The Portland daily press., 1895-12-26
BARBARY.
By Frs. E. V. WILSON.
[cogsrigAt, 1895, by the Author.l

81; IN IL t1-lN s'5l3N u9d LOlO me that IN q
little noren q year I'd "a ben his Sec
ol1d I'd said they was crazy. You see,
my third cousin, Marthy Jane Holly. she
that was BLarti1y Jane Spaldin, lived in
his neighborhood, an was visitin O.
her when his first died, an Marthy Jane
tux me along to the funeral. 1t was
dreadful dull day in February, an that
muddy the team could hardly pull US.
An when we druv up to the house
thought it was jist about the lonesomest
place I he'd ever seen. The house was a
great, big, two story frame with nine
.winders an a big front door, an the yard
hedn't a tree or bush in it, Law sakes,
Marthy Janel' says I. What barn O. a
housep
e'Well, says she, it's bran new.
They jist moved in it this fall
'sThere was d sight o. folks in the
house, an / got in somehow 'nong the
women, an tried to look round some,
but I got sort o. interested in the talk.
One o. the women said, What a pity
twas Miss Hillyer he'd to die jist as she
got settled in the new house. An an
other one said she'd noticed many a
time when folks built fine houses one or
t'otller Of 'em died. Then right old
woman spoke up, an says she: eThat's
nonsense. lIatildy Hillyer killed herself,
90 she did. Her an them two slips O.
girls done all the work fer the men that
built this yer house an fer the hands that
worked the farm, an the las time see
her she told me she made a hundred
yards o. rag carpet, wove it an all.
"sWhat made her?' interrupted an
other woman.
Nobody made her, said the old
woman She's that bigoted. tole her
'twouldn't pay, but she said squire was
sot on hevin the biggest house on the
prairie, an they got the work done
cheaper by boardin o the men, an she's
boun to hev carpets
81 don't care broke in my third
cousin, Marthy Jane Holly. It's her
own fault. If she'd managed the squire
right, he'd never built SIGH house She
tole me she wanted lttler one, handy
an full o. closets, but the squire wanted
the big one. Now I say if she'd man
aged
g .Oh, pshawl' said the old woman.
Miss Holly, you dunno what you's talk
in bout. The woman that'n manage
Sam Hillyer amt born.
Sat this mint a man came to the
door O. the kitchen where we was sittin
an said, All as want to look at the
corpse, please walk in. I went in with
the rest, an tux a look at the pore crit
ter, an went ON through the room where
she lay, across great hall, into anoth-
or big room, an I thought hundred
yards o. carpet wouldn't begin to cover
all them floors. MY, but they looked
cold an dreary, an said to Marthy Jane
Holly, when we got back to their cozy
little house, that it 'peared to me I'd
freeze to death there.
Well, when my visit was out, I
went home, an I declare I never thought
once of him, but along about Christina as
what does Marthy Jane Holly's man do
but come down to our house with him
in sleigh. You might "a upset me with
feather when they walked in.
"You see, was nigh on to 35, an
not bein extra good lookin I'd bout con-
cluded nobody'd ever want me fer a
wife, but the long an short of it was,
he had heard about me, an he said he
was lonesome an his children needed
lookin after. an tell you he's good
talker, an Marthy Jane Holly came to
see me an said all he needed was the
right kind O. a woman to manage him
that he was a good pervider, an had
about as good farm as there was in
the county, an my brother Jim, as I
was Hyin with, an Cynthy. his wife
she was Cynthy Smith, ole To-. -lith S
daughter, you know-they said it was
q splendid chance fer me. They knowed
] could get along with him, an so Civ
in, but I sort o. mistrusted that air sot
mouth O. his all the time But, as
said, greed to hev him at last, an we
was married at brother Jim's early in
March, an Jim an Cynthy Civ me a
right nice weddin dinner will say
that fer 'em, an, what's more, l allays
viii believe thay thougk# it was a good
thing fer a old maid like me to git to
be Mrs. Squire Hillyer.
ST felt little dubious about his chill
dren wantin a stepmother. You see, the
oldest girl, Emily, was about 1S, an !
Thought maybe she liked bein boss, but
laws, she 'peared glad when come, an
had a real nice supper ready, an Bar
barry, the next girl, was a-smilin, too, an
] heerd her tell the boys-there was
three O them, froa Il down to 10 years
Old-that she liked my looks.
s'Well, kin tell you, it wasn't long
afore I found ont that managin him
was no easy matter, an Emily was his
pioter. When he wanted a thing done.
it had to be done his way, an she was
like him, an SO they didn't agree very
well, an he hevin the power she he'd to
Civ up, an SO she was most allays in a
bad humor. The boys, too, especially
Steve, the Oldest O. the three, was ever
lastin quarrelin. So I begun TO think
afore many weeks that I'd better staid
single, even if it wasn't pleasant livin
with sister Laws, an if it hedn't been