The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-10-28
THE CITY BOARDER.

| Iaid Mrs. Hinkley to her husband as he
came up hot and red for drink of wa
ter from the well, and looking down the
road he saw smart, strange figure
strolling along by the wayside.
''Oh, she is, is she?" responded the
farmer dryly. He loosened the windlass
and dropped the bucket down into the
| cool depths as he answered.
"And she's rugged out to kill in a
sprigged muslin, jest covered with lace
rufflin,' went on his wife, with an ag-
gravated envy which only woman can
feel, ''and ribbons-myl no end of EN-
and big leghorn hat loaded down
with flowers, and white par'sol If
she wears them things common, what
can she have for meetin, Jabez?"
Whatever wise opinion Jabez may
have entertained it was lost to the world,
being uttered inarticulately from the
bottom of a large tin dipper.
white shoes and stOckin's, too, and
pink silk petticoat. My land! what are
folks comm to? read a piece in the
paper the other day Sayin they was fash n
| able, but never s'posed twas anything
! but newspaper talk. Her father must
be pretty well off. She thought mebbe
she'd walk up the hill to see the view.
| She says she's dreadful fond of nature"
''Humph?" Farmer Hinkley mopped
his fevered brow. WAL, it's lucky she's
fond of it, for that's about all there is
goin on round here. She wants to learn
to milk" His great sunburned face
shone with amusement, and he winked
one blue eye under the shaggy brow that
half hid it. 81 guess I'll learn her with
Spotty."
"Ain't Spotty the one that kicks so?"
Her husband nodded.
"Waal, you shan't do no such thing.
Jabez Hinkley. Amt you ashamed Of
| yourself? She's real pretty spoken, and
| l shan't have no tricks played on her
while she stays here. My! L guess if
! here amt nothing wuss about folks
| than their bein dressy they'll have to
FIJI up the aisles in heaven with camp
chairs to get 'em all in"
"Wsal, I'm gOin back. l guess we
| shall git that hay in this mOrnin.
want to hurry 'em up so as to take hold
| of the 1O-acre lot tomorrow. You be
sure and ring the dinner bell good and
| loud SOS | shall hear it."
"You come in right off when l ring an
clean up little. You amt gOin' to set
down to the table in your shirt sleeves,
now we've got boarders."
| If Jabez Huxley had been born in
| Paris he would have shrugged his shout
| ders as he walked off. But as the only
world he had ever looked upon was up
among the New Hampshire hills, the
| only expression he gave to his feelings
upon the subject of dressing for dinner
| was to Jam his dilapidated straw hat
! down firmly on his head and hitch up his
trousers before he made his way out
| again into the broiling sunshine of the
July day.
Mrs Hinkiey forgot all about her pies
| in the oven. A deeper feminine note
| than her housekeeping pride had been
| touched, and she stood under the big
elm by the well gazing off persistently
upon the stretch of yellow road that
wound past the farm gate and up Buz-
yards hill. A turning had hid the SOL
| itarv walker momentarily from sight,
but presently the figure appeared again,
relieved jauntily against the sky, with
! the white parasOl like q nimbus around
| its head. There was cOQuettiSh, world
! ly air about its slender height, suggest
| ing forcibly the Newport Casino, or the
| beach at Narragansett Pier, or the fish
! pond at ROdick's, and a graceful ease i'll
| its languid gait which could only have
| been acquired on city pavements. But
| these were lost on the observer, whose
| eyes rested hungrily upon the crisp
white gown invested with the indesCrib-
able something of style and distinction
/ L.,
woman " hatever her degree.
! Poor Mrs. Huxley had never owned
| we'll fitting dress iii her life. She had
never seen one of Doucet's masterpieces
before.
81 guess" she said to herself in astute
reflection, 81 guess she h&s her things
made out"
All, didn't she have her things made
QUIT Miss Mary Grinnells poor papa
could have answered for that as he filed
| away the bills for her summer wardrobe
an array of marvellous CONNECTIONS in
| tended to do execution Ut IA half dozen
| watering places. Why, after all these
| expensive preparations made with glee-
! ful anticipations, his charming daughter
should have elected suddenly to spend
! the summer with Aunt Matilda, on
| New Hampshire farm, was a mystery
| that this wise parent did not 4 tempt to
| solve.
He simply set it down at once as one
| of those things never to be revealed, like
| the whereabouts of the north pole and
| the real author of Shakespeare's plays,
asked no questions, raised no objections,
| checked the trunks and saw the two
| ladies safely into the train. Aunt Ma
| tilda, with kodak, library of French
| fiction and a small botanical press, and
| her niece, wearing curious, half de-
| faint expression, not at all unbecOming.
| In fact, it gave her a new attraction in
the eyes of a young man who watched
| the parting from the distance smiling to
| himself, as if secretly amused, and TAX
| ing his seat in another car as the train
rolled out of the station, snOrting and
| putting mocllingly.
The farmhouse was a blow to Miss
| Mary's feelings. There had been plain
supper of baked beans, and smoked beef,
| and soggy bread, and Pie and cheese,
with plenty of milk, to be sure, but milk
just warm from the COW. And then the
evening had settled dOwn-the long,
lonely summer evening. Aunt Matilda
sat by the student lamp inside absorbed
in one of Gyp's novels and ObliviOus of
mosquitoes, while Mary, strolling out
side, fingered on the piazza, while
sickly moon peered at her between the
pine boughs, and through the air, sweet
with the scent of hOneysuckle, came
the shrin squeak of the cricket and the
complaining of a whippOorwill. 1t
was not silence, and yet stiller than
any silence could be. She cried herself
to sleep by and by.
But with the morning her elastic
young spirits revived. In freak of mis-
chief she drew out from her boxes the
elaborate and very unsuitable toilet
which had stirred Mrs. Hinkley's soul
to its depths, and she appeared at the
breakfast table as n vision of loveliness
and freshness, at which the shy old
farmer gaZed entranced and at which
Aunt Matilda cried out in severe disap-
prevail. She coaXed and smiled and
wheedled until every one grew into a
| good humor, and as she started off for
her walk even that grim spinster rela-
| five bade her COOdbV with a relenting