The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13
THE PROFESSORS WOOING
BY JULIET V. STRAUSS.

Eph sold the wagon shop. This may have
been true, for the sale of the shop may
well be considered the last straw In the
breaking down of Aunt Polly's pride. She
was the daughter of an old Virginia gentle
man, who came West in the thrtics to
invest a modest fortune in a. country where
he supposed that crops came without
any effort on the part of the settler, and
game was presumed to come up to the
door asking to be killed for dinner
Old Captain Blackburn was I'll fitted both
by nature ard rearing to adapt himself to
the labor of clearing and draining demande d
of the pioneer, so he never realized upon
his investment. succeeding rather in work
ing his poor wife to death and allowing
his family to go very much they pleased.
Nevertheless he was a gentleman of birth
and education. and this counted for much
in time when money had not yet become
q ruling element Trades. too, were flour
fishing, for, at the time when Aunt Polly
married Uncle Eph, against the will of her
parents, progress had not in its relentless
march left the old industries stranded by
the wayside Taverns and tanneries, pot
ters shops and brick yards were in their
prime, and hatters shoemakers and gun
smiths formed sturdy, self-respecting por-
ton of the community.
oiiCiC J1pn WdS d WdSoHiIldhcl ny tAoNS
having been early apprenticed by a father
who was deeply imbued with democratic
ideas of the dignity of labor (when not
called upon to perform it himself)
Uncle Eph was said to have been fine
looking in his young days though the ris-
ing generation found ii hard to reconcile
his fat, jolly figure and iron-gray hair with
the fact that there had been time when
'he had Roman nose and his cheek was
like a rose in the snowi" 1T was not hard
to believe, however, that Aunt Polly had
been good looking; even when she had
reached the shady side of life at which our
story finds her, she was tall and straight
and bore herself with a sort of defiant
dignity, not a little augmented by a pair
of flashing black eyes that bespoke
strong self-reliant nature In fact many
people believed that Aunt Polly was cut
out for man, but by one of Natures I'M
accountable mistakes was forced to play
the woman.
If it had been considered that Aunt Polly
stepped down from her own social plane
when she welded Uncle Eph people soon
discovered their mistake, for she boldly I'M
dertook the task of bringing him up to
her own standard of gentility. In spite of
the fact that her schoolmates had mar
ried doctors, lawyers, merchants and
QTedCneTS, she TO nOIQ neT own
among them. and when Uncle Eph, as he
frequently did, slid hopelessly back to his
own level the gait of the couple was de-
cidedly uneven.
1t useless for village society to I'M
dertake to snub Aunt Polly; she demanded
Its recognition with a stubborn tenacity
and substantiated her claim by a most
ostentatious responsibility. She sat in the
amen corner in the Presbyterian Church,
taught Sunday-school classes, attended
church socials, furnished the most excel
lent article of unleavened bread and un-
fermented grape wine for communion serv-
ices, and there was never a time, mat
ter to what degree of Indulgence uncle Eph's
capability for being out of work brought
them, when Aunt Polly could not, at a
moments notice, produce fine fat chicken
and cut-glass dish Of preserves for the
minister the visiting missionary, the
colporteur any other dignitary who came
to town. Add to these capabilities the
neatness of her cottage home, the irwin
chile decency of her well-preserved black
silk gown, the lace mantle that had been
Ter mothers and the starchy white aprons
which she wore of afternoons, and you
have a personality calculated to offset I'm
Gle r;ph's peculiarities and the plebeian
suggestion of the wagon shop.
This edifice stood in the pleasant shadow
of a group of elms and offered a paradise
for the village boys, who, Uncle Eph de-
clared, pestered the life out of him, but
with whom, Aunt Polly insisted in times of
argument he played instead of attending
to his work. Uncle Eph had a weakness
for pitching horseshoes, for playing mar
bles in the shifty April sunshine for mend
ing tops and adjusting kite strings, but
Oh oil for oinU Pn1lxy
had been known, in moments of especial
aggravation, TO say that she would be glad
If every creek and river in Indiana would
dry up, but this would be only when Uncle
Eph was gone upon particularly extend
ed trip and wagons in all states of dis
memberment lay in and around the shop,
while their owners, in various stages of an
noyancc, abused the recreant Ephraim and
vowed they would never again give him a
job of work.
At such times Aunt Polly would go out
seeking by deprecating apologies, ingenious
ly invented, to propitiate their wrath and
place Uncle Eph in a kindlier light before
them, making promises for the future
which, if they did not deceive the irate
toners, at least awakened in their hearts
a sense of pity for Mrs. Beasly. who was,
they all agreed, a fine woman and worthy
q
In this softened mood they promised in
diligence toward the dilatory workman. and
Uncle Eph, if sober when he returned from
a weeks magnificent SEEMING, gigging and
angling would fall to with wonderful vim
upon the work in hand and show his Gus
toners what wagon making was, for he
was a thorough master of his work when
In the rare mood of applying himself
From the earliest days of her married life
Aunt Polly had been subject to frequent
attacks of Illness and it was at such times
that Uncle Eph presented one of the truly
winning aspects of his nature. He delighted
in closing the wagon shop and installing
himself as head nurse, in which capacity
ne was patient and kind showing q pecul-
lar aptitude for the duties cf the sick room.
He had also passion for cooking, and by
means of frequent experience in camp on
the creek. and at home when Aunt Polly
was i'll abed. he had acquired degree of
proficiency in the art seldom attained by
the stern sex. The kitchen being his chief
delight he lost no opportunity TO install
himself therein, getting that apartment into
what Aunt Polly called ''such another
muss" and concocting various messes of
pottage the mere savory smell of which
would have been sufficient TO tempt a hun
ont of bts firth i,l,t for