The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-17

to US. one evening after supper as we
fingered watching her clearing away the
table-'talk about riddles, n-takes-Da-
vid = Mason - Jeffries = TO = tell = rid
dies, Bet you don't know
:. .Riddle-cum. riddle-eum right,
Where was last Saturd I Hlghtr
The winds did blow-the boughs did
1 saw the hole fox did maker
Again we felt that indefinable thrill
never separate from the strange utter
ance. suggestive always OF some dark
mystery. and fascinating and holding the
childish fancy IN complete control
Bet YOU don't know this-'un neither:
"a hoIler-hearted father
And a hump-back mother
Three black OTphantS
All born togethert
We were dumb.
You can't guess nothin'r' she said. half
pityingiy. wy. -thems easy as fallin
off a chunk First-lIn's man named
Fox. ana ne kilt his wife and chopped her
head off and they was . man named
Wright lived in that Deighborhood-an
he was a goin home-and II was Saturd y
highland ne was a-Comin through the
big woods-snd they was stoTm-and
Wright Ire ChImb tree TO git out the
rain. and while he was M there mere
come along man with dead woman
and a pickaNe. and spade And ne
drug the dead woman under the same tree
where Mr. Wright Was-so ever time Il
'ud iightnin'. Wv. Wright he could look
down and see him -diggin' a grave there
to bury the woman in. so Wright he KEEP
still tel nc got her buried 81 right YOU
! know and went back home; and then
he clumb down and lit out fer town, and
walked up the constabul and he got a
supeeuy and Nent out 70 FoXs place and
had him hprlSed mp fore the gran Jury
Then whom Fox was in court and waited
to know where their proof was that ne
kilt his wife. Wy. Wright he. jumps up
and saws that riddle TO the Judge and
all the neighbOrs that was there Ana
so when they got il all studied out-H y.
they TUX old Fox out and hung MIN uh-
der the same tree where he buried Mrs.
Fox under. And that's all o that n; and
the other promised-David-M asofl--
Jeffries-I wOuldn r-tefl-no-liNln
-soul-'Iess- he-giulme - ieef,--er = they
-EneSsed- -out-theiT-OWn---sef And
As she gave this rather ambiguous e%PlA-
nation of the first riddle, with the mys~
terious. comment on the later N con-
over her shoulders with a cunning tess
of her head and a Elinmering twinkle OF
her pale. bright eyes that somehow re-
minded ds of the fairy godmother IN Cin~
derella-
And Mary Alice Smith was right. too.
in her early representations regarding
the visits of her Uncle Tomps and Aunt
'Lizabetfl MANY times through the WIN
ter they lest dropped in. as Aunt LIZ
beth always expressed it, to see now
we was a-gettin' on with Mary Ance-
J
prolonged trial in which Uncle Tomps
and Aunt 'Lizabeth rather prominently
figured they lest dropped in upon us
sd settled down and dwelt with us tor
the longest five DAYS and nights We chil-
dren had ever in our lives experienced
Nor was our long term of restraint from
childish sports relieved wholly by their
/ a absence since Aunt 'LiZabeth had taken
| Mary-Alice back With them. SAYING that
/ "a good long visit TO her dear OLD nome
more as il NaS-wOuid do the child good
tI,oy, IA a the
! house in moody silence, the question.
/ ..XYhere-is-MaTy- Alice-Smith?'' forever
/ yearninS at our lips Tor utterance' and
! the still belated echo in the old hail over
4 head forever answering, "Oh-she-has--
| gone-homet
II was early spring when she returned.
! And we were looking for her coming. ana
i knew a week beforehand the very day she
! would arrive-for had not Aunt Lizabeth
| sent special word by Uncle TompS. VINO
! had come to town to do his millin', and
! git the latest war news, not TO fail TO Jest
I droD in and tell US that they was laYit
/ off to send Mary Alice in next Sat
! urd-y.
/ our little town. like every other village
and metropolis throughout the country
/ at that time. was, to the children AZ
! least. a scene OF continuous holiday and
carnival The nations heart was paIpi-
/ tating with the feverish pulse of war,
and already the still half-frOzen clods of
/ the common highway were beaten into
1 frosty dust by the tread of marshaled
men; and the shrin shrek of the fife, and
the hoarSe boom and jar and rafting
patter of the drums stirred every breast
I with something of that rapturous insan-
/ ity of which true patriots and heroes can
alone be made.
But on that day-when Mary Alice
Smith was to return-what was all the
gallant tumult of the town TO us?
remember how we ran far I'D the street
/ to welcome her-for afar off we had rec
/ ogniZed her elfish face and eager eyes
peerinE eXpectantly from behind the
/ broad shoulders of A handsome fellow
mounted on a great housekeeping horse