The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-08-26
A COUNTRY IDYL.

A COUNTRY IDYL.
Kitty McKissen looked at her brother
and sighed, and the sigh was accompa-
MED by glance of admiration. Hugh
McKissen was certainly fine specimen
of young mountain manhood. Tall and
muscular, with a 1.-THE and sinewy form,
whose graceful proportions even the half
coat, half sack, called "hunting shirt y
could not disfiuise; 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 singularly ignorant of his at
fractions, and though bold in peril, fear
ing neither man, bear nor catamount in
a single fight, was timid in the presence
of women, his mother and his sister ex-
cepted. The owner, subject to his
mothers liferight, of thousand acres
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 seven
and twenty a bachelor, while his fellows
were heads of families by the time they
had come to manhood. He loved his
mother and sister, who worshipped him,
and he was content.
hlIJN MChlSSCu was uOb mo oiobSAf
however, nor was she his kinswOman.
Eighteen years before, John Markham
came there from the East, and bought a
little "bottom patch of sixty acres, and
settled on it with his wife. He built a
log cabin, set to work awkwardly to cul-
tivate few girdled acres, and tried to
accommodate himself to an unusual po-
sition. Folk around, naturally suspic-
ious of strangeness, 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 thing-a-majigs till its a
plom sightw
Markham worked hard, and so did his
wife, and soon after their coming Kitty
was born. She was christened Gather
inc Burnett. Three months after her
birth her mother died, and Mrs. Nc
Kissen, who had just lost a child of
nearly the same age, offered to nurse
Kitty-an offer thankfully accepted.
But John Markham caught cold by ex-
posture, it settled upon his lungs, and in
less than year he died, leaving his lit
tie possessions to his child. Kitty
thrived and soon became known as a
McKissen, the circuit riders baptismal
certificate to the contrary notwithstand-
ing. She and Hugh, who was nine
year-old boy when she came, had been
brought up together.
When she was half-grown, Peter Nc
Kissen was killed by the fall of Cir
died tree and Kitty became the main
stay of the house, for old Mrs. McKissen,
who was ten years senior to her hus-
band, had been half paralytic for years,
and passed her time in hobbling be-
tween her bed, the kitchen table and
the fireside, where she comforted her
self with her cob pipe, frequently re-
filled. As foster mother she was the
only one Kitty had known, and the love
between the two was strong.
Frank and good-natured, as we'll as
athletic, Hugh was popular young man
his fellows accepting his lead and
young women receiving his attentions
courteously. But he never threw the
handkerchief at any particular fair one,
Treating oil Nth sl,y dnfnrnnnn They
did not come up to the standing of Kitty,
who had inherited some of the refine
ment of her mother; and who, having
read her fathers books over and over
again, was credited with vast amount
of learning. That kind of knowledge
did not interfere with her housewifely
qualities, for she was known to be the
best cook and baker, as well as the best
butter maker and the neatest house
keeper in the country. Hugh measured
all other girls by her Procrustean stan
dard. Besides, Hugh was not matrimo-
nially inclined. His home was too COM
Portable, and he was in no hurry to bring
a strange woman there.
But Mrs. KcKissen thought it high
time for her son to marry, and spoke to
him about it.
''What's the need, mother, "he respond
ed. "Tm comfortable, and so are you
Why should bring strange girl here
one that a'int used to us and our ways,
upsetting things?"
"You needn't do that NEITHER" said
his mother.
But Hugh was too obtuse to take the
hint and went out to salt the cattle, but
he communed with himself as he went.
81 might spark Lucy CAMPBELL" he
thought. She's been East to school, and
she's sort of highfyer, but she's
pretty. Old Jim Campbelrs well off,
and he has only young Jim and Lucy,
dunno. I'll speak to Kitty about it.
And there she is at the COWS, now'
Kitty was there with her milk pals,
and Hugh preached the subject at once.
She looked up, blushed little and then
looked down and listened.
"Lucy Campbelll" she cried. $50,
boss! Why don't the cre't ur' keep stillP
Lucy Campbells a nice girl; a little
sharp tempered, but you're not; and she
never turns her hand to anything around