Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-03-06
WINDING HER BUSINESS.


Scarsby. hastily adjusting her ear trum.
pet you a-thinkin' o gettin married at
this time O. dayi"
Miss Naomi gave sniff Of exceeding
great derision.
Who spoke o. marriage? Not !, nor
! guess the squire. We're outen our
first childhood, aud we amt got to our
second, calculate-not yet, at any
rate. E"
The widow looked disappointed.
Then what do you mean p she said.
"Why, continued Naomi, the squire
he has leased the old farm. I'd got to
let it to somebody. What between the
taxes, the interest, and repairs, it was
too much for a woman 10 look arter.
But the cows and the poultry Is to re-
main, and I'm to run the dairy aud egg
business. Ten per cent commission I'm
to have, and the use of the old house.
And I've set out a lot Of new straw berry
roots, and some of the offshoots of Hes
ter Brine's sweet smellin' English vio.
lets. Pm goin' to earn my livin' if be
q womani"
NtlttS dHu StTdWUSTIteS. JOuu
hain't no faith in that sort o. thing.
at don't matter to me whether he has
or not, curtly answered Miss Nutting.
"A woman never yet made farmin'
pay," the widow remarked.
Anyhow mean to have try at it..
My expenses won't be much.
The widow shook her head.
81, 4 II.
mot if ! know it. Pm pretty certain
can make good butter, and always
took natural to hens and chickens.
know can market them Strawberries
at the summer hotels on Cherrybrook,
and English violets brings 80 cents a
dozen at the New York florists in Janu-
ary and February. Give it up? No,
ma'am, don't
You're runnin' great risk, sighed
Mrs. Scarsby, in genuine Jobs comforter
accents.
There's always the poorhouse left, II
] don't succeed, " sarcastically remarked
Naomi.
And Mrs Scarsby went away to tell
her news throughout the whole neigh
borhood.
Upon my word, said Mrs. Doctor
Plumb, "the woman has pluckl But OF
course she won't succeed; women never
do.
Il never was so fat in all my life,
said Mrs. Scarsby, "as / was when
heered Naomi say she was going into
partnership with Squire Bagshot. ]
supposed, of course she was going to
marry him.
"Well, l don't know why she
shouldn't" said Mrs. Plumb. "The
squire amt young, but he's likely
man enough.
"He marry Naomi Nuttingl" said Mrs.
Scarsby. "A poverty stricken old maid,
with one foot in the poorhouse.
Folks used to say your John was
partial to her, shrewdly observed Mrs.
Plumb.
~That's all a mistake, said Mrs.
Scarsby.
Then she took herself and her ear
trumpet off to the next house, while
little Ellie Price, Mrs. Plumb's bound
girl, who had been listening through
the dumb waiter, breathlessly scampered
to the grocery for the ounce of powdered
cinnamon which she had been told half
an hour ago to bring. and there informed
Mrs. Peppersauce, as profound secret,
that Miss Naomi Nutting and Squire
Bagshot were about to be married.
Il don't believe it, said Mrs Pepper
sauce.
Il heard it with my own ears, said
Ellie, glowing ell over with the inn
portance of her news.
@An old maid like thatl' said Mrs
Peppersauce, scornfully.
@She amt 80 yet" said Ellie. Il
heard misses tell Mira Scarsby so +"
Ill news, they say, spreads fast; so
does good news Which Of these heads
Squire Bagshofs engagement comes
under is hard to specify, but certain it is
that the morsel of gossip spread like
wildfire through Cherry Village.
Me engaged to Naomi Nuttingi"
said the squire. %Well, it's the first I've
heerd of it. Z"
Naomi going 10 marry that old wild
overt" said John Scarsby. what nom
sense. You told me yourself, mother,
that she denied it up and down.
~Yes, said Mrs. Scarsby, a little
doubtfuIly. -but that's what they always
do. 1t would be good thing for Naomi
Nutting.
I'm never believe it, said John.
The old love affair between him and
Naomi Nutting was dead and gone long
ago, but something in the prevalent at
mosphere seemed to fan the faint spark
of its ashes into newlife. John Scarsby
remembered how black and bright her
eyes once were. and what trim figure
she had. While the squire, meditating
on the perfect, dazzling cleanliness of
NaomTs dairy. and the efficiency with
which she had set out the violet roots
and the strawberry creepers, said to him.
self
Il don't know but that l might do
worse. To be sure. she's a poor, soli-
tary, friendless creetur, without any
property except that old mortgage rid.
den farm But can't get no hired girl
short Of $11 month, and it is sort O.
lonesome settin' on the stoop Of evenin's
all alone. Shes been brought up eco
nomical, too. and won't want to spend
more money than she can help That's
3 great thing.
The squire brushed his Iank hair more
carefully than ever over the glossy dome
Of his bald Uranium, and considered
seriously the propriety Of dyeing his
grizzly beard
Mother" said John Scarsbv. that