The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1893-07-19

grlnned at the variations IN the nasal
serenade and crossed his legs. Phoebe
also grinned and shifted her position.
Then they grinned in concert and
shifted in concert. Phoebe a-hemmed
and Jehial a-hemmed.
Jehial remarked that he must be GO
ing, and Phoebe remarked that he
must not be in a hurry. He took her
at her word and allowad another dead
calm to settle. Even the parental
snores failed to start the converse
tional circulation. The frogs in the
deep hole-dignified in common par
lance by the name of Daddy Jones's
Emusic box"-did their best TO rasp
the silence into speech and failed.
Then screech-owl lit on the we'll
sweep and fetched screech that faily
lifted the speechless couple from their
feet.
Jehial again remarked that he must
be going. Phoebe did not dispute it.
As he passed out into the moonlight
and heard Phoebe shut the door be-
hind him and struggle with the rebel
lious look it seemed to him that he
was walking upon thin air instead
of gravel. There was something in the
moonlight that he had never known be-
fore. Even the frogs in the old "mu-
sic box" crosked with a rhythm and
cadence almost divine-he wondered
that he had never noticed it before.
He wondered at the pangs of doubt
and timidity that he had suffered q few
moments before VIXEN going up that
walk. 1t seemed new world 20 him.
All things had become new. Every
star twinkled with a seven-fold bril-
liancy-all because his star of hope
had risen
The Fourth was over, almost. They
had gazed in unconcealed astonishment
at the long procession of masked and
painted 'Fantastics, and laughed till
they ached at the broad burlesques
and crude impersonations they had
convulsed at the falls of the bag races,
and roared at the antics of the pur-
suers of the CREASED pig; they had ex-
perienced the patriotic shocks which
result from the discharge of an anvil I;
they had drained to the dregs the
pleasures of pink lemonade and feasted
on the sweets of sticky popcorn balls.
As they rode home the sun slowly
sank behind the hills - gray and
grizzled with the sheen of dry, wiry
poverty grass that fringed their sterile
submits, like the scanty bristles on
the back of lean herd of swine. They
had reached the period of silence that
always falls about the last half hour of
a long homeward journey.
At the top of the last hill struggled
the line fence over which their parents
had contended. When they had fin.
ished the ascent and came opposite this
Jehial pulled the mare to halt, pre-
sumably for the purpose of allowing
her to rest, and then cast his eyes
about for some object of conversation
to render the interval less embarrass-
ing. The first and only thing in view
which afforded a possible topic of con-
versation was the historic line fence,
and that was well-nigh as embarrassing
as the silence.
'E must go an fix up that line fence
the first thing do, "he ventured; "pa
no business to let it run so long with
out patchin'.
''Well, it will be shame ifyou have
to, for faint your business to keep up
the part this side of the old burned
stuff; pa ought to do that, but he
won't, he'd rather quarrel about it, I"
said Phoebe, "an' that's just what's
kept them that ought to beg good neigh
bors apart"
"Well, never saw line fence that
was worth hard feelings between neigh
bors--and and thousand line fences
can't keep us apart, can they, Phebe?"
Jehial exclaimed, as the mare gave a
sudden pull that indicated desire to
continue the homeward journey. Al
though she had heard the answer to
Jehial's question, she wisely said moth
ing--only frisked her tail knowingly
and hurried on.
The line fence that day did penance
for the strife that it had once provoked,
and in due time it entirely disap-
peared, for the Jones and Jayhawk
farms we're consolidated, and the
Fourth of July is celebrated with more
than patriotic sentiment by Phoebe and
Jehial. Arkansas Traveller.
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