Connecticut western news., 1894-10-04
MANDY.

MANDY.
 Eph Parks and his family lived in that part of Livingston county where the farms are red and gully washed, where the cornstalks are thin and sick ly looking and burn yellow in the sun almost as soon as they are green. He was strong and rugged, this sturdy farmer, with his big, bony hands and nut brown, lean cheeks, and as he stood out in the burning August sun, striking vigorously at hidden sassafras roots with his homemade hoe, he was striking illustration of those people who toll throughout their lives with little thought of the rest of the world or it's pleasures. Between the rolling, poor land on which Eph was working and the road stood two room log house, scantily protected from the suns rays by few scrubby black oaks
 At grindstone at the rear of the house stood an old man grinding away at an ax. His hair was snowy white. His wide brimmed straw hat, with it's shoestring band, did not conceal the deep wrinkles on his face. His hickory shirt was torn and faded, and the skin looked blistered through the rents. He rested once in awhile and tested the edge of his ax with his thumb. This was Eph's father A woman almost as old and long past the age of work sat on stone in shady spot watching the grinding of the ax and remarking in cracked voice the chances for. crop. They had failed in this the last season, and it was of great importance to them. The corn bread and bacon had been very scant of late. Eph's parents were very old and feeble. but they helped as best they could.
 A tall, angular woman of perhaps 40, though she looked much older, came to the door. Her calico dress was soiled and torn. A pair of Eph's boots with great patches of rawhide and with the heels run over peeped out from under her tucked up dress. Her face was hard and pinched. The sallow color contrast ed strongly with the dark, almost black blue of her gown, and when the sleeves were rolled to the elbows her arms were brown. One bony hand clutched dish rag, which she held against the side of the door as she shaded her eyes with the other. She was looking at her husband as he worked across the red clay field.
 The clatter of horse's hoofs on the hard and gravel washed road was heard. Her eyes were turned in the direction of the rapidly approaching rider. A half dozen children, the eldest boy of 10, came from gully near by, where they had been playing, also attracted by the sounds. All moved around to the front of the house. To the surprise of all, the stranger pulled mp at the fence:
 "Eph Parks live here?"
 ''Yep, that's him over there in the feld," answered the woman.
 The stranger dismounted, tied the bridle rein to the rail fence and started across the field toward Eph. The chil- dren instinctively clustered around their mother and rugged unconsciously at her dress. She smacked them right and left impulsively. She was watching the stranger. The man finally reached Eph, minutes. When they started toward the house, the stranger had hold of Eph's arm. Eph's parents and his wife and children were all standing close together when the pair reached the house. "Mandy, this 'ere's gove' 'ment ossi- fer, and he's cum ter take me way to jail fur makin them dollars. 'Twan't no harm nohow, le'stwise I'm CT church member yet D
 Hurry up, hurry up," said the de- tectiye. II want to get to the station in time to catch the night train.''
 'How long will yer be gone, Eph?" said his wife His aged parents stood with their mouths open. They did not understand it at all.
 "Doan' know" answered Eph as the handcuffs were adjusted to his wrists. Then the men climbed over the fence. The stranger got on his horse and told Eph to walk along in front of him. He also said that any attempt on Eph's part to run would cost him his life. There was no handshaking, no tears. The | men moved off down the scorching hot road, leaving the group standing as it had stood at first, together. The old | man and old woman looked at Mandy | appealingly, but Mandy watched her \ husband and the stranger disappear | in the woods. She stood there in the sun with her head uncovered long after they had moved out of her sight. The | old man and woman went back to the rear of the house, and the children final ly resumed their playing Still she stood there, looking. The sun continued his travelling, and finally dropped be- hind the woods in which her husband had disappeared
 "Yes," she murmured. "that there's Jim Dobsm's work. He tole on Eph. She shook her head several times, looked down the road once again and l then passed into the house. She pre- pared the scanty meal without word There was a strange silence in the house, as if a corpse were near. The children were put to bed, and soon the old man and old woman followed. Then Mandy pulled her stool over to the open window and looked out into the night. She placed her elbows on the sill and rested her chin in her hands. The moon came creeping up from behind distant hill and shed it's soft light over the farm. Still Mandy gazed out into the night. Her face seemed as void of ex
 pression as the black oaks in the yard
 The cold, hard stare was directed to
 ward the road, and there it rested i'm
 movably. The hours passed slowly
 The moon crept on and on until 1t wa
 almost directly over the house. Th'
 loud snoring of the old folks, the occa
 sional cough of one of the children, tn
 ohirp of a cricket and the croak of
 frog were the only sounds which dis
 turbed the almost perfect quiet.