Morning journal and courier., 1894-05-19

In the Dr1gnb, qualnG groups aOodt tneM.
Then there were the strange signals for
bringing the picksrs together, morning
and afternoon; the ooneh. shell horns the
hand bells, the cries more vondrous than
those Of London hawkers and the musical
numbers from the old farmhouse bslfries. |
There were the huge four-whsel carts, |
gathering the hops from the bins for the |
soasts" or kilns; the ovsrsesr measuring |
the feathery fruitaee; the "pole-pullsrs''
vines and stacks of empty poles; the
"tally-man" with his quick figuring and
CHEEKY words Of encouragement; the even
ing cry of "No more polesi" which closed
the long day Of toll; and then the bright,
genial, almost social, aspect of eventide a.
the pickers trailed along the lanes and
highways to their village homes, forming
wonderful pastoral groupings against the
mellow and reposeful autumnsl landscape.
And 10, with toll and song, the days
came and went until the cry of "Ne more
polesi" closed the labors of the first week,
and the overseer came to the "singtn'
bin,n as the other pickers had learned to
call the one from which SO often sweet
songs or registering coster ballads were
heard, with words of victory to Mercy,
George, Hstty and Ike that they had "out-
picked the feld"; while, more glorious
still, their "tally- book" showed that their
weeks toll had gained for the four loyal
friends the princely sum of eight poundF,
ten shillings and feurpenoe!
"Ah, George" cried Mercy in the grand
est enthusiasm, "four weeks moro like
this, and we'll sail for home second cabin
at least"
An hour later the brother and sister had
entered the open ancient church for bit
of quiet and rest. Ike had knocked Off
at noon for tramp to Maidstone to en-
quire for any letters which might have
| bsen forwarded from Chsyne Row; and
| faithful Hetty, occasionally involved with
"Bslivar," now unduly facetious from bis
| long enforced idleness, WAS busy prepar-
| ing the evening meal.
The two had stolen into the organ loft.
| Mercy, lowering over the organ ksys,
| hummed the refrain of some familiar bal
tanned notes of some classic aria, ..or again
filed the dim old ediflce with the grander
measures of some stately psalm; while Pei
ham, tired and half doing In the slumber-
GUS place, sat beside her, nodding at the
quaint architecture, the sombre carvings,
the furnished brasses, or the recumbsnt
efigies upon the shadowy tombs.
"Their bones are all about us, Merce."
"Bonesl Whose bonesa You've scared
all the music out ef me, Gaorgel"
"Why the Dunstans, of course. There"
pointing to the wall, sis Sacred to the
Memory of one. That huge brass Just in
front of the chsncel commentaries anoth-
or. And If Beatrice Dunstan was fifty
years of age and done In marble, the like
| mesa couldn't be q more perfect one than
that effgy just beneath us here"
Mercy sprang down beside him. They
were so intent upon the Inscriptions that
they failed to hear voices in the old stone
south porch.
81 never heard but one voice like that,
and I'll never hear snother!" said a mans
voice solemnly. A woman answered him
very tenderly with:
''That one was Mercy Pelham's. Poor,
poor Mercy How dreadful 1t is that We
cannot reach them with our letters and tel
egrams!"
"Whatt that9-listen a momentl"
chi say, Hetty, gal, w'ere's TIL guvsr-
nor, 'Ere's letters an Kilograms huff ter
turn lis 'ead."
I'm tn horgin loft, Ike, dear. Strike
me lucky, but hits 'eavenly moosic they're
a-makin'. Easy does it, Ike, but tell Miss
!; Pelham as teas ready to turn"
With a bound Ike was within the porch,
but quick, strong hand detained him and
trembling voice demanded:
Il "What-what Miss Pelham is this tc
whom you are going with these lettersa'
"Gor bill me, man, tn hempress, t. bt
surel"
"And the-the 'Quvenor'?"
, "W'y, 'er brother Mister George Pelham
| no less nor a marks, If HI lad my bloomin
way WY; an s s!sn gsnt1y n0w' be ye psssn II
. ION my honor, yesl Aud this lady, m,
sister, too"
t s'Strike me lucky. then, we're hall 6
AL"
!, "Up at the Hall.-Gsorge and Mere,
, Pelham hop picking in the fields of our dc
, mesne9 This is terrible!'
The latter was lost upon Ike, who wa
Fastening to the organ loft. The two IL
, | the porch followed him quickly and softly
and in a moment more they were beside
1 the coster who, hat In hand, stood near hii
: friends, respectfully waiting until Mercy
had finished speaking.
"Wretchedly poor as We are and as We
may always be, would give years of my
life, George, to be able to make Harry and
Beatrice Dunstan sometime understand
, how much We loved theml"
, the silences of the ancient church. A
/ mighty scramble followed. Then there
was an impetuous commingling of arms
and hands and lips. Somehow the wrig-
Cling MACS of protestation, embraces, ex.
pianattons and caresses worked its whirl-
wind way to the little organ whore Mercy
Pelham with her brown, sore fingers on
the keys and with George and Harry and
Beatrice oroHding endearingly about her,
} united yoicss and reunited hearts awoke
the slumbering echoes of ancient Aylesford
church with "Prsise God from whom all
blessings fow" as had never been heard in
Kent from that blessed eventide to the
dimmest of olden Saxon times.
That night the four hop pickers of the
"singin' bin" were housed at Dunstan Hall,
with ecstatic Ike, Hetty and their donkey,
Bolivar. for the first time in their lives be-
meath the turrsts and battlements of real
"pallus"; but the brother and sister Pei
ham were not half 30 joyous over the glad
reunion and the one letter which told them
that their fortune was still almost wholly
intact, as they were then and ever after
proud of q certain little italy book" in
which was set down in good round figures
their honest earnings with their loyal
coster friends, among the beauteous hop
gardens of Dunstan Hall, in the lovely,
leafy, ancient shirs of Kent.