The St. Johns herald., 1898-12-17

4 A and then she would raise her gentle eyes and glance out through the pantry window toward the patch of tall, waving hollyhocks that Jim had planted four summers before. She was kneading dough, and two or three times she stopped to scrape the clinging bat ter from her fingers with the back of a case-knife.
 She hummed a little old-fashioned tune. emphasizing the "tum te tum'' with savage jabs at the rapidly harden Ing dough on the shelf-board before her. T,
 "Janer'
 No reply.
 "Janep
 The ungainly figure of young girl In gingham. her hair escaping in strands the loosely tied knot at the back of her head, appeared In the pantry doorway.
 What dye want?"
 ''I want ye t git them biscuit tins out O tn kitchen cupboard an bring lem in here t me-
 The girl slowly turned and shambled across the kitchen floor, the turnover heels of her old slippers clattering on the white scrubbed boards as she walked.
 "1 never see sich a girl" muttered Mrs. Springer to herself. Seems like impossibility t git any decent help out here in tn kentry. All tn girls that's good fer anything gifts up an gifts t teowun ez soon ez they're tn right age t be good fer anything. Only them as Is too lazy t live is lef' fer us out here"
 Here tn tins be, Missus Springer"
 Jane dragged herself into the buttery and laid the baking plates on the shelf at Mrs. Springer's elbow.
 Mrs. Springer turned, her hands and arms fecked with flour.
 Did ye grease 'emY' she asked sharply.
 "No, ma'am; ye didn't tell me to-
 Didn't tell ye to? Hain't ye got sense enough t do that 'ithout bein' tor?'
 The girl took the tins and shambled back into the kitchen, to return them after space of five minutes, "greased."
 "Is they anything elseY' she asked.
 "Yes; meow go out an git me pail O water. l hain't got time t do every thing"
 Again the girl disappeared.
 From the great lump of dough on the board Mrs. Springer pulled little Jumps and rolled them into flabby globes, which she placed in regular lines on the bottom of the biscuit tins. She had patted the last little lump into ball and wedged 1t into a corner of one of the pans and stepped back to survey her work, when through the open doorway of the kitchen foated to her, on the cool September air, the call, "Missus Springer! Oh, Missus Spring erp'
 Meow I'd like t know who that is" she exclaimed as she crossed the floor and pushed open the screen door.
 Fer tn lan's sake, Zeke Evans, what be you a-wantin'?'
 She had stepped out on the back porch, all green and blue with clinging vines and open morning glories.
 The little man In the light "rig" wiped the precipitation from his brow and -clambered olt of the vehicle over the wheel z
 He advanced toward Mrs. Springer and extended yellow envelope. "This kum las night" he said, 'jes fore tn ten twenty arrove. Tn operator asked me t fetch it. At fust I thought I'd bring it right oyer not thinkin' but what it might be from Jim. Then I sez t myself, sez I, 'Missus Springer will be t bed an better wait till mornin', so fetched it over on my way deown."
 At the name "Jim" Mrs. Springer clutched the bit of yellow paper, and, with fingers that wavered little, tore open the envelope.
 Zeke waited. The envelope dropped to the floor of the porch. Mrs. Springer held the dis patch jn her left hand and followed the scrawled writing with the fore finger of her right.
 One glance at the words and she cried out, Its Jim. He's comin' home. It's from his captlng sayin' he has been sent home sick in tn care O two other sol diers. He lef' tn camp yesterday after noon an'll be here airly to-morrer morn ln'."
 "Sho! Ye don't say" exclaimed Zeke. Dew 1t tell how bad he be? Why didn't thet durn operator over t tn depy tell me it wuz frum Jim an I'd a-brought it t ye las night"
 Mrs. Springer smiled and cleared her throat. ''They's time enough, Zeke," she said. 'TIl go right in an fix up his room so's t have everything ready when he comes As yew drive on down, yell over t Budd. He's in tn spring lot hoein'. Tell him t come right up here t tn haouse. thet Jim's a-comin'."
 'Is there anything I kin do fer ye" asked Zeke, little tone of anxiety in his voice.
 "No, they ain't nawthin'. An don't believe I even thanked ye fer bringin' me this telegram, Zeke."
 Zeke blushed and stammered that "that was all right" and turned to chamber over the wheel again into his rig,
 "In tell Buddr' he cried back over the top of the carriage as he drove on down the lane.
 Matilda Springer went back into the kitchen and through the little passage
 1~-- T.