The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03
a TARDY COURTSHIP.


In the first place her bread had refused TO
rise, for almost the first time in her expert
ence as a housekeeper, and the next day
the minister was coming to tea. And he
had little suspicion of dyspepsia, and had
to exercise care in the selection of food |
and the only kind of bread he could eat was
salt rising bread.
And in the second place, Deacon Popham
had proposed to her.
The deacon had already proposed TO, mar
ried and buried three estimable women, and
as he often said in the Thursday evening
prayer meetings, he had more near and
dear friends on the other side than he had
on this side.
Mary Ann lived in the square white house
which had been her fathers with no COM
panion but her cat. Bartimus Toots, and
the old man who MIXED the cow and took
care of the garden One after another OF
her family had gone away never to come
back, and the cid house had grown silent
and lonely as the changes went on; but
Mary Ann was attached to the place. and 1t
seemed to her that nowhere in the world
did the sun shine brighter and warmer
than it shbne into the many PANIED windows
Of the old house, and nowhere was the
grass greener or the clover blossoms sweet
er than in the meadows sloping down to
the river from the yellow-painted front
door of the Davis homestead.
Mary Ann had been a pretty girl, and
Though she was now past forty, her hair
was still soft and abundant and lay
against her white, unwrinkled forehead IN
little golden-coored crinkles, and the bloom
on her cheek was still delicate and dainty
as the blush in the heart of wild rose.
hea1 hon md
either, when the people of Hardens Cor
ners had fully expected and believed that
Mary Ann Davis and Eben Meader would
be made one and live out their quiet and
uneventful lives side by side, as the ma
jority of Hardens Corners people had done
before them.
Eben was ''well to do" and the Meader
farm, one of the best in the vicinity, had
come to him at the death of his father, and
the MeadeIs had always been noted for
keeping the best breed of cows, the finest
horses, the handsomest sheep in the neigh
borhood--and Eben fully sustained the fam
lily reputation in this respect But time
went on and he still continu d paying Mehlt-
able Briggs SO a week for doing his house
work. and it really did seem that he didn't
get on one mite nor grain with his court
Ship" SO the wise women of the Corners
said as they talked the matter over at some
quilting party or neighborhood tea-drinking.
The Meaders We're slow people-Ebens
father and grandfather had been VIGOROUSLY
slow-and if Eben had any designs on the
heart Of Mary Ann Davis he probably
thought that there was time enough. NO
use to be in q hurry, was the motto which
should have been inscribed on the family
coat of arms of the Meaders, If they had
ever INDUCED in such superfuity as a
coat OF arms.
Mary Ann herself had not been without
some expectations in Eben's direction, put
now it had been so long and nothing had
come of it that she had about given up the
idea.
Eben had a practice of coming over to
her house every other Tuesday evening reg
ularly and stayed until o clock, never Ia
ter. His conversation was mainly about the
weather, past and present-the meetings at
the schoolhouse and the crops round about
Harden'S Corners.
And whenever he came, after he had seat
ed himself in the chintz covered rocking
chair and stroked the back of Bartlmus
Toots, he took out his pocketbook and eX-
tracted therefrom a large yellow envelope
which seemed to contain something bulky.
He would hold it in his hand, feel of it as
if to make sure that nothing had been lost
out of it, and then return 1t to his pocket,
and he always sighed when he put it away.
matter of course that Mary Ann had ceased
to wonder at 1t or to feel any curiosity in
respect to it. 1t was just one of Eben'S abb
sent-mnded habits, she told herself, and
that was all there was to 1t.
But now, as stated in the beginning, Mary
Ann was in sore perplexity. First, there
salt risin' dread, such as mother used
to make for company" she said in CONVEX
gagged in putting some finishing touches to
his toilet, on top of the bureau, and was
at leisure to listen, and she got the rule
for making it from Mrs. Colonel Jones's
cook, In Boston. And it never failed before
Never, and if do say it, Bartimus, every
body in Harden's Corners knows that 1
can't he heat for alt-riSin' bread
Bartimus nodded assent and critically ex-
amined the bottom of his forepaw, and gave
why, the last time that Elder Tuttle
was here to tea, says he, sister Davis,
do think you make the very best bread l
ever tasted. And though I never eat much
bread on account of my dyspepsia and he
had just finished his fifth slice, will try
one more small piece, thank you And
heavy as lead. / declare. Bartimus, 1
could cry with a good relish"
Bartimus winked his yellow eyes solemnly
and tackled the other foot. No domestic
calamity ever fell heavy enough to make
Bartimus Toots forget the duty he owed
to his personal appearance.
AS troubles never came slngly, so in the
midst of this perplexity about the bread.
Deacon Popham's proposal had come sud
life. The idea that she might be considered
eligible to the position of Mrs Popham No.
mind.
Good land" said she. you could have
knocked me GOWN WIFI a Leather. i
thought the deacon had come over to bor-
row some soap-the Pophams are almost al
ways out Of soap-and kept right on bast-
ing some lace into the neck of my meetin'
dress-I do wish linen collars would come in
again, they're so much less troube-but,
then they do make a thin neck look awful
scraggly. The deacon, he talked consider
able about the revivaliSt over to the
Cove and then he said something
about REORGANIZATION, but J. never
sensed much about them doctrines of his,
and then he come close up to me, and says
he Sister Davis, the life of a widowed man
is dreadful lonely, and full of snares and
pitfalls for the feet of the unwary.' told
him / supposed so, but couldn't speak from
experience And then, declare, If he didn't
set right down onto Bartmus, and that cat
would have been squelched to death if
hadn't had presence of mind TO ask the
deacon to get up and let me turn the chair
cushion the other side up, for Bartimus had
left some hairs on it, and the deacon had on
black clothes.
I'VE got good farm said the deacon,
fand ten cows and pair of horses, and the
hest meetin' wagon in the Corners-a two
scatter. SOS to ride three or four and not
runple up your good clothes. and a central
pew in Elder Tutte'S meetin house'-and
SO he went on just as if he was a-giving in
his inventory TO the assessors. And, says
he the children are all out of the way eX-
cept the baby. You wouldn't object to the
baby would you, Mary Ann?
Good landl" says | to myself the man
must be out of his head, land / got him a
glass of my currant wine to steady his