Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1899-08-24
A Sprig Of Rosemary
BY Julia schayer.


and Broadway. An old woman was
standing on the curb looking uncer-
tainly about her-now at the endless
chain of street cars, now into the faces
OF passers-by. She was countrifed
old woman, stout and plain, yet with
such goodness in her face, such simplic-
lty, such all-embracing human kind
ness, as to make it, for eyes that really
see, lovely to look upon.
1t was a hot summer afternoon, and
she, too, was warmly clad in dark,
homely garments. Near her feet on the
curbstone was a large enamel-cloth
satchel, with a robust cotton umbrella
strapped to it. On her left arm hung
a good-sized basket filed with growing
observation-disclosures things seldom
seen outside of farmhouse gardens.
With her right hand incased in gray
cotton glove, she was tanning her heat
ed face with corner of her black shawl
her pleasant gray eyes wandered from
face to face of the hurrying throng, as
It seeking sympathy, but few gave her
even a casual glance, and of those few
only now and then one gave her a sec
ond look lit up with momentary curl
osity or amusement. The woman was
SO obviously out Of place-as much so
as an apple tree or a clump of cinna-
mon roses would have been.
The guile1ess wistfulness of her
bright old eyes pierced the hard crust
of worldliness and conventionality, and
eref's l,>to their hearts, and more than
one was moved to ask the stranger if
she needed help or information, but the
little crevice closed quickly and they
passed on. Only the look remained i'm
prisoned in their bosoms, and they re-
called that day things they had not
though of for many year.
The woman had arrived on a noon
train, expecting her nephew, William
Henry Farmer, to meet her at the sta
ton. She had waited a long time for
him, then, thinking her letter had mis-
carried, she decided to go on to his
house up town. She had been there be-
fore, and she knew how to reach it,
but she was timid about going alone.
William Henry was her only brothers
child and had grown up Oh farm.
lie was smart boy, and had grown
up into smart man. He was pros
porous provision dealer in New York
now, married to a nice girl from his
own township, and living comfortably
in his own house out Harlem way.
Whenever there arose a domestic emer-
gency in his family-and they arose
with astonishing frequency-AuntA Alb
by came on to nurse William Henry's
wife. For that matter, they would
have liked to keep her with them all
the time; but Aunt Abby would not
leave her home-the home of her
humble farming ancestors for several
generations. She was essentially of the
soil, country woman in every fiber of
her being. The city was to her a
monster, splendid but full of terror,
whose giittering scales panied her
eyes, whose incessant roar hurt her
ears, accustomed to the quiet fields=and
woods. Not for worlds would she live
in the city.
But she dearly loved William Henry,
and Lucilla and the children, and was
glad to come and stay with them dur
ing emergencies like the one pending.
Lucilla was a country girl, too, and
loved the oldjplace, and when Aunt Alb
by came in shesalways brought some
was some plants for Lucilla's window
garden, from the place where William
Henry's folks used to live. She had left
a good deal of soil about the roots, and
that made the basket very heavy. Her
ARA ached sorely, but she would not set
the basket down for fear some one
might tread on it, or even steal it while
she was not looking, and she. kept a
sharp eye also on the black satchel.
Aunt Abby read the papers, and her
opinion of New York morals was not
high. y
She began to feel very tired, and
wished William Henry had not missed
her, and wondered how she happened
to leave her palm leaf fan on the train.
I'm gettin' all het up!" she said to
herself, YEARLY. T8s
She had thought that she knew Just
which kind Of q car to take to get to her
nephew's house, but they came along SO
fast, and looked so much alike that she
was getting doubtful. And she meant
to be very cautious. She was morally
certain, that once on the wrong car,
her doom was sealed. There was no
knowing to what dreadful den she
might be lured, robbed and murdered,
and no one would ever know what be-
came Of her. She had read of numbers
of people disappearing mysteriously
that way. So she let car after car pass
until she could feel quite, quite sure.
When she had been standing there
some time in the hot sun, handsome
coupe stopped near her, and an old gen
tleman stepped out. He was very fine
looking old gentleman, indeed, clean
shaver, rosy, and somewhat pompous.
His hair was silver white, and so were
4 the heavy broWs under which were
eyes. as hard and bright as polished
steel; his mouth was the mouth of a
man who loved pomp and pleasure, but
It was not altoge ther a cruel mouth. As