Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-02-04

east ard. replied Mrs. Budd, with the
air of imparting delightful communi-
| cation. ''He done it the night of the
big blizzard, and he had to hang there
two days before they could git HIM
down. Law! nobody blamed him fur
dom it, fur Sarah-that's his wife
was Wiley, and as ugly as all the rest
of 'em! Fust thing she said when they
took him down was, 'Jonathon Merrick,
I'll have the law on We fur spoiEn' that
good hitch-ropev AS if he could set up
there and ontie it with poor Henry
danglin'! There's piece of the rope
yet, declare! I should have thought
it would have rotted away before this.
See, it's on that dead limb, p'intin' at
the house. It's queer, but there never
leaf growed on that branch after
that, though the rest of the tree is
green enopghv'
1T reminds me of a case l knew"
said the stranger, looking at the leaf
less branch with an unshrinking eye.
ut was woman in our place who had
an India rubber tree her husband had
fetched her from abroad. She always
took care Of it herself, and it grew
beautiful till she was took with hasty
consumption. True as you live, that
tree begun to pine the same time she
did, and drop it's leaves one by one.
The last leaf fell off just as she drew
her last breath, and saw it myself"
Rusty leaned forward and looked
into her companions face with alb
sobed interest.
81 don't doubt it, she said, in an
awed whisper. 1--WE knowed some
such cases myself. My cousin Abby's
watch stopped the very second she gave
her last gasp, and though they took it
to the jewelers. to have it fixed it
would never go again. She was a Spir-
itualist, too. No, amt superstitious;
but it beats all how many queer things
do happen round here. It's no wonder
so many folks go crazy, between spirit
rappings and folks hangin' themselves.
The doctor says it's the hard work and
the narrer lives we lead that makes so
| many people queer in their heads.
Countin' in Deacon Wiley's fust COM
panion, there's been six farmers wives
went crazy and ben put in the poor
house over to New Canaan village"
''The deacon has had more than one
wife, then?' inquired the woman in
| black, with an odd, uneasy look on her
| sharp face.
-Four" said Mrs. Budd, pointing
with her whip handle to wind blown,
desolate graveyard glimmering in the
distance on the summit of an arid hill.
! ''See them four stuns in a row in the
| southwest corner? There they be, the
hull four on 'em, and a good deal better
off than they was alive and slavin' fur
that old curmudgeon. I heard last
week that he was courtin' an old maid
over to Milby. The Lord help her,
that's all I've got to say"
Hes well off, isn't hep queried the
| traveller family.
"S'posen he is; 'twon't do her no
good. He's SO near, his folks never
gifts a square meal. When his last wife
she that was Mary Ann Spicer-was
| dyin' she wanted some tea with white
sugar in it, such as he always has HIM
self, and Deacon Wiley wouldn't give
her lump. He said he guessed molas.
Sc would do her. Folks say she did
actilly starve to death. know she
was nothin' but a skeleton in her cot
fin. She was weakly and thin like you,
and she went like morning dew"
what were the others like?' asked
| ho o. ci1anaa
! '@Oh, I never knowed Lurindy-that
| was the crazy one. I see Alviny once
| or twice to funerals; but she never
went nowhere else. She wore her hair
| i'm long curls and always wore thick
green barege veil and a blanket shawl,
| even in the hottest weather. heard
| say she was edicated and wrote poetry
| before she was married. She warn't
NO housekeeper, anyway, and she
worked herself to death tryin' to git
along, and he a frettin' and stormin'.
| Law! I've seen her hanging out the
| wash late Saturday afternoon. Deacon
| Wiley used to talk about his trials with
| her in the weekly prayer meetin' and
| pray fur upholdin' grace. used 70
| wonder what upheld herr
''What allied the third wife? asked
| the stranger, with queer sound as OF
/ restrained tears ia her voice.
"Worked to death and harrassed to
/ death like the rest" replied Rusty
| unflinchingly. ''She was my cousins
girl and used to go and see her when
| qae warnt round. I've seen Lucy set
tim on the floor by the tub doin' ont
the wash. He'd hev let her drop inter
| it and never lifted finger to help her. :
II understand the house was nicely
| furnished said the woman in black
dOubtfully.
| There's Brussels carpet and lace
curtains in the parlor," admitted Mrs.
| Budd. ''Lurindy fetch 'em when She
come a bride. The rest of the house 3
got some old truck that looks as If it
come out Of the ark. There's not a
yard Of carpet anywhere except in the
| parlOr, and he keeps that locked and
never "Opens it except when he buries
| a companion. Lucy worked all one
| x,rA& fa1y %