The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-02-06
HUGH AND KITTY.
an Idyl Of the Hill Country of
Tennessee.

Kitty McKissen looked at ht T. brother
and sighed, and the sigh was accom-
panied by glance of admiration, Hugh
McKissen was certainly a fine speci-
men of young mountain manhood. Tall
and muscular, with a 1.-THE and sinewy
form, whose graceful proportions even
She half coat half sack, called "a
hunting shirt" could not disguise; a
frank and pleasant expression, and
voice that, in spite of rather nasal
tone when its owner was excited, was
full and musical-Hugh was worthy of
feminine admiration. He was singu-
larly ignorant of his attractions and,
though bold in peril, fearing neither
man, bear nor catamount in single
tight, was timid in the presence of
women, his mother and his sister eX-
cepted. The owner subject to his
mothers life right, of a Thousand acres
s~of mountain land, of which one-third
was rich BOTTOM" or level land, with
horses in stall, cattle in meadow and
steers on the hill range, he was at
Scven-and-twenty a bachelor, while
his fellows were heads of families by
the time they had come to manhood.
lie loved his mother and sister, who
lvorshiped him, and he was content
Kitty McKissen was not his sister,
however nor was she his kinswoman
Eighteen years before, John Markham
came there from the east, and bought
little bottom patch of sixty acres,
and settled on it with his wife. lie
built log cabin, set to work awkward
Iy to cultivate few girdled acres, and
tried to accommodate himself to an
unusual position. Folks around natur-
ally suspicious of strangers, thought
he must have done something wrong to
make him leave home He brought
books, not over hundred in number,
which the neighbors deemed to be
great library. His house was neat,
owing to his young wife's taste. The
neighbors said: ITS stuck roun' with
rhinga till it's plom sight"
Markham worked hard, and so did
his wife, and, soon after their coming,
Kitty was born. She was christened
Entharine Burnett. Three months
after her birth her mother died,
and Mrs. McKissen, who had just lost
a child of nearly the same age, offered
30 nurse Kitty-an offer thankfully
accepted. But John Markham
caught cold by exposure, it set
tled upon his lungs, and in less
than year he died, leaving
his little POSSESSIONS to his child.
Kitty thrived and soon became
known as a McKissen, the circuit
elders baptismal certificate to the con-
Erary notwithstanding. She and Hugh,
who was nine-yeGr-old boy when she
came, had been brought up together.
When she was half grown Peter Nc.
Kissen was killed by the fall of gir-
died tree, and Kitty became the main
stay of the house, for old Mrs McKis-
sen, who was ten years senior to her
husband, had been half paralyti2 for
years, and passed her time hobbiing
0eween her bed, the kitchen table and
Ghe fireside, where she comforted her
self with her cob pipe, frequently re-
Gilled. AS foster mother, she was the
only one Kitty had known, and the
love between the two was strong.
Frank and good natured, as well as
athletic, Hugh was popular young
man-his fellows accePting his lead
and young women receiving his atten-
blOnb cOurJbOuSly. buJ ne never lnfeW
the handkerchief at any particular fair
one, treating all with shy Difference.
They did not come up to the standing
of Kitty, who had inherited some of
the refinement of her mother; and
who, having read her fathers books
-,ver and over again, was credited with
"A vast amount of learning. That kind
of knowledge did not interfere with
her house wifely qualities, for she was
known to be the best cook and baker
as well as the best butter maker and
neatest housekeeper in the county,
Hugh measured all other girls by her
Procrustean standard. Besides, Hugh
was not matrimonially inclined His
home was too coIafortable, and he was
in no hurry TO bring a strange woman
there.
But Mrs. McKissen thought it high
$!ne for her son TO marry, and spoke
~ him about it.
What's the need, mother?" he re-
ssponded. Elm comfortable, and so
are you. Why should bring a strange
girl here-one that amt used to us and
-nur ways, upsetting things?"