The herald., 1896-11-26
HUNTING UP HER NERCIES
BY ROSE TERRY COOKE
A Thanksgiving Story


days that she does not go out. Aunty
Tucker is a chara acter. I think you will
| like to hear her talk
Myra tied on her hat and lifted the
! basket from the table. 1t was quite
| heavy, and it made it no lighter that
| she did not really like her errand now,
| but she could not well refuse to do it.
| She did not enjoy her walk over the
| causeway, though it was lovely enough
| all about her to have delighted an artist;
| her eyes We're cast down and her
| thoughts wandering to a distant fu-
| ture when she should be rich. distn-
guisehd and consequently happy, if in
| deed her dreams were realized. After
! miles walk wrapped in these mus
| ings she came to the small red house
| she remembered as the place where her
i father had taken her in childhood when
| he went to have his horses shod. The
| smithy was deserted now, its tools gone,
| but the house looked just as it did when
| she used to wait by the roadside in the
wagon and hear the chink of the ham
mer and watch the sparks fly from
| Eben Williams anvil.
/ She made her way to the door on the
| south side and knocked.
Come in," said a kind old voice, and,
| as she lifted the latch, chair suddenly
| wheeled around upon her and showed
| tiny. pleasant faced old woman as its
crippled occupant.
! We'll. declare I dono who you be.
| but | expect you're Mrs. Lymans girl
that's jist come home from school, for
l know tits Mrs. Lyman's basket"
| Myra smiled and set her burden down
| on the table
Mother says, Mrs. Tucker, since you
| can't come to dinner tomorrow, the din
ner has come to you.''
| Mercy mel If that isn't MyS T.yt,1 ',
all over She beats all. There's other
! folks iist as good for givin' al fur as
know, but she does it so pleasantlike,
it makes things twice as good"
There is something in that" Myra
said.
YES, the is sight: Scripter says
the Lord loveth cheerful giver, and
SO does everybody else Say would you
mind takin' the things out of the basket
so's't I can put 'em by?"
Myra unpacked the bountiful provis-
ion. all the time much amused with
Aunty fuckers comments.
Jest like heri She knows 'tisn't
reelly Thanksgivin' without a pump
kin pie; and If here amt some apple
turnovers! My senses! what piece of
roast turkey, with stufffin in the sar-
Ger. an gravy in the mug. Well! we'll.
it beats ALL mess a baked squash,
too, an cranberry sass, besides them
but-nut pickles. And if there isn't a
! loaf of lection cake. I'll make Sabriny
| Mariner stay to dinner tomorrer as sure
as you're born. That is eff she's goin'
/ nowhere else. Twill make it twice as
tasty to set down with somebody else"
Now began a performance that much
more amused the visitor Aunty's chair
began to fly to and from the pantry,
with one dainty after another deposited
first in her lap in order to leave her
hands free for propellers. and then in
various places on the pantry shelves.
There now! thanks be praise. 1
| know jest where they all be. No. dear.
! you couldn't help me, for 'twould ha'
been more work to tell ye where to set
em than twas to do 1t myself Now
ontie your bonnet and set down and we'll
have a dish of talk
Myra did as she was asked here was
al least break in the monotony of her
life; she had read dialect stories now and
! then in moments of relaxation, here was
her opportunity to verify at least the
dialect, she had no other interest in or
| sympathy for Aunty Tucker, who at
once plunged into conversation.
well, so you've ben to college. My!
l expect you know most everything the
is to know. Unto the hyssop that
springeth out of the wall as Scripter
says
The quotation was new to Myra she
had heard the Bible read daily. it is
| true, but her thoughts had always been
| far away. She had studied Darwin
and Huxley and Mill and irnbibed that
| contemptuous toleration of Holy Writ
which little learning so often pro-
duces.
She answered Aunty Tucker with the
civil depreciation of her fattering opin-
ion that is quite as conceited as frank
| acceptance.
20 dear, no. I have much to learn
yet. l don't even know what hyssop
is
Don't We? dew tell! Well, 'tisn't
what folks know that makes 'em happy
in this world. Sometimes think it's
what they don't know. Your ma must
be real pleased to have you home; it'll
be more of a Thanksgivin to her than
ever. now; there's always lots of things
TO be thankful for. but sometimes there's
more than others"
giving" said Myra, bitterly; there was
something intolerable to her in this con-
tented ignorance. as she thought it.
"Well Well I never did! Why. you
poor, dear child. have you got to 60
a-huntin' after your marcies? OF all
things And they're fairly a crowdin'
and shown of you!"
Are you glad to live? Are you thank
ful?" asked Myra, with disdain in her
voice.
Il be. yes be. I'm glad TO live, SO
as to tell folks how good the Lord is.
/ can't do but little for him, but | can
! tell about his goodness TO some of them
that maybe wouldn't never hear ont
otherways. And I guess / be thankful
] had ought to be. Jest think. Here
| | be with a good house to live in, and
! enough vttles, the best neighbors any
body ever had. and sech a good chair
to get round in. and I amt half so help
less as ! might be. neither; l can get
round real spry in the chair, nor don't {
have noways such pain in my bones as
used to. here's ever so many folks