Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1893-01-27
BY THE FIRELIGHT,

mountains SlrctcHln1 away W tuo
south. Among the shifting heaps OF
fallen leaves shone CLEANS OF color.
but the moss had turned to brown,
and in the cold. windy evening the
lately denuded trees seemed to SILVER.
| A woman came out OF pasture
| with pail OF milk in her hand. A
light wisp OF creature her cotton
gown hung Imply about her thin
form. She covered as the wind
struck her. and coughod painfully
yet she fingered. She was too much
| a child OF nature to explain how the
| autumn days made her feel both for
lorn and oxpectant aud yet she was,
perhaps. the moro affected by the
moods OF the Great Mother not at
tempting to translate them into hui
man needs. Tho clatter OF hoofS
made her turn slowly. One glance
and her heart gave leap sending
the warm color TO her cheek. BY the
time the horseman had reached her
the color was gone.
- Good evening Does Uncle Billy
Grimes live here?'
Yes sir"
do you suppose he would be will.
ing to put me up to night?'
\ Il reckon. Light and III take
your nag"
The gentleman hesitated as if his
gallautry would not permit him to al.
low a woman to put up his horse, but
seeming to think better OF it. thanked
her and, taking his saddle bags
turned toward the house.
At the door he was met by an old
woman who. learning his wish cor.
| daily made him welcome otferin G
him a seat by the side of the hearth
on which q great fire was burning.
He tilted back on the short-legged
chair with the feeling Of warmth and
we'll being which follow "a long, cold
ride and soon found himself gently
slipping into the mood he had beer
trying all day to cultivate. This had
once been his home. and after half a
life time spent away he had returned
to the land OF his childhood only to
find the Carolina mountains less gran6
than others he had seen. and the sim
pie life of the people which in mo
ments of sentiment he had remem
J bered us idyllic. rough. uncouth ant
cherries. He was too far removed
, from their life for sympathy. too close
to feel the picturesque interest ant
pleasure of a real stranger. Thes'
. people were more or less nearly re
lated TO him yet they seemed another
race of beings e4&
He had left his mountain home
, mere boy and had gone West wher
a new life opened for him. Some
thing In his nature always made him
8 reject what was coarse and vulgar
8 and when he became suddenly rich
: his native gentleness and simplicity
= of manner stood him instead OF breed
ing and education. dlsarming criti
cism till, with the quick perception
initiative faculty which were hi
birthrlght he had largely REPAIRS
I. the deficiencies OF his early training
y acquiring much OF the manner an
tone OF people of culture. Now h
had come back and was strange
It in his own land.
But the bright freight dancing O.
the wall illuminated the rough In
terror of the farmhouse kitchen; an
:. he began to feel less offended by tn
meanness of his surroundings. Mem
cries of his childhood rose up befor
r him as he watched the younger wo
- man in her preparations for supper
She had mixed up the corn bread, an
I. now kneit on the floor beside tn
hearth. moulding it into loaves an
putting. them INTO large iron skillet
The freight flashed on the tin par
gave a rudy glow to hor thin face
and turned her duh. yellowish hal
to red gold. As the stranger watche
= her something rose in his throat
Nancy"
She turned suddenly.
81 {"Chris!'
Il did not know you at first"
e : Il reckon I've changed, she salt
4 sadly.
y Not so much. twas rather darl
d 1t takes the freight to make yo
{ look natural But how came yo
u herep'
Uncle Billy Aarried my aunt a.
she wanted somebody to help her. n
= l hadn't no home
No" She picked up her pan al
left the room.
e lit cannot be she has waited a
these years for me-" he though
'Of course not; such constancy is n
to be found among women Of her sor
How faded she is! These mounta
folks particularly the women. gro
old early. Poor thing! l suppo
she has had to work hard and 81
never was very strong Why. 81
can't be much older than Lois Ell
son." He shuddered at the contras
Miss Ellison was his partners siste
They were the best OF friends. 1
had proposed to her annually for Il
last five years and yet they still r
manned friends. She treated hi
kindly and without coquetry. ar
tc pleaded prior attachment AS Il
other man was dead. Chris wait,
Us; and hoped. Sometimes he had bee
tempted to doubt her reason for +
fusing him. but it only gave him pal
e and he had always made it a ru
W never TO doubt lady's word. Ci
cumstances had now and then oblig,
him TO be false IN this principle. b
he lived up TO it when he could. II
romantic fancy was touched by Il
constancy OF the fair cultivated W
man OF the world. but in this mou
tain girl such u sentiment seem'
painfully homogeneous He knew t.
we'll that the position OF an old ma
here was one neither OF honor IL
profit
n. Uncle Billy came in and greet