The record-union., 1895-04-20
A STORY OF ONE.

''The little house on the back road?
Well, now, Pm real glad you askedW
exclaimed Mrs. Warren, looking up at
her niece by marriage, who was spend
ing a week with her. Eyes, that's new
sence you were here-but come! Take
the striped back chair and make yourself
comfortable; it's quite a story. You
haven't forgotten Lyddy Ann Closer"
''No, indeed! Close by name and close
by"
"Well, so she was, my dear, all o. that
an more too, as she got older" assented
Mrs. Warren with click of her needles.
''Isra'l was jist the same way. WY, one
winter when hay was sca'se and brought
good price in market, he sold all his n
and wintered his cattle on apple brush
made out to keep 'em alive, though they
did come through with no more fat on
their bones than that old clo' 'es-hoss yon-
der. He'd got 'em SO they'd eat anything
that WANT wuth more fur ire WOOD, L
guess. Yes, Lyddy Ann was terrible
scrimpin'. She used to put pieces o.
newspapers under the plates SOS not to
get spots on her tableclOths-sayed wear
I'M 'em out washin', she said.
''Well, as l started to tell you, one sum-
m6r-muSG nA D60 aDOuG LD6 llu0 you
was married-Lyddy wa'n't feelin' right
smart, an Isrs'l he was rheumaticky,
an what with one thing and another they
was so put to It for help they got a bound
girl out OF an orphin asylum, Ady, they
called her, an she couldn't ha' ben more
than year old. Do anything? WY,
many's the time pve seen her stood up to
the tub on a soapboX washin' clo'es for
the hired men when her arms WANT big
germ pipestems; him! You'd be sur
prised TO see the things that child could
do. She was kind o meechin' at first
but she soon grew out o. that, an by the
time she was IL there wasn't job about
the place, indoors or out, It you couldn't
set her at-she could harness, OF. milk, or
scrub, or sweep, or cook as well as a
grown woman.
''Sne wasn't never real stout, either
Pritty? Well, dear, l don't know if
you'd call her SO. She had clear-loOk-
ing brown eyes and hair the same color
rolled back off her forehead am her skin
was thin an flushed up quick-I alays
think that gives any one kind of pritty
look. But the particular thing you'd a.
noticed about her was the wishtul, hank
erin way she had-I do knows l can
describe it. WY, the first time l went
over and seen her, thinks says L, we'll! if
you can't be cOssetted, nex' bes' thing's
to have something to cosset; an not long
after l took her doll that used to be Ma
ria's. 1t had a wooden head, an the
body was made o cloth, stuffed out with
bran, but, land sakes! l never see that
child kiss it that L didn't expect twas
goin' to kiss her back. She was kind o.
mOthery, even then, poor little Creetur,
an she'd double up over it as you've seen
eve staudin' over its lamb III the fence
corner come a cold storm in spring.
Well, by and by, when she got too big
to play with dolls, Isra'l ne was raisIn'
B., tsrD2r Il
fort with that dumb beast than lots of
folks do with their own kin. WY, to see
her slip up alongside OF him, he trem-
blin', am she tremblin', an one talkin'
an the other whlnnyin', an both under
their breath like-but, there!
lit must ha' been when she was about
16 that she got religion. She'd never been
to meetln' any sea- cely, but that summer
there was minister boardin' down to
the Corners-Iodd, his name was-who
used to hold service in the schoolhus.
Ady was trettin herself to death after the
colt that they'd sold to a householder, an
used to 60 of in the woods Sundays, an
one afternoon she happened that way an
heard 'em singin' the windows were
OPEN, an come up nearer an nearer an
hn'ly come in. Well, l never see any
one take hold o. the Gospel as she did
seemed as though 1t was meat an drink
to her, an / don't know but twas; she
h6p d-SGuuy III ON6E Tue PROMISES, an
she couldn't make out how twas that
folks was cross grained an scrimpin' an
worried an disappointed in the church
the same as out of it. WY, you'd "a
thought, to hear her talk them days,
the Kingdom O heaven was right next
door.
shed never been along o. young folks
much, livin' 80 lonesome there an bein'
so terrible druv with work, but after that
she'd get off when she could to prayer
meeun's an sociables, an the neebors
took 10 her consid'a 'able-specialIy the
boys. But you never see girl so sort o.
innocent about beaus as Ady was-'t
seemed IS if her heart was just runnin'
over with love for every liYin' creetur.
Howsomever, 'twa'n't great while afore
/ begun TO see that hungry, wishful look
comm back in her face, an l wasn't a
mite surprised when she stopped in here
one day an said she thought the Lord
had cast her off, an the old Adam WANT
crucified in her. an burst out cryin' tit
TO break your heart. Well, thinks /,
you poor little thing, if the Lord hadn't
meant we should eat he wouldn't ha'
given US stummicks. Nater's mater, il
stands TO reason, says I. y You see how
twas, bein' amongst folks kind o. bro't
1t home to her as she hadn't any kin oi
her own; an because you've got religion
is no sign you don't want nothin' else
/ tell you, there a good many ID be oui