St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-10-20

"Marthy." said her husband enc
evening, "T'm thinkin' to put . new
lean-to 10 the shed. l guess I'll
take the colt and drive o-er TO git
some shingles tomorrow why.
Marthy!"
He stopped suddenly, for he noticed
a peculiar look in her eyes. He had
noticed it recently whenever ne spoke
of laying out money. The look made
him feel uneasy. A new thought
struck him, and with q crafty smile he
said:
"You know if will be = good place to
run the old wagon under if we git our
new carriage"
That was a straw too much.
"Yes, # we git it." she snapped.
''You know as well as do. William
Bradley, that you hain't the slightest
intention OF gittin' a new carriage.
Likes not I'll break my neck some day
over that old wagon, and then you'll
ride to my funeral in it. Go on and
build your lean-to, if you want to, I
amt nothin' to say"
''Sbe's gittin' narvous," he solilo-
quized. as he rode along the next morn
ing. He felt uneasy. His wife was rs
kind rs ever, but there was = cold feel
ing growing up between them which
he did not relish. 81 dun know but
she ought to hev the carriage" he
mused; she's sartinly armed it. Well.
we kin stan 1t this year, and / guess
uext year I'll begin to think about git
tim one"
His conscience thus appeased. he be-
gan calculation concerning the num-
ber of shingles that he wanted.
About noon Mrs Bradley began to
watch for her husband's s reappearance.
She looked down the road There he
was, walking up the hill by the house,
trudging along beside the horse In
order to make the load lighter. The
wagon was piled high with glistening
shingles. A shade of pity passed over
her face rs she saw him trudging
slowly through the hot sand. "He's
worked hard and he's gettin' old, ;" she
unused.
Then . fash of indignation swept
over her as she thought: But why
doesn't he try to save my strength ax
well rs his horse's?" She went into
the house and closed the door with =
bang.
The next instant she heard series
of crashes and . great rattling, inter
mingled with cries of Whoa! Whoa!''
plunging past with the load of shin
giles full tilt after him. Mr.. Bradley
was running behind as fast rs he
could and yelling whoa" 1t the top
of his voice. The shingles were flying
in all directions.
The wagon was soon overturned,
and with 4 few vigorous kicks the
colt freed himself and plunged on up
the hill.
While Mr.. Bradley went after the
horse she picked her way through the
debris of shingles to the wagon and
surveyed the wreck. Was that look
Of triumph that sparkled in her eyes
as she went back?
William found . good dinner wait
ing for him when he came in. They
ate silently for awhile, each busy with
medita tion.
''Was the colt hurt?" finally asked
Mrs. Bradley.
No, not much. He skinned his
ankles leetIe. One Of the boards in
the bottom of the wagon broke, and
that was what scarf him"
They ate silently awhile longer. At
last Mrs. Bradley spoke in rs re.
strained . tone rs she could command:
Il guess we'll hev to hev . new car
riage now, won't we?"
He put one knee over the other and
looked out of the window. "Wall!"
I've examined the wagon, and the
wheels and body are goods ever; SO 1 |
callate with few new fxin's we kin |
git"
"William!"
He looked quickly around.
''William!"
The tone was low. but there was
awfully suggestive about |
it.
"Wllsam'' This time It was louder,
but with the suggestiveness intensi.
fed. She continued, Don't you hv in
the face of Prov idence."
He quailed beneath her glance.
Whatever he had intended to say re
mained unsaid, for he added in . meek |
voice-''Kin git . new carriage and |
hev the wagon fixed up for common"
Next Sunday the church people
looked and stared, and looked and
stared again, and craned their necks,
and stood on tiptoe, rs = handsome
new carriage drove up. And if there
was look of triumphant pride in Mrs.
Bradley's eyes rs she stepped ont, who
can blame her?-Mayme Isham, in
Good HouSekeenin1