Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-07-22

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there was four hired men, besides
father and my three brothers, and
mother and me did the dairy work.
besides gettin' all the meals our
selves. L guess if l can cook for
eight great hearty farmers, | can
look out for one plain man."
(. cit was hull year afore Jim
learned Lucy to cook accordin' to his
llkin'," said her mother-in.Iaw, i'm
perturbrbly.
Prue gave a contemptuous sniff.
"Well, Of all sarse! I'd like to see
man tryin' to learn mo anything
about my own kitchen. ia as soon
think of goin' out and undertaken,
ro learn him how to curry a horse"
Mrs. Rice, senior, shook her head
dismally. "You don't know Jim.
Hos dreadful hard to get along with.
He's awful sot and contrary. The
only way Lucy could ever git things
done was by pretending she wanted
jest the opposite"
Prue by this time had her work
out and was sewing busily. "I amt
Lucy" she said, giving her thread
an emphatic jerk, cam I ain't goin
w ""huSS Oltu tUdl "ay.'
There was moments silence.
while Mrs. Rice regarded her new
daughter with some curiosity
Prue's brown head was bent over her
work, and her eyes werc hidden, but
there was a determined curve about
her red lips which decided the older
woman to drop that topic of conver.
sation for the present.
Was you plannin' to do your
preservin' next week ?n she asked
"Coz if you was, I've got lot of
currants that you can have Just as
well as not"
No, guess / won't begin it Just
yet," returned Jim's wife, carelesIly.
"!here'll be so much goin' on. Pm
goln' to git Jim to have the house
painted. 1t needs it terribly.n
Then for the first time Prue heard
her mother.in-law laugh. 1t was a
short laugh, with no mirth in it, but
IL was very expressive.
Land of Goshen, child ! you'll
never 'complish that. I'd as soon
think-why, that's one of Jim's sot.
test points. P'rhaps you amt found
1T out yet, but he's terribly close
listed. He was alluz a master hand
for savin', even when he was boy,
and Pm afraid if he keeps on he'll
be regular miser by the time he's
old. I'd have warned you about
this tailin' aforehand, as l did Lucy,
If I'd ever seen you.
Well, it's so. This house is a
regular town joke. We pestered the
life ont Of him for years, me and
Lucy, to make him paint it, but he
wouldn't; and now it's got to be a
sort Of piece of stubborn pride
with him not to have it touched.
That's Jim all over"
I" guess he'll paint it," said Prue
calmy.
Old Mrs. Rice bridled. "Well,
If his own mother and his fust wife
couldn't make him do it"
His second wife WILL" Prue fin.
ished, firmly. 81 guess-this house
will be painted"
In the week that followed Prue
had chance of seeing for herself
the truth of Mrs. Rice's assertions
in regard to her sons character.
James Rice was an UNUSUALLY
clever man, and his respect for any
one who could "get ahead of him"
was unbounded. Lucy's weak ma
ture had bowed naturally before her
husbands dominant will. He had
ruled her in the same way that he
had ruled his mother, merely be-
cause she had weakly submitted,
without protest, to his tyranny
But Prue was different. She seemed
to have brought away with her
some of the spice and strength of
her own pine woods, and Jim was
often surprised to find at the end of
an argument that he had uncon.
sciously yielded to her wishes.
In an unframed way Prue was a
natural musician, and the harsh,
tuneless notes of the thirty-year-Old
melodeon grated on her sensitive
ear. Jim was very fond of listening
to her fresh young voice, and after,
supper, while he smoked his evening
Pipe by the open window, he always
asked for his favorite old time songs.
But Prue objected to the discord-
ant accompaniment which the
melodeon furnished.
"Jim, you'd ought TO get me a
new pianner," she said, persuasively,
one evening. ats a real sin to
sing Biue-eyed Mary to an accom-
parliament with five keys off the
notes In tho bass, and two notes in
the treble that don't sound at ALL"
jim knocked the bowl Of his pire
against the window-sill, and watched
the ashes fall on the grass outside be-
fore he answered.
The melOdeon is we'll enough,
If you'll just remember about not
strikin' them notes. 1t amt the in
strument l want to hear, anyway ;
it's your voice. Lucy understood
how to make II go. She used to
play the music soft and sing loud"
Pm afraid | sha'n't be able to
remember that" said Prue, innO-
Gently; and she began to sing The
Minstrel Boy"
Never before had the minstrel boy
departed to war under such provoca-
ton. Prue's sweet voice could
scarcely be heard above the rasping
chords, and Jim moved uneasily un.
til the song was finished. Then she
tried Esquire Jones's Darter," but
with no better success. The five
bad notes in the bass made them.
selves unpleasantly prominent, and
the two silent treble keys left an ir.
ritating blank on the listeners ear
And as it was that evening, so it was
every night for the next week, un.
til at last jim realized the pleasure
he was losing, and surprised Prut
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