Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-06-14
ALMOST A I'FSBRTER.
BY MARION BARsTOw.

Iblhko Mt
gave out before they amounted 10 any
thing. AT lea~t t'Hf vas what Dave
Pitcher thought There was the town
hall that hid been LEFT unfinished for
ten wears; wind and weather were hav-
ing their own way with 1t now, and
Dawes twin sisters, Polly and Patty,
we're afraid to pass it IL dark night,
when tine wind made dismal noises
among the loose boards. There were
no services in the church; that was 60
NO to wreck and ruin, too; the band
had disbanded, aud the Village I'm
provement Society didn't improve any
hing. Dave said it wms enough to
make a fellow sick ut heart. OF course
.hs people were poor; 1t was impossible
5o Ialse good croFs on such ste:lle
title farms, and som. times the crops
gave out altogether. Dave, who was
The man of his amily although he was
1nly fifteen, knew what it was to ,.lg
hat stony sol till his back ached.
PERHAPS no one was TO blame beca .se
.hings gave out, but Dave, for his
part, meant to get away from Banbury
Crossing.
Almost ali the boys went away as
soon as they grew up Dave didn't
mean to wait until he grew III; he
couldn't waste so many years, Ban
bury Crossing was too small q place,
any way, for boy with a Great Ambi-
ton. He meant to be a great man, and
of course that siguiEed rich man
you see some modern ideas had found
their WAY to Bsnbury Crossing, per-
maps with the New York newspaper
which came weekly to the store sent by
he one old resilient who, thriving in
the city, had not forgotten to pity the
iulIness of Banbury Crossing. Dave
read the paper from the beginning to
The end, advertisements and all, tucked
Iway behind the sugsr barrel, while
;Le old farmers, whose chief recres-
ton was to ''sit in the store," talked
crops, rheumatism and politics. Dave
was not so silly as to think that he had
only to step into proud positions, he
knew that boy who is penniless must
make good fight, but he was sure
hat he was equal to it, if he could
only get away from BanburY Cross
ng
But how was the man of the family
to depart from the little weatherbe
an house under the shadow of Smoky
Hill, where there was no one to ia! g
his place except young Albertus his
ten-year-old brother who, to tell the
truth, loved mischief better than work?
His mother had actually turned pale
when he limited hs desire to go; Polly
and Patty had begun to cry; young
Albertus had said he guessed he should
90 cunning with Luke Ramsay, aud
Luke Ramsay twas pretty careless
with gum" as for Georginnnna,
Dawes sixteen year old sister, well, she
had only looked at him, but some
times Georgiauna's locks meant gre
deal. If there was anything mean in
him fellow was conscious of it at
once when Georgianns looked at him.
GeorgIanns was to teach school at
Mile End this summer, and although
she was only Just siIteer, ami for more
than a year had been sewing for the
village dressmaker, and helping the
to trim hats, and "hooking"
rugs for old Mrs. Pendleton, who had
a mania for them and had lost her eye
sight, and, in shOrr, doing every thing
that she could That was u, orgianua's
way-to do every thing that her hand
found to 10, aud never grumble about
poverty. Dave never had Thought for
a mor. ent Int that Banbury Crossing
was large enough place for her; of
course things were d ffeIent for a girl;
she had no business to be ambitious.
1t was on bright day in May that
he at length made up his mind. jeff
DawkIns had Il. uch to DO with bringing
about the crisis. JEFF was seventeen,
and had cohe to Banbury Crossing
from q city TO work for his uncle, who
was the proprietor of the clothes-pln
man ufactory. And although left Daw-
kins was not highly approved of In the
village Dave liked his society, because,
according TO his own proud boast, he
"knew the world" Banbury Crossing
was too "slow" for JEFF. The cloth. g.
pin mandatory, VIII CHI had been con-
sidered great enter rise, threatened
to share the fate of all things i'll that
town; it was prophes ed that Dawkins
would fail before another summer.
JEFF Dawkins had proposed that they
should run away" together; Dave OBJ
jected to the "ruhning awa,;'' he
preferred to do things IN d more man
ly fashion.
"I'm not that KNIT" he said inGIg-
nantly, when jeff had first prop )sed it.
"We're soldiers in our family. 'wfy
back as far as we Can look. Ny grand
father was In the war; my father was
a drummer boy at Gettysburg. 1t isn't
likely that / should run awayP
And jeff had laughed and said the
war was "'way back" and Dave must
remember that it was; nowadays every
thing was business, and you ran away
if you could make anything by it,
Dave revOlted at this sentiment; but
them II KNEW the world" perhaps
he was right, after all. 1t might be
better to 90 away secretly-one needn't
call it running sway-it might even be
easier for his mother; and the girls and
even Albertus woull cry and make il
very hard if he told them he was
going.
1t took several weeks, however, for
Jeff's IT asOning to convince Dave, but
at last came tie day when all his prep
aratiOns were completed, and he had
agreed with jeff that the next morning,
before any one VAS stirring, they would
shake the dust of Banbury Crossing off
their feet.
The family were all in the living
room-all but GeOrgianna. And when
he opene the door, the lIving-room
was a bower. Tha next day WAS Dec
Grafton Day, and Georgianns had asked
him to go to the woods with her for
flowers. She had asked him, also, to
help her about some memorial exer-
cises. Banbury Crossing had scarcely
the day, but Georgianns
had SAID lit was time that it did" 1t
was just like Georgianna to do things
of which no one else thought.
"Georgianna's in the other room
with the Frisby girls" volunteered
Polly. "She's trying to make them
care about Decoration Day"
Albertus was helping Patty to hang
up some wild cherry branches on the
wallis of the living room; Patty thought
that everything ought to be decorated
In honor of tomorrow.
Dave felt that it promised well that
Albcrtus was helping the gills; they
would soon learn to depend on Alber-
tus, and so would his mother; he would