The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-01-21
THE HOME CORNER.

selves. Those were not the streets of
Austin that L looked upon; but dis
tant, Well-remembered hills lifted
Their blue woods in broken chain
Out o the sea O suIOy silence"
Far up, along their slopes, great pine
trees hold their smooth, dark trunks
aloft, and away up among their
branches the wind moves with soft,
melancholy cadences, as though ones
tenderest sorrow had been caught
and set to music. In and out among
the trees flashes the crimson flame of
the red bird, while the little brook at
the foot of the hill keeps up it's busy
murmur, and along it's banks crow
violets and trailing arbautus, anG ms
unfold their feathery fronds am it's
shadOwy recesses. A very different
scene, indeed! Yet it is through this
scene walk, and not by any chance
through the streets of Austin, this
misty, mostly morning.
**x
Nv
The crowd of friends and relatives
that sat around the fire had drifted
into talk upon the hard times-one
of the last subjects that should ever DO
discussed around the fireside, unless
it were merely in the exchange of con-
fidences. None of these were wealthy
people. They were all quite accus-
toned to being on a perpetual COM
mittee of ways and means, and would
calculate with great ingenuity how to
make one dollar do the work of
twenty; so, perhaps, it was quite nat
ural that knowing one another as they
did, and all grouped around one fire,
they should begin commenting on the
scarcity of money, the poor collections,
the impossibility of keeping out of
debt, and other things of that kind.
While they talked, little woman
with face that was pretty, and filled
with gentle loveliness, though she
was several years past the fortieth
milestone of her pilgrimage, had been
looking into the fire with smile that
surely belonged to some old and
touching memory. When she was
questioned about it presently, she
gave the story connected with that old
past through which she had just been
wandering.
NO., Nv
~ hope you WON'T think me AFRO
CANT" she said in her sweet and SIM
pie way, "but when you talked about
the impossibility of keeping out of
debt couldn't help thinking of an
old experience of mine. You won't
mind if L tell about it, will you? Very
Few people know OF it. don't speak of
it often. But somehow it seems to me
that this little story might be of some
help to others. Mind [ don't saw
that everybody could do as 1 did, or
even that they ought; for it may be
that was little obstinate and might
have yielded point here and there
without injuring myself or lowering
my dignity.
~
"You all know something of the
misfortunes that fell upon me years
ago. was living in Hays county
then, and left me completely adrift.
Well, when the storm was over sold
most of my furniture and got money
enough to take myself and the four
children back to the little farm in
east Texas-all we had left in the
world. The boys were all little fell
lows, the Oldest was twelve, and quite
small for his age; and the little Girl
was two. Before L reached home
had my life all mapped out as clearly
as though [ could have seen the
whole length of the road. | had
scores of relatives i'm that
county, all in comfortable circum-
stances, and all willing to assist me.
but | made up my mind that [ didn't
want any assistance. III should al.
low myself to be dependent upon,
these relatives the time might come
when they would taunt my children
with having saved them from ber.
gary. Relatives do queer things
sometimes. So we moved into tRe
little house and set up the scantv fnr.
nltlre we had saved from the wreclr
and | had gallon of syrup I had
bought from ne2hbor that day. and
nifty cents in money. That looked
like hard times, didn't it? But if
doesn't seem to me that [ felt anv
more appalled, at the prospect than +
40 right now. [ sent Joe, tho oldest
boy, to mill three miles away and
he bought fifty cents worth of meal
ana carried it home on his shoulder
For an entire week we lived on svrun
ana corn bread. Meantime I pot in q
Ittle sewing and at the end
OF the week I had SS50
mat was princely sum! How prond
was OF it! l knew our fortunes We're
made from that day. We all worked
win a Will. [ sewed steadily. and
the little boys picked cotton for the
nLelghbors, and by hiring a little helm
they managed to cultivate a mart Of
our own farm. 1 raised them ali. and
gave them fair educations; and from
that day to this we have never owad
any man dollar. [ have been in u
position to lend money to nv relatives
When they needed it, but have hor-
roWed from no one"
wv
Does IL seem such plain and unat.
tractive story? the story of this littlo
woman, who, having the choice ba.
tween dependence and hard tinos
chose the latter. and
lived uD to her ohoioo co.