The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-29
HOW THEY DROVE THE SHERIFF

'@CNON N0SLAO CsAO 11UIlO
Mrs. Macdonald, turning her flax
wheel with a fiercs energy. "Of
course Mr.. Libby can't pay his debts
after being i'll all winter, and now just
as he is getting better and planting is
coming on, he must go to Jail. Ishould
like to know how Peggy and the chill
dren are to get anything to eat while
he is gonel If 1 were a man, he
shouldn't go. But there! M~en.folks
haven't half the spunk as women!"
81 am sure, Marie" returned gentle
Mrs. Noble, looking mildly into her
pretty neighbours flushed face. eve
are all sorry for him, but our husbands
have as much as they can do to pay
their own debts"
ooh, we can't any of us afford to
pay the money" replied Marie. But
Sheriff Watson is such an old coward
that he might be frightened away.
1t won't do to go against the law"
said Mrs. Noble shaking her head
solemnly.
1.-The lawW cried Marie, nearly up,
setting the WHEEL her wrath. "That's
the way with you Americans, Abigail!
You'd see a man roasted alive rather
than oppose the law, but the French
people are different, I'd have you
know"
Marie Macdonald was a lively,
warm hearted woman, impatient of
wrong and eager to help all who
need her sympathy. Her ancestors
were French, and from them she had
inherited her great vivacity and quick
temper. Eer husband was a Scotch
man, and though he considered his
wife the ''smartest" and most Iovable
woman in all New England, he some
times wished she was notso impulsive.
On her part, she found her husbands
cautious ways and guarded speech a
real trial sometimes, but love an re-
pect taught each to overlook the others
faults.
Just now her Indignation was reused
against Solomon Libby's creditors. Mr..
Libby had been i'll all winter, and hav-
ing a large family to support, had got
into debt to a grocer in the neighbor-
ing town. The country was new and
money was scarce, so when Mr.. Libby
was notified that if the debt was not
paid he must go to jail, there was no
one to help him, much as his neighbors
desired to do so.
AS Marie ceased smeaking, Mrs.
Noble arose, and taking the tea she
had come to borrow, started for home,
leaving her neighbor alone with her
black-eyed baby.
The afternoon sur shone warm, so
Marie placed her wheel unGera spread
lag maple near the house, and, putting
the baby On 1.-The grass nea her, went
on with her spinning.
The house was built of logs and stood
on a sloping bank, at the foot of which
a little brook fretted and gurgled at
the pebbles that sought to stop it's way.
Above her rose a forest of grand old
pines towering straight up into the
blue sky, while their tops swayed in
in the light breeze, making mournful
music and waiting sweet incense all
around. The soft sunlight came through
the shade and laid along the ground in
little patches of that indescrible color
that no artist a copy, the color Of g
sunbeam on a bed of pine needles.
Marie's white forehead was puckered
into two thoughtful wrinkles, and her
usual merry song was hushed. Pres
emily the baby began to cry, and she
took him up; as she sat nursing him,
her eyes suddenly frightened, and she
clapped her hands and burst into such
a peal of laughter that the baby crowed
in sympathy,
Marie sprang up and throwing a light
shawl over her head and ran down the
wood road leading to Mrs. Mobiles with
her baby in her arms. Her light feet
pre- sed the vivid moss as she hurried
on, and her dress bent clumps of grace
full ferns growing by the roadside. All
along the path rose patches of arbutus,
full of sweet wax-like blossoms just
ready to fall from among the shining
leaves that sheltered them. Acat-bird
called out in hooking tones as she
passed, and a tiny squirrel crossed her
path.
She soon reached her neighbours
house, and ran in flushed and painting.
Mrs. Noble came forward in alarm.
"What has happened?" she asked
anxiously.
"Nothing," replied Marie breath,
IessIy, "only I have such a good plan,
and if you will help me, 1 am sure we