The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-11-16
TRYING THE ROSE ACyT.'
y -.- y n ~ n "a "a 3 10 81 n
But Josiah AlteGs wife Found II
~ wouldn't Work.

~ W
engaged in the avocation that had oc-
cupied my mind and my arms for the
last three hours In fact, my ayocation
had been SO arjous and continuous that
they ached hard all three Dem My,I
mind and my two arms. AS i said
previous and heretofore, the mornin,
WIZ fair one. had noticed and ad.
y mired 1t as shook my tablecloth often
the back stoop. How the hand of mater
had been a-pattin' and aipettin' the
trees in the distant woods. and sort O.
smoothin' 'em out, as we do children's
hair when they have got hard job in
front OF 'em and have got to go out In
the cold-and she, old Nom Mater, be.
In right in the mt5sttof her fall color.
In, and her hands all full Of the gor. !
geous dye-stuff, she had left the marks
of her finger tips on the green yerdnre
and they shone{ with red and yeller
streaks. (Metafor.).
And beyond the woods there wuz q
meller blue haze a-hangin', lass II. Nom
Mater, same as wimmen will when
they are hard to work with their fall
cleanin', had dropped curtain of lu-
minous blue mist between us and the
fur-off horizon, and no KNOWN what
she wuz a-doin' behind that screen,
a-paintin' the hilltops most likely. The
air wuz as soft ard balmy as If II
blowed often bed of balm. And
s'pose mebby 1t wuz the fine atmos-
phere which made Josiah Allen In such
wonderful good spirits that mornin' II
wuz rare and invigorating, like fra
grant old wine, and s'pose he had
drinked it in and 1t had stimulated
him.
anyway he had acted real presump-
tiou. and highlarious all the lnornin',
4 and inclined to be high-headed. had
noticed it to the breakfast table and
afterward.
myself, as said prior and hereto
fore, had been to work so hard that
could not enjoy the rich beauty Of the
day only by cursory glimpses from the
buttery winder and over the top of the
shaking tablecloth. / had been en-.
gagged in the hard and toilsome occupa.
ton Of churnin'. 1t wuz big one and
the cream WIZ thick, the dasher, re-
volvin' one, wuz hard indeed to move,
and to keep on a-movin,itf for over two
hours by the clock had called for out.
lay for all my strength and all my
patience and Christian fortitude.
Josiah would have helped me churn.
he said he would have been glad to
have done it all himself, but unfortu.
nately, the old harness wuz broke and
he had to be out i'll the barn Almost all
the mornin' n mcndin it and a-soften'
Its rough sides with coatin' of lard
and lampblack. It is dreadful curious
coincidence, but it most always happens
80 that old harness always breaks
down churnin' day, and, of course, he
couldn't drive with martingill broke
into, or tug that wuzn't all right
Josiah had promised to carry the but
ter to Jonesvillc that day to meet the
buyer from Loontown, and that buyer
had promised him as much as three and
a half cents "a pound in advance of the
common price, on account of the ex-
treme worth of my butter. Yes; my
butter is sought after although am
fur from bein' the one to say it myself,
or even to hint at it. Yet it is great
truth, we'll known all over Jonesville,
and as fur out as Loontown and Zoar,
that make good, uncommon good but
ter.
Wall, had got the butter all churned,
and s'pose Josiah had heard, out to
the barn, that the dasher had ceased it's
heavy motion, and s'pose he had got
through with the harness at the same
time for he come in jest as wuz a.
worlSin' it over and a-sprinlslin' the salt
down into its sweet golden depths in
the white butter bowl. And he come
in and sot down in the kitchen lest as
high-spirited and DARN as he wuz when
heTSvent out and more too.
Wall, while I was a-workin' in the
salt with my wooden ladle, Josiah took
old paper that l had brung down
from the attick that mornin' to put
onto my buttery Shelves and ever and
anon he would read out q paragraph to
me, as is the way, ISs'pose, of all male
companions in their good-natured hours
of ease. And, all at once, he cried out
in glad, joyous axents, as if unbcl1nown
to himself:
Here, Samantha, is sunthin' that is
worth readin' Here is eioquence and
hard horse sense. I feel that 1 love
the man that wrote that love him
dearly"
what is it?" seq I, speakin' out of
the buttery.
SEE he st is what a lot of big men
say about wimmen, but this one beats
ALL" SEE he: "Just listen to IT.
So Strengthened up my weary frame
TO rest my aching back, and leaned my
tired-out arms against the side of the
big butter bowl and listened.
"If I were a woman would not do
anything important would emulate
the rose and its wisdom. l would
charm and be silent
'''If were q woman would be just
woman and nothing more, for there
in lies woman's greatest charm. Man
was made to work for woman. woman