The National tribune., 1900-09-20

of boiled shirt and some other articles
of adornment, purchased at ruinous
price from a jew sutler as they passed
through Jacksonville, but he felt clown
ishly ill-clad beside that dazzling creature
He hated and wanted to throttle the sleek
young hOolmaster-studying to be q
minister>-who seemed to him dressed with
dandyish effeminacy (he wore a black
ulster suit, and straw hat, who walked
up to Maria with the easy assurance OF
entire equality, parted her sharp saliics
or returned them with as trenchant
thrusts.
THAT impudent little dandy" he
breathed holly to himself. ''If it wasn't
Sunday and all these people here, I'd take
him acrost my knee, and learn him some
manners. I'd learn him how to talk to a
lady"
Maria was standing in the midst Of a
bevy of bright-faced country girls, among
whom she was clearly leader, and their
musical voices and merry laughter con-
trasted' brightly with the solemn gravity
Of the meeting they had just quilted, with
the monotonous hum of the elder women,
detailing the sickness and troubles, the
D!I LIS dtdtllS, anu UtitI uSNo ". tLt
neighborhood, and the sedate discussions
by the men of the latest war news, which
were the only secular topics allowed by
those strict Baptists on Sunday and the
church grounds. Some would permit
themselves to talk OF the markets and
farm business at home, On the Sabbath,
but none would carry such worldly chat
ter to the vicinage of the church.
Say, young man." said a white-haired
elder, whose propensity to gossip and lad
wise" could not be restrained by Sabbath
considerations. "They say you're sort o
settin' up to Deacon Klegg's oldest daugh-
ter. Well, if you kin git her, you'll make
a strike. With Sam Wakefield's so that
he's bin after so long, and now as good
us bought, the Deacon'li have weli-nigh
to half-section Of as good land as there
is on the Wabash, and
Look here, grandad," broke in Shorty,
restraining himself as well as he could,
on account of the other mans age, but
boiling over at such sordid considerations
in connection with such an Incompatible
girl as Maria, Il don't want you to talk
that way. L won't have it. l amt after
no mans farm. What III have I'll get
for myself-thanks to no man. That girls
worth all the farms in Injianny. I'd rather
have her, without as much dirt as she
sweeps out o. the house in the morning
than any other woman with all the land
you could fence in with streak O. light
ming going all day"
Got it purity bad, hain't your" said the
old man, critically. well, / felt that
way myself oncet. Drapped gal in Ohio
whose father had quarter section, mostly
river bottom, and TUX up with one VINO
hadn't nothing hut a feather bed, COW and
n spnning-wheel, and moved out here to
Wabash, where / entered an S0-acre tract.
and was % years payin' for it. The gal
| married s made good wife to me-
no denying that-but she's bin powerfully
subject to the fever n-ager, and I've spent
enough for qtfinine flor her to we nearly
father owned 1.-THE riyer-bo.tem would've
made just as good a wife, and she's never
had fetch O. the fepdr'n-ager Take my
advice, young man: Marry that gal if you
kin rat her; don't let that white-faced
school -teacheri-cu you out. She'll bring
wear your life out clearing it, as I did, and
I'm sure you'li never have to pay out all
your money far QuIfire for her."
Shorty was SO angry at the cold-blocded
selfishness of the Old mans advice that
he could scarcely keep from saying some
tnlDR SaFaSely lHSUiSWS, Dut at that mo
meDt he saw Maria ibeckon to him as she
and the school-teacher started for the
wagon to go home. M
81 and Annabel had gotten away from
the crowd and separated Annabei to 20
home to prepare for the all-important
event. in which she probably fractured
the Sabbath trifie, and ST to mount the
front seat of the spring wagon, with lit
tie Sammy Woggles, and drive the rest.
The Deacon and his wife took the rear
seat, Shorty ard Amanda the next, while
Maria and the school-teacher took the one
behind 81 and Sammy Woggies.
The good-byes to the neighbors were
over, and momentary silence ensued
while 81 was gathering up the reins,
which Sammy improved by asking in a
shrill treble a question which had been
weighing on his young mind:
Say, Mr.. Corpril Shorty, why didn't
yon have the minister give out that you
and Maria was to be married, too"
Shorty froze and burned by turns, all
in second. watched sickeningly for fhe
effect on Maria, and wondered il II copId
be regarded as crime in Indiana to kill
such brat?