The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-05-26

''DuJ 1 guess I snoufd a. fetched round all
right if these ere girls hadn't took posses
sion Of me. Where's the bag o. hickory
| nuts, Honory2 Who's got the basket o.
pound sweets, Eudoryi Here's the carpet
sack and paper box all right"
He shook hands heartily with Mrs Ran
som and Lucy.
"How be you, Phebe'" pursued he
"And little Lucy too9 Got to be woman,
hain't you? Hvin with the judges folks
| suppose? But where's Madeline and my
| little favorite, Bess"
Lucy and her mother looked hesitatingly
| at each other, but Honorp plunged into the
| question at once.
"Pll tell you, Uncle 2abdiel," said she
mora and | aren't fools, nor yet children
\ and Madeline and Bess have treated us
| shamefully, and so we are going to be re-
venged by telling their secrets. They're
| going to have an at home and they've in
| vited lot Of grand people, and when they
| got your letter they decided they didn't
want you"
"Hcy?" cried Uncle Zabdiel.
Eyes" cried Eudora, taking up the
thread of the discourse, "the mean, un-
L grateful thngs-after all that dear, de-
l lightful summer at BlaCkford farm, that
| saved Bess' good for nothing life, they
| laughed at your cowhide boots and chin
| whiskers, and Madeline made believe to
| cough out loud just as you do sometimes
| and"--
| "Well, declare" said Uncle Zabdiel
| relieving his bronchial tubes by the same
| identical cough and growing very red.
"And So" again chimed in Honora, you
| were TO be made to believe that we lived at
II Currant court and kept out Of the way
of the company"
"They needn't put themselves to all that
| trouble" said old Uncle Zabdiel, letting
| his head drop on his two hands. "If they
hadn't wanted me, why didn't they say so2
/ / want no one to peril their souls by telling
| falsehoods on my account"
| Both the girls few at Uncle Zabdiel with
/ hugs and kisses
1--WE love you, Uncle Zab!" said Dora
| yehemently. 1--WE heard it ALL even after
| Madeline drove us out Of the room. We
listened at the register and we made up
our minds you shouldn't boz
Deceived and put uponl' Nora struck
in. "And please don't be vexed with us
because we are Madeline's and Bess' little
sistersl It's quite true what Dora says
| We do love you. We are tired of being
scolded by the girls and snubbed by papa.
| Please, Uncle Zab, mayn't we go back to
the farm with you and be dairy girls or
| milkmaids or something Of that kind2 Pm
L awful fond Of chickens, and Dora can
| weed the onions and shell corn. Please,
/ Uncle Zabl'
The old man suddenly Strengthened him
self up and dashed the big drops from his
/ eyelashes.
mo, girls" said he; mo! That amt my
/ notion. I've sold the old farm to n railway
and have made good bargain, so folks
say. guess I'm what my consin Judge
| Barchester, would call a rich man, and
was coming up here to end my days with
4 my relations and leave 'em my money after
was dead. But everything's different
now. I'll hire house here, Phebe Ran
som-here in New York-and you and
| Lucy shall be my housekeepers. And I'll
adopt Nora and Dora for my own. Yes
girls, I've no daughters and you shall take
the place to me-"
ooh, dear Uncle Zabdiel" ecstatically
shrieked Dora and Nora with one accord.
Bess Barchester's "at home" was q
very tame affair. The funny man did not
come at all. Miss Dale had such a cold
that her voice made no impression on the
company. The wrong people all came and
the right people staid away. Altogether
L IL SCOTeu Us ldlluTct III SplIG Ol hduellue
heroic efforts.
by the way, girls" said the judge, as
he opened the morning paper at the NOR
rows late and insipid breakfast, 'you
| really must write for your old Uncle
| Cooper to come up here, and take some no.
tice of him. 1t seems he has sold the old
| place for a stupendous price to some rail
road company, which is going to build up
u monster hotel there, with lot of min
rral springs or some such money making
rontrivance. Downes told me all about it
at the club. They call the old man the
'Blackford Millionaire l don't think he
has many relations but ourselves. See to
it, Madeline, will your You always were
the family manager"
Yes" said Madeline gloomily, land /
begin to think I've managed all the life
out of it,"
| Uncle Zabdiel. however, declined to be
"taken some notice Of, and great was the
wrath of the judge and his two eldest
daughters when they discovered the march
that Dora and Nora had stolen on them.
! IF your uncle wishes to adopt any one"
fumed Judge Dorchester, there's Made
line has the family brains, Snd Bess the
family beauty"
| And Nora and Dora have all the heart
and soul there is in the family" quietly
observed Uncle Zabdiel, 80 / calculate
won't alter my arrangements. New York
| World