The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-09-02
FARMER ELpS VACATION.
RE ALICE BROWN.

insects stirred the air with their Groom
ing chirp Eli and his wife sat to-
gether on the washing bench outside
the back door. waiting for the milk to
cool before it should be strained. She
was a large. comfortable woman, with
an unlined face, and smooth, fine au-
burn hair; he was spare and somewhat
bent, with curly iron-gray locks, grow
ing thin. and crows feet about his deep
set gray eyes He had been smoking
the pipe Of twilight contentment, but
now he took it out and laid it Oh the
bench beside him.
NO; it don't seem as if twas goin
to happen" he owned. 1T looked
pretty dark to me all last week. It's a
good deal of an undertaken, come to
think it all over. l dunno's l care
about goin-
Why, father! After you've thought
about it So many years, an Sereno's
got the tents strapped up, an all, You
must he crazy
We'll, said the farmer, gently, as
he arose and went to carry the milk
pals into the pantry, calling coaxing-
ly, as he did SO: Kitty. kitty You
had your milk. Don't you joggle, now
Mrs. Pike came ponderously to her
feet, and followed, with a heavy, swav-
ing motion of one grown heshv and
rheumatic. She was not in the least
concerned about Ellis change of mood.
He was a gentle soul, and she had al
ways been able to guide him in paths
Of her own choosing. Moreover, the
present undertaking was one involv-
ing his own good fortune, aid she
meant to tolerate no foolish scrupleS
which might interfere with its result
For Eli, though he had lived all his
life within easy driving distance of the
ocean, had never seen it. and ever
since his boyhood he had cherished one
darling plan-some day he would go
to the shore and camp out there for
week. This. in his starved imagitia-
ton, was like a dream of the Acropolis
to an artist stricken blind, or as noun
tain outlines to the dweller in lone
ly plain. But the years had fitted
past, and the dream never seemed
nearer completion. There was always
planting, haying and harvesting to be
considered; and though he was fairly
prosperous excursions were foreign to
his simple habit of life. But at last
his wife had stepped into the van and
organized an expedition with all the
valor Of a Francis Drake.
Now, don't say one word, father"
she had said. Were goin' down to
the beach, Serene, an Hattie, an you
an me, an we're goin' to camp out"
For days before the date of the ex-
cursion Eli had been solemn and trem-
ulous, as with joy; but now. on the
eve of the great event, he shrank back
from it, with an underlined notion that
it was like death, and that he was not
prepared. Next morning, however,
when they all rose and took their early
breakfast, preparatory to starting at
FIVE, he showed no sign Of indecision,
and even went about his outdoor tasks
with an alacrity calculated, as his wife
approvingly remarked, to ''for'ard the
v'y'ge." He had at last begun to see
his way clear, and he looked well sat
isfed when his daughter Hattie and
Serene, her husband, drove into the
yard in wagon cheerfully suggestive
of a wandering life. The tents and
small hair trunk were stored in the
back, and the horses pail swung be-
low.
At length the two teams were ready,
and Xii mounted to his place, where he
looked very slender beside his tower
ing mate. The nired man stood lean
ing on the pump, chewing a bit of
straw, and the cats rubbed against his
legs, with tails like banners.
well, good-by, Luke" Mrs. Pike
called over her shoulder; and Eli gave
the man solemn nod, gathered up the
reins and drove out OF the yard. Just
outside of the gate he pulled up.
Whoa" he called, and Luke
lounged forward. Don't you forgit
them cats! Git up, Doll"' And this
time they were gone.
For the first ten miles of the way,
familiar in being the road to market,
Eli was placidly cheerful. The sense
that he was going to do some strange
deed, to step into an unknown country,
dropped away from him, and he chat
ted, in his intermittent, serious fash
ion, OF the crops and the lay Of the
land.
The roadside was parched under an
August sun; tansy was dust-covered,
and ferns had grown ragged and gray.
The jogging horses LETT behind their
lazy feet sutfocating cloud.
My land!w cried Mrs. Pike. "if that
amt golden-rod. do b'lieve it comes
earlier every year, or else the seasons
are changin' See them elderberries!
Amt they purple. You jest remember
that bush, an when we go back, well
FIJI some pals. l dunno when I've
made elderberry wine"
Like her husband, she was vaguely
excited; she began to feel as if life
would be all holidays. At noon they
stopped under the shadow of an elm
tree which, from its foothold in "a field.
completely arched the road; and there
they ate lunch of pie and doughnuts,
while the horses, freed from their
headstalls, placidly munched gen.
erous feed Of oats, near by.
At the lunch Eli ate sparingly, and
with preocupied and solemn look.
Land, father" exclaimed his wife
you amt eat no more'n bird!'
II guess III go over to that well"
said he, AN git drink O water
drink more'n eat, if amt workin'."
Put when he came back, carefully
bearing tin pail brimming with cool,
clear water, ms face expressed disap-
probation and he smacked his lips
scornfully.
Terrible fat water he announced.
Tastes as if it had come out O the
cistern." But the others could find no
fault with it, and Serene drained the