Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1897-11-25

4 kitchen, where
IN the ball-fringed
~ curtains tlutter-
ed in the breeze and the tall clock told
Off the seconds with leisurely delibera-
ton, "was deal too good to last.
dreamed last night that | saw Sam IN
his winding sheet, and this morning
when the letter came l knew what was
in it. word for word, before ever ]
broke the seal!'
"What has happened?" eagerly ques-
toned Kitty Johnson, the village Cos
sip. who had stopped on her way to the
place where she was engaged for a
days work at dressmaking to ask how
Mrs. Merrydew's rheumatism was.
''IIe ain't-dead?"
"Deadw croaked the old lady, "what
a start you do give one, to be sure.
/ Dead-of course he amt dead! He's
only-marred"
"Well, I declare" said Htty, 'if
that don't beat ALL Your Sam mar
riedv'
Married last week." said Mrs. Mary
Merrydew, land going to bring his
bride to see me to-day. What am
going to do, I'd like to know, with Il
daintily fine lady from the city, who
don't know a spinning wheel from a
clothes press, and never put her hands
into a pan of good scalding dlshwater
in her lfe?"
"Well, but" said Kitty Johnson, sit
seems to me as If that vas borrerin'
trouble afore it's due. NoH
know but what you'll like hef?
did you ever know one of these city
girls that was worth her salt?" con
temptuously demanded Mrs. Merry
dew. mot everybody knows what my
luck has been, all my life long. If
there was bad egg in the bilin' was
always certain sure to get it; if
bought ticket No. in the rattle at Il
church fair, No. s was always the tick
ct to draw the prize. l didn't expect
anything better, and I'm resigned to
the Lords Will Oh, dear, dear, this is
n hard world to live in"'
"A queer kind Of resignation"
thought Miss Kitty, as she FASTENED
on, leaving Mrs. Merrydew wiping her
eyes with a yellow silk pocket hand
kerchief and signing like any furnace.
"And if Sam Merrydew really has got
married, hope to goodness he's got Il
woman who won't take the world quite
SO hard as his mother does"
Eyes, I'm resigned said Mrs. Merry
dew, as she cut the white, crisp fall ap-
Piles into juicy slices for tart, and
mournfully filed the stove with fresh
wood. Though l don't s'pose Sans
wife will keep the old china and the
silver candlesticks and the BOughten
carpets as I've done; no, and she won't
set no store by the old furniture that
has been in the Merrydew family for
generation and a half. She'll set and
fold her hands, and let everything go to
wrack and ruin-but I'm resigned. And
Sam, he'll be neglected, and his shirts
will be destroyed, and his stockings
won't be mended-who ever heard of q
city lady taking the trouble to mend
stockings?s But amt one to grumble,
and l always did say that, whatever
happened, l would try to be resignedw
The baking was all done-the table
was set for tea, and the freight gleam-
ing through the cracks of the stove
danced merrily up and down on the
yellOwwashed walls, and Mrs. Merry
dew was alternately doing over her
knitting and wipng surreptitious tears
from her spectacle glasses, when there
came loud, insistent knocking at the
door, and in walked tall, untidy young
woman in cheap blue silk dress,
whose NANCY train drew itself over the
floor, and black lace hat overloaded
with ragged artificial flowers.
"Bless me-" said Mrs Merrydew, only
half awake, "whO are you|
"Im Sans wife," said the young
woman, looking around her with in
dolent interest. "And s'pose you're
my mother-in-lawT
you" gasped the poor old lady,
scarcely able, at first, to realize the
meaning of the handsome slattern's
words. You Sans wife! 1t can't be-
possible"
The young woman united the strings
Of her bonnet with laugh, and flung
1t carelessly on the table.
81 guess amt good enough for you,"
said she. "Sam said his folks wouldn't
just fancy me at first, but we're tight
married and there's no help for it, so
you'll just have to make the best of
things"
"You-you are from the city," hest
tated poor Mrs. Merrydew, not know
ing what else to say.
Il waited in restaurant" said Sans
, wife. THAT'S where he first saw me-
IN New York.
HE never told me that" said Mrs
Aerrydew, family.
II spose it's dreadful dull and poky
out here" said the young woman, with
q shrug of her pretty tawdry shoulders.
"Do the crickets always keep on cheep
-cheeping, like this? And don't the
wind ever stop moaning through the
trees? Dear me, what crazy looking
old clock! Why don't you change it off
for somethin1 mOdern2 TEMP M 7