Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-02

air. The woman held her tin pan poised in
her extended hand as she listened. The
middle-aged. handsome and rather hard
face seemed to break up in some way as the
bird repeated his call. Then the face stiff
fened again. She had her dish cloth in her
other hand, ana. still standing there, she
rapidly wiped out the pan. The bird gave
a fiirt with his wings and flew away up the
pasture. Mrs. Frier performed one more
twist around the pan with the cloth, then
she stepped brislIly into the house. Eut she
fingered TO look out of the window over the
sink.
Land she exclaimed, II guess I've
beard a chickadec before. l d'know what's
come over me to get up any kind of feelin'
bout that bird"
Like many people who live alone Mrs.
Frler had fallen into the habit of talking
to herself. She said it was kind Of com
pany sometimes, and shed i good deal
ruth"r talk To herself than TO some folks
she knew. She began to sweep the Kitchen.
She wondered why there was sense of
hurry upon her. This sense coafused her
slightly, Tor she was usually deliberately
accurate in all her movements. Now she
spilled the dust from the dust pan over the
top of the coon stove. instead of pouring 1t
deity into the fire through the open cover.
Then she made herself carefully wash the
stove. Having done this she again looked
out of the window into the maple tree.
THEM chlcSadees always seem real thick
in the fall OF the Jcar," she said. And in Il
moment she added: Il guess it's cause
most all the other birds have gone. There
amt many of them that stay round ill
Thanksgiving. L spose The nlinistern read
the proclamation tcmorrer. It's the turn
he 70 how rl,. in
to their meetin house. But folks have got
to take their choice Thanksgiving as TO
whether they'll neglect religious services or
run the risk of havin the turkey burnt to
a crisp"
Mrs. Frier was standing in the middle of
the room, CHANGING about her to See if the
work was entirely done up There was
something domineering in her glance and
in her whole aspect. Everything appeared
to be in order. The wood box behind the
stove was full, but as her eye fell upon 1t
she started toward the door. She went to
the neat little wood shed back of the house
and filled her arms with wood. on her re-
turn she paused in the path, standing erect
and strong with her burden. She appeared
to be listening.
From a short distance of the pasture
slope bird flew out of savin tree. In an
instant the woman heard his CHEEKY call
1t was a chckadee. and his cry came to
her plainly. Then she knew she had come
out hoping to hear this, and not because she
needed wood. She hurried in, dropping a
couple of sticks she went. Il decare,"
she exclaimed in a whisper. Having sue
Ceeding in pi.ing the wood on the already
heaped wood poX, Mrs. Frier sat down res
olutely in her rocker by the end window.
This windoy commanded the ROAD, and
the woman slways intended to be sitting
In 1t at preci 'ely this time in the forenoon.
she was in t. e habit of asserting that folks
that didn't have no regularity bout any
thing couldn't never git long. She had in
times past made this assertion with great
frequency TO her husband, who had been
conspicuous for not having any regularity
about anything. and it was undeniable that
Hosy Frier had not got along. The back
door of the old Frier house opened directly
into the pasture, and the pasture sloped up
ward to the top of Hickory Hill
Hosy used TO say that he had the biggest
door yard of anybody in the county. He
said also that he ought to have something
or other to make up to him. for there
wasn't an acre of first-rate loan in the
whole concern" which was true, for his
farm was poor even among poor farms.
But Hosy, being shiftleSs, in the secret re-
cesses of his heart was glad that there was
80 little loan and So much gravel. He
could always have an excellent reason for
his insufficient crops. He used to explain
in the grocery store, with not the least
sense OF irreverence. that the Almighty
himself couldn't raise a good crop without
farm.
But everybody liked Hosy Frier. Even
Susannah Gleeson promptly responded to
his love-making and married him; and she
was the llveliest girl there was going to
singing schools and prayer meetings that
winter.
If there was anything" people said,
that could make thrifty man of Hosy,
that thing was Susannah Gleason"
Susannah had five thousand dollars in her
own right, and she was wise enough to re-
tain this in her name. Indeed. Hosy advised
her to do this. He said it would make her
independent, and If things didn't go right
with him, why, Susannah, you'll be all
right anyway"
And things didn't go right with him at all
All ne had was the rocky farm whici1ihe had
Inherited. and this he mortgaged in the sec
ond year, without telling his wife precisely
what the paper was to which she put her
name. But she trusted him then. There
wa MT better-hearted Teller goin' than
Hosy,' everybody said. But he went down
hill as fast as If he had not had a good
heart faster perhaps He had a mania for
trading. He was always swapping horses
and cows. and losing in the exchange. Then
folks began to pity him, and to say they
guessed Susannah held ruther of a tight
rein over him." But Hosy always main
tanned that he had the best wife in the
world. He want half good 'nough for her"
At the end of ten years there did not seem
to be anything left to swap, and the interest
on the mortgage far behind. Hosy
never asked his wife for penny, and after
the hrst year, she never offered him money
suddenly 1t became known that Frier had
gone away. Mrs. Friers lips were shut in
such a manner that no one dared to ask
her where her husband was. She lived on
in the old place, and gradually 1t was ac-
cepted as matter of course that she should
live there, and that people should not know
where Hosy was. The house began to look
well kept and tidy. The mortgage was paid
on. Mrs. Frier took in shoes to button
from the factory in the village. She said
shed ruther button 'em than not for it
didn't take all her time to do her work
1t was the week before Thanksgiving that
Hosy had gone. The minister felt as If he
ought to call, but he dreaded the duty and
put 1t off until the very evening before
thanksgiving. Then he came in and tried
to appear as If he were only making an or
binary visit. She was buttoning boots, and
her long thread Kissed in and out of the
leather in such a way that the poor young
man grew more confused with every mo-
ment that passed
Finally he said that cit was the eve of the
festiva. of good cheer" Here he paused
telling himself that he was talking like
fool.
Mrs. Frier said that she knew 1t was. and
that she had baked pies enough to last till
March She always did bake mince pies
enough to last till March. And she made
two kinds. best and second best The
best were marked round the edges with
Key, the seconds she had Just nipped the
crust up with her fingers. For her part she
didn't care for fresh mince pies She thought
they improved as they grew older
ax-tr1