The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-01-03
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
WILLIAM AND HIS FROU ARE NOW
LONESOME.
The Children Have All Left tho Old
Homestead.

|
| fee. Ii has been about forty years since wife
and sat down to "a little as that. or course
| III enough for U.S. and more than enough. but
/ it looks so stIney; only two OF us now, except
when we send OF and borrow grandchd--our
home daughteIs and the little orphan have gone
to Florida for the winter. My wife says she
hears the rats gallo ing in their rooms upstairs
| every night. They have found out that tho
girls have gone. SIy w.fo wasent sure that rats
made the racket and about midnight, when
| deep.sleep faleth upon n man, but not upon a
! woman, she aroused me and asked what it was
| Being prematurely deaf on rats cou.dent hear
| anything, but TO satisfy her l took the candle
/ and went upstairs in my nocturnal garments
| and hunted all over the rooms and closets and
under the beds, and found norhing, of course.
| did, mt expect to find anything She is Just
lonesome and sad, that's all, and she dident
| like tn hear ME snoring while she was tuminat-
| lnS abb ut the scattered children. All of the
ten have left us at las', and bv and 10y old Father
| imc vii separate u.s. too. OF course we could
| go and live with some of the married children
and they would be glad to have us; but never
saw an oil couple that liked to give up their
own nome and fircside The habits OF forty
| years are hard TO be broken Half a chicken is
| enough, but even that is n sign that we arc
aionc--wc two. dident feel like saying grace
over such stinGy meal. ''Why dident you
| cook 1t all, Aunt Ann sad I. "CoJ it'll be
| b tier for supper, sir, she said. But We send
| Tor Srandchd now every day or two and swap
| them around. aud they are always glad to
come. My wife's greatest pleasure now is pet
! ting the Grandchlldren. She says she is nearly
| blind, but see her sewing on some hing every
| day--txing up something for their Christmas
| gifts. A child without grandmother does not
| have it's share of happiness. Every grandma her
| Is Eugene Field, though they can't make
poems of their feelings. was talking about Field
| the other day to my friend Ferris in George
| A,!alr'S Office and hc said he used to set typs
| with Field for the ST. Louis Times and the
| boys always had good time fling with him.
whats tn It? said l. "We, )" sail ne, 1--WE did
IN I'll fprt tl,n h,,t Il,
Iuads. What's tina :" said I. "Wcll, " said
he, type setting is counted by the ems. II is
| quad piece, and there are three little hicks
on the shank. and jcfiing was played 10y taking
up handful of qu dS ut random and throw
lnS thcm down upon the table. and the
| one who showed up he fewC st hicks lost ,ho
wager remember that Field was generally
the uulucky boy, and lad to pay the c,gaiS.
There were seven of us who generally spent our
leisure time toScth, after our nght's = work was
done. Tmcrc was Hclny Hun and Fatty smith
and Dummy l. wards AMI the Siuni and Betsy
Hcyd and Genc and myself. Betsy was a boy.
he oil lis were bad o wild. and Gene vas az
am able rs he was unucky. There was more
l" HIM than we kn' W then, and always felt
rrId" III having he"n "nc OF his cOmpan'onS
You know that challry Lewis was ano her type
on the Detroit Free Press Setting type is a
good school for Il bow H. is obliged to learn
| litcI aturc VII 'ther he wants to or not and
there is manv u one who has male his mark be-
But What about the quad" said 1.
"Oh, thIt Is Il Latin word and meaus how
many We were pad not 10y the number of
ems br' by the measure OF them. 1t took two
e's or three is TO make an en-"
'AnSclini, SAID when t, ell very loving
call my wife Angelina, like TIA, hermit dds
Angelina, my dear, wouldn't yOu like % 90 to
Atlanta and hear DamroSch opera? You hav-
cn't Lcald all opera since took YOU TO hear
SontaE and Stcfr1npmj and Max Marc;zck in
New York i'll lo53. Just think OF it-th,t was
fOrty-twO wears ago
oh. it costs too much money" said She
"Only 81. said |. Two do lars for n good
sea, in the balcony. Suppose We so aud hear
'Sicgtiich'?"
Jessie o,u;ht to 60" srid she. Jessie nm
derstamds fine music and never has heard an
opera on the stage"
That settled 1t. l had heard it hintcd
around that my wifi" woul like TO GO hut
woudcnt ask EIr-so had t. ask her We have
been. Ecu, vidr. audi-and | am satisfied
Four hours on IA hard wood seat will satisfy any
veteran-Cvcn VI the angels wcr' making music.
1t was all German to me. | heard Jenny Lind
sing once and that was music. | undcrs God
thai and was charmed. l. thrilled me and
filed me with unutterablc rapture and all
Conld do was To weep with emotion. Rut this
German business tired me awluiy AMI slept
right goo at Tins. | can 81 op bolt upri Int
and never move. When til music was soft and
sweet enjoyed it, hnt c"uldcnt ANYTHING
hardly. S"gir cd was mcnding an old broken
sword ala liked hat old time blacksmith hop,
but there was Il tall woman in front OF me wi h
a big BLACK cs'rch feather in h,r hat an shc
bobb d II around SO Iii lent even sec IN" anvil
cut III two. LIS an outrage, The lady behind
inc had no such ob-t,clc. There are no feathers
on my lead. Tn" clnk of the hammer at.d he
scrrcch OF The iiie we're good aud the music
chintcd with both delightfully."- SicSiricd is a
GOOD blacksmith and ought To follow the trade
in my opinion. | wish they would sing i'm Eng.
li'h. I'll bet there were nor ten in Il hundred
OF that audience who understood word that
was .nuG They 60 thcr" bccaU.c it j. consii-
cred the thing to do 1t - fashionable. O!
course there was somc sweet music and so there
Is III "A chu Ch or III the parlor or in II min.trcl
show and It don't drag ong for hours. Seq
!r.cd had To XII II CragOn and it took h M n half
nm honr: | was u drag on sur" enough.
could have kIll'd hm in a minute with that
magic sword But the binds did ling most
swrcty and tliat ady thai was hidden up IN
the trccS-ah. that was delicious. liked that
TIL" drums AMI horns all hushcd for that
Sonnet mCS when the whul" orchestra was IN
iu!, b!a't lid LINK Il blowing and dIUm beat
ing for dear life AMI too ped all of II sudden il
scar Il m Thought some hing haI hur,trd
or TIA" boiler had collapse or the aiv l. ,kr had
Unr0uli"d. III" II ldcnuc-s always uwlk"d me
"ni "nr" Jump Il 80 my wife nrt:c q i. and
ask ii what was ilic ma ter. tod her had Il
slight apit,'I"3 and wa, threat ned with Lc,rt
ia lurc which | "m. ~ times Il : rmasi - me
tic musicians wcr" tryi"GtU ,irnwu thc voice Of
lhI' woman thai - q fried lDual lr y or ,uL
IN the woods ami s.nG her To life again In,
they coudcui dp n. never heard such a voice
III my HE, bat WIS sorry that shc was lame
She cuu!I. Ut walk at ail hardly. Nv wifi.
'aHs iii" was Just tangled up III her sh,0ud
maybe sur nad been dead so long sh" had
l.at the u.s. of her CNrcmiti".. She was ihc
s;ar-OnC of tn" Great sing r. OF the world ihcv
say, but sh ,oul I't do Justice To herself vi h
all those horns blowing. SIcgfri,d had found
her asleep III the woods reclining on a mOSsv
bank. and as he had never bcfOr" s"cn Il woman
he thought shc WAS an angel and wanted TO
wake H. L hut WAS afraid For a long time he
tIptocd and circlcl AMI AT last VENT ID to
tOuch her AMI his y aintvc voice seemed to
plea with hrr to awake, hu' she ddu't.
l.Y and LY he 90. hnllcr md lrnnln Oyer