The Goodland republic., 1896-03-06
TIE RIDE OF BETsEY.
BIZ JOHN PBEsroN ERFli
Miss Betsev Bennett Vas odd.


everyday affairs which so many were
eager to give her. But that was the
last thing she was likely to do, for Miss
Bessey was independent. She lived
with a very deaf sister in a neat little
cottage at one end OF the town. That's
70 say, it was reputed to be neat, al
though very few Of her fellow-citizens
ever saw it, as it was shut out from
front view by an exceedingly thick
hedge. A vigorous board fence in full
flower of spikes took care of the other
three sides, and as to callers, Miss Bet
sey never had any.
It is true Pelatiah Macomber came at
lengthy intervals, harmonious with his
Own length Of limb-once in the spring
&c piow out her garden; once in Octo-
Der TO harvest the proceeds; once in
November to stack away the stock of
fuel which had already been tossed over
the fence in short cuts of rock maple,
stoye-length size. But Pelatiah the
Silent was not given to speech, and the
extract of news thus acquired was sin
gularly deficient in details. Even the
boys Of the town had ceased to consider
that fence defiance.
It was different once; but one day
they raided some other places and then
spent some little time in the singular
business Of tossing a dozen or two Of
dead cats into the air, with great regard
TO where they fell When they had ac-
quired a eommendable delicacy in
handling the defuncts and could place
them to nicely, they all marched down
to Betsey's in body and began mortar
practice. When they finished, IA dead
cats were suspended from the spikes on
that fence. The 18th, by Dick Jones
unhappy miss, had landed inside the
wall.
Miss Betsey came out, of course. That
was TO be expected. But-she had
thanked them with suavity! had tossed
them with eFratic aim an apple apiece,
and then with a pitchfork had lifted
down each cat and had planted it at the
foot Of a rose bush as a fertilizer.
What could the boys do in the face of
such sangfroid? ? Her sagacity lost moth
ing in their estimation by the fact that
those apples all proved to be of a
kind that had no superior in acidity,
and were noteven worth considering as
stump"
''fell you what, fellows!" said Dick,
ruefully trying to get his teeth out of
pueker, "if that's the sort she keeps
behind her own fence, the longer they
stay there the better Pm suited I
shan't cry if never sink my teeth in
one again. We're sold the worst kind"
They all laughed at him, Of course,
but concluded that, on the whole, they
had better cry quit" with Miss Betsey,
and for long time afterward, when
any scheme was proposed that bade fair
to prove q boomerang, some square
headed youth would be likely to re-
mark, dryly; eyes, it's a pretty good
plan: but hadn't you first better just
eat Betsey apple and sleep on't?"
1t is astonishing how many such plans
stopped right there, buried out Of sight
in the laugh that was sure to follow.
So, on the whole, they rather steered
clear of the little old lady after that.
No fellow likes to be laughed at-and,
somehow, the girls got hold of the
story, tool
But the boys couldn't quite keep out
Of her way altogether, for she was
everywhere. Although she lived at
the far end of the village, she by no
means stayed there. On the contrary,
in May one was quite as likely to find
ker miles up the ikeliest trout brook,
with an apron full of the earliest water
side flowers, In June she would be
botanizing in the foothills beyond the
valley. In June she knew where the
earliest Strawberries were quite as well
as the boys, and, as rule, she got there
first. In August the raspberries and
blRokberries saw her, while more than
once she was met pegging steadily
homeward with a ten-quart pail in each
hand filled with the ripest of choke
cherries, SO ripe as to be black instead
Of red, and from the very trees that
the boys had planned to visit when hay
ing demands permitted.
After young days are over, we New
England country people are great
home-keepers, so Miss Betsey was
marked woman. Besides-and this,
after all, was her one objectionable
sin-years ago, when she was girl,
there had been a fashion of dress which
she decided suited her exactly. When
the fashion changed next year, she
didn't. Twice since fashions styles
came round to hers again, rs though
to prove her wisdom; but, of course,
the village recked naught OF that. 1t
RRs enough that--save in those two
years of graee-as far as Miss Betsey
could be seen she could also be known.
Because of this roaming habit of hers,
one day Dick Jones had an adventure
Dick owns a bicycle, and is immensely
proud Of it, as, indeed, he has a right
to be, although it isonly a secondhand
machine. But in the beginning it was
good one, and it is Just as good now.
Many an hour has Dick spent very hap
ply under the one gnarly old appleless
apple tree in his yard. From long,
low limb two cords hang, lust right