The Florence daily tribune., 1899-01-13
THE CHRISTENING
OF SARAH'S ELDEST
THE balmy breeze. of down east
BY Kenneth Herscrd-

The grain stalks waved their tasseled
heads gently and rhythmically-an
ocean of gold,-and the birds chirped
their joy among the ripening fruit in
the branches of the harvest apple"
II ee, there by the corn crib.
On the back porch of the old. old
farm house-an echo, seeming, of an
other day,-behind n screen OF Dutch
mans pipe and woodbine. Aunt Jane
sat in cane seat brought from the
front room. husking the sweet corn for
dinner.
Now and then an ear of the peariy
kernels would fall from her hands into
the pan and she would for an instant,
look off down the road OF across the
field toward the dark green wood be
yond-absently. her mind racing back
the pathway of the years to the days
when she and Silas were children to-
gether in the old red schoolhouse; lead
ers, afterNvard. in the singing school,
lovers at the husking bees, and then
their wedding.
Once or twice Aunt Jane took off her
steel bowed spectacles and pulling up
her apron cleared the glasses with
them again comfortably astride heI
nose, slipping back the bows into the
ruts that time had made above her
ears, and pulling down. ever so slight
ly, the gray hair over them. Then. OF
sudden returning to her task, she would
tear off the green husks impatiently
as though by sheer force pulling her
self back to the evening of the pres
ent, from her moments ramble in the
morning of the past
With my book. over on the other side
of the porch. | did not intrude into the
domain of Aunt James revery. Ere.
quently on looking up would see her
lips moving as though she hummed TO
herself some old-time song OF repeated
in her heart some words thnt long since
had been told her. would smile, sim
ply, and resume my reading. When
the last ear had been stripped of its
gown Of green and the brown silks"
had been picked from between the rows
of kernels, Aunt Jane set the pan down
on the floor of the porch and gazed
out across the fields.
do you see" she said. after mo-
ment, and from the tone the words
seemed ms much addressed to herself as
to me, though responded. ''Do you
see" she said, that big tree cross
there, right at tn edge o. tn woods.
TIL one mex I tn old blasted oak?"
| leaned forward in my rocker and.
shading my eyes with the open book.
gazed in the direction she designated.
Yes replied; has that tree a story,
Aunt Jane?"
heard a sigh, but SO gently breathed
that it seemed but the echo of n sigh.
No, 'tain't got story. That's tn tree
where Siias asked me { marry him.
Nearly every man in tn Heminway
family, pears, asked their wives &
marry 'em under that tree, Silas'
brother, Seth, asked Sary t marry him
while they was a-strollin' through
them woods one day. long, long time
ago. Seems ages almost. 1t was right
under that tree that he asked her. Sary
told me of it durin' her las sickness
when we tryin' L take care OF her here
at tn house. Her room was the back
one upstairs, an she asked US I pull tn
bed down so't she could see tn tree out
o TIL window. If / amt mistaken she
died a-lookin' at TINT tree. She told
seth fore their fust child was born
that she wisht. il she should die. he'd
take tn child out under that tree every
.irthday o. hern' an tell it that it was
here that its mothers happiness be-
un. But Sary didn't die-not then.
;he had three boys an one girl grown
lp before she passed away. ! wonder
/ me or Silas ever told you bout tn
hristenin' o Sary's eldest?"
And through the moisture that mem
" had caused to gather in Aunt James
,es there broke the light of a smile
nat broadened and deepened until she
.iughed.
Your mother likely knows it," she
said. but If she amt told it t you |
pose | might as we'll"
And knew that there was to be for
ne another delightful human chapter
ut of Aunt James delicious volume Of
eriniscences. leaned back in my
hair and closed my eyes TO be carried
way by her TO another day, another
yorld-to me.
Seth's wife's name was an EmpsoI
Tore She married Seth. Tn HeInipway
n tn Empson farms joined down be-
ow that stone wall by tn creek. TIL
lcminways WAS always on good terms
With til Empsons an tn Empsons was
liways tn same with tn Heminways.
o, with tn two farms joinin'. 't,vant
20 more'n -Isacheral tibet in course o.
me Seth an Sary should get married,
sorter join tn property "a mite closer,
old Hiram Heminway used t say.
IN twant. TIL weddin' o. tn two was
,st tn ordinary conclusion o. two
hildren bein' raised within stones
brow o each other an no blood rela-
ion between EN-. 1t was tn aacheral
esult of protracted period o. singin'
chool an huskin' bees. Anyway they
vas married. Their eldest was born
Dout TIL pnI of III ea..pJ ,-a,r 7