.
And the interest OH my note is due
to-day, so 1 Just gave it to Isaiah, and
told him to step lively and get back be-
Mrs. TrOtt drew an ostentatlously
Then You may be very sure Of one
thing, Trott," said she, you'll never
see Neither Isaiah nor that fifty dollar
bill again"
because Isaiah belongs to q gypsy
race. and because all our neighbors
advised us not to take him in when We
@He's worked Just as well as il there
wasn't gypsy blood in him, hasn't hep
demanded the farmly sternty.
al don't say but what he has" adj
mitted Mrs. Trott. 81 only know that
what's bred in the homework scrub out
Of the flesh, and it'll he just like Gypsy
isaiah to cut and run with that fifty dol
lar bill. And YOU'RE bigger fool than
took YOU for TO trust q wild fellow like
that with solid money"
But here pretty Deborah rose, flushed
and painting, from her chair.
"SiotherT' she cried, her blue eyes all
nfame, "you shall not talk sol Isaiah
il ne true and good and noble as If the
blood Of kings ran in his veins"
IHoity.hoity!" cried Mrs. Trott in
amazement. "And what is Isaiah Black
aJust this" said Deborah, "that Pm
engaged to him"
Engaged to-marry him?"
"Yes-to marry hin"
"Debby," said Mrs. rrott "are you
crazy?' ~,
mnde response. "And he loves me-
and we are to be married as soon as he
has laid up little money to rent farm
OF his own
dnrb;ly. "And your parents consent, ]
suppose, is matter OF no consequence
ave thought, mother" said Dcbby,
with downcast eyes, "that you would
offer no objection to what would make
me so very, very happy"
'Perhups," rigidly added Mrs. Trott,
"vou don't know that Orlando Draper Is
coming tonight with the especialintcn-
ton OF making an offer OF marriage to
yon-Sauire Drlper's som, with rcd
brick house and bank account at
Stockbridge2"
"Then he may go away again." said
Debby, resolutcly. "For ] never, never
will marry anyone but Isaiah Black
burnt
"a stray gypsy lad, brought up in the
woods, with nobody knows who for his
father and knack for chicken stealing
at his finger ends" sneered Mrs. Trott.
'Motherl" pleaded the girl.
"Now. Betsey, don't" said the farmer
''that amt fair. Isaiah's as good a
Young chap as ever stepped. And II
you'll Just remember, was as poor as
any gypsy OF the lot when first we mar
ried. Deborah's my only child, and she
shant be tcascd. Come here, Pussy,
and give the old father a kiss.