Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-01-25
A CURIOUS COUPLE.

qnaintest little places imaginable. Ii
Is SO small, and so out of the way, that
you would never find it, except by ac'
cident. Indeed, it stands apart in some
fields, absolutely concealed in hol.
low, and is only approached on one
side by footpath (Which in the winter
is usually under water), on another by
cart track of the rudest and toughest
description. When you do arrive there,
the first object to strike you is the
church.
There is something pleasing, some
thing grateful to the eye in this gray,
plain, disproportioned little structure.
1t seems to fit into it's surroundings
admirably; the farmyard, the cottages.
the brook flowing just below (they
call it "the river" there, where every
thing is on so reduced scale), the ever.
present geese and sheep and cattle,
and the perfect seclusion of surround
ing pastures. Nothing but green which
ever way you look. No houses Except
the quaint little cluster round the
church), no distant view; everything
shut in by tho slopes which skirt the
valley; a complete environment Of
everlasting fields.
have seen many churchyards. This
one, lying begirt on all sides by the
farm homestead, tiny, indifferently kept,
shaded by many expresses and weeping
ash, where scarcely once q year, per-
haps, is the slumberng soil disturbed
for new grave, and where everything
speaks Of dreamy restfulness, this
churchyard of R is the spot in which
| myself would soonest choose to lie.
a former rector; the kindest, heartiest,
tenderest, most beloved Of pastors.
Those who have since died in R
have all wished to be laid near him.
And now around him sleeps a little
cluster Of his horny-handed friends. a
happy family. The whole churchyard
is peaceful. But in that especial corner
the peacefulness seems always most
profound.
1t was this rector's nephew and sue
cessor-for R has been a family liv-
ing any time this two centuries past
to whom 1 am indebted for the follow
ing story. He often strolled out with
me when | went to paint, and, while
smoking innumerable pipes, told me
many interesting local yarns. This one,
however, the facts Of which bad late
ly come under his own experience, quite
Overtopped all the others in striking
ness and popularity. Here it is, sub
stantialIy in my informant's words:
"You see that cottage over there?''
he said, pointing 10 a dismantled hovel
in the corner OF the field where | had
pitched my canvas.
nodded.
"a most remarkable history is at
tached to it," he went on. Not {
legend, but fact. OF this, ] can as
sure you, because myself had hand
in finding 1t out. 1t tcenters round GER
tain couple who lived there-the most
extraordinary old folk that ever came
across. 1 should like you to have seen
them. think you would have admitted
them to be the ugliest pair in Eng
| land, as they certainly were the most
| close and unfriendly. During the 16
| years that they lived in that cottage,
they never once asked a neishbor in
side"
"Umph! Hermits, indeed" l OBJ
served.
absolute hermits. There was, how
ever, some slight excuse for their es-
| chewing all outside company. Each suf-
| fered from a severe physical intirmity
| The woman was nearly stone deaf; the
| man was dumb. When they first came
| here-1s years ago now, l think-lny
| uncle, who, as you know, was then rec
| tor, tried to find out what he could
about them. He only learned little
and that little was nothing out of the
| way. 1t transpired that the man was
| an ex-sailor of the royal navy, who had
lost his speech after a severe attack OF
| yellow fever in the West Indies. He
was now entitled to pension, which
he drew half yearly, and which my
uncle only knew about by the fact that
the old fellow had to come 10 him peri
odically to get his papers signed. The
woman was his sister, so she gave the
neighbors TO understand, and so alsc
might have been inferred from a certain
| family likeness which was noticeable
between them. She was most ill-fa-
vored hag; shrivelled, unllempt, md
dirty beyond description. Although
she then must have been nearer 20 than
GO, her long, touzled hair was still as
black rs a coal, and hung in hideous
rAtidiness about her hawk-lil1e face
which, with its dark eyes, and its hooked
| rroboscis, was most uncommonly forbid
ding. The poor people all pronounced
her witch; and, for that reason, gave
her a wide berth. Probably the woman
purpose'y encouraged the idea, Fol
her great aim and object was, evidently
10 be left alone.
although her brothers pension