Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-09-03

n
Tore array a blank leaf and scribbIec
hastily on it.
Mark SpoffOrd was lounging in hi
mothers sitting room in great easy
chair, with his feet wide apart, engaged
in shipping bit of cloth with pair o.
tiny embroidery scissors that scarcely fit
ted on the tips of his thumb and fOrefnger
Mark was a big fellow, long in the leg;
and arms, and broad of shoulder, deer
chested and vigorous, with thick croT
of curling auburn hair and gray, specu.
lative eyes under thick eyebrows. Eye.
glasses dangled by a cord from his neck,
but he seldom wore them, and charac-
teristic habit of contracting the eyelids
was due to his shOrtSightednesS. Marks
lips were made up for whistle as he
sat idly shipping the shred of cotton:
then suddenly he threw up his arms and
gave a great and prolonged yawn, show
ing all his beautiful firm white teeth
back to his molars and bicuspids.
Come, Mark" said his mother, who
sat at little table near by, engaged on
some coarse kind of canvas, on which
she employed variety of bright colored
embroidery silks, do bestir yourself
Here in this little room You seem to ez-
haust the air, you are so big. 1 can
hardly move without stumbling over
you"
Mark got up, made a queer grimace
that gave a comical expression to his
plastic features, Strengthened himself
slowly, as if he were jointed, and were
unpackng from some sort of a case, and
then went over to where his mother sat,
took her fair gray head in both his arms
and Rugged it against his huge breast.
'Oh, NANNY, is there no way at all 1
can see Kitty? 1t is beastly dull here
without her, as you must know. We
have always been such fast friends,
NANNY dear, and now to be cut off
from Kitty when we live just next door
Is what call hOrrid cruelty"
Mrs. Spofford patted her boys big
hand with her own small white one,
sparkling with rings, as she sat, her
work suspended and her handsome head
still in chancery to the lads strong
arms.
"What can we do, Mark? Your father
has quarreled with Kitty's father, and
nOn-intercOurse is the rule of the two
houses"
81 say it is beastly bad" said Mark,
twisting his features into another queer
grimace, "that we must break off all in
tercourse with our dearest friends be-
cause two old TO"
Don't be disrespectful to your father"
said Mrs. Spoford gravely.
mo, of course don't intend to blame
dad. He is not n patient man by any
means, but am of the opinion that old
Childers goaded him past all endurance.
Old Childers is a regular Tartar when
his temper is once up, an unreasonable,
pigheaded, prejudiced old scoundrel.
How he ever came to be the father of
Kitty cannot imagine"
tut, tut, said Mrs. Spoford, freeing
herself gently from her boys embrace
and proceeding to smooth her rumpled
locks with both her delicate hands.
Don't you remember not so many years
ago when you always called him Uncle
Ben, and how he used to ride you on his
back and bring you a pocketful of
goodies whenever he came to the house
to see your father"
"Of course, nanny, he was dads
best friend in those days, his old college
chum. We all thought him the kindest
hearted, jOlliest man in the world; and
he is generous, will say that for him.
And that time that dad got hurt on the
railroad, remember how he came and
staid with him nights, and took care of
him like a brother. But we did not
know then what devil of a temper he
had-not till he persuaded dad to come
out here to Littlefield and build this
house next door to his own. The two
houses were planned almost exactly
alike, and there was never a stick or
stone of wall or fence between. Their
flower beds ran into ours, and our peas
and lettuce hobnobbed with theirs, and
that house was Just as much of a home
to me as ours was, and Kitty and Tom
were like my own brother and sister,
and now it is all so sadly changed. Dad
and Uncle Ben quarreled about some
COMPOUNDED thing or another-protec-
ton and free trade and town Office, 1
ON&ACNO ~ was AAAstS DC5otu lu6 SUNNY
and things went from bad to worse.
until Uncle Ben built that great brick
wall between the gardens topped with
iron spikes, and spoiled both places.
Now when come home Tom passes
me by, like a contemplate cock-sparrow
that he is, his hat on his ear, and Uncle
Ben shorts like locomotive, and Kitty
pretends never to see me in church; her
eyes are always fixed on her prayer
book. am stranger % them all, ana
the two cooks and the two coachmen
and the two gardeners have taken up the
quarrel, and all. fight each other. Tom
Childers shoots our cats when they
perch on the brick wall, and the cook
throws the dead cats over into our gar
den, and our cook throws them back,
with the addition of broken crockery,
bottles and old boots"
seThat is not the worst of it." said
Mrs. Spoford with a sigh, taking Up her
embroidery again. at is almost the
same as if Kitty and Aunt Sophy and
Uncls Ben Tera al dead and buried. |