Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1902-02-21
II GRAsPED THE SITUATION AT 4 GLANCE

make pretty muss or things ~ they
was left To YOU. wouldn't your
| But something has lot TO be done. "
ne protested with anxious voice. NH
| " and Sile have been lovin' each either
! over TWO years. and we mustn't lCt EN-
all 0ui over Il little thing like that"
"Whnt's rot TO be done for one
thing. Is for you TO kefp out Of It,
Miily has got mother. ana that
mother sIts right here. and what she
don't know about lovers qu&rrcls you
needn't try TO learn her. Now. YOU
mind what tell you. I'm expectln'
! Sile johnson will come sneakin' around
any day, but II he does don't you say
one word about the quarrel. Jest treat
him as II you didn't know anything
had happened. He begun the quarrel,
and he's got 10 be the one 10 eat hum.
bile pie"
But suppose he sticks out about Il
aud busts up the marriageT'
Il shan't suppose nothin' OF the
sort If be doesn't fall or the barn
and break his neck. he'll be back here
and very humble withIn two weeks"
Mrs. Nancy Carter thought she knew
young Silas Johnson pretty. well and
that he didn't differ much from the
generality OF lovers. but she was mis-
taken. He was an obstinate young
man. and. though Il caused him Ioss
or sleep and appetite. he refused 10 be
the nrst to give I'm. One word from
Mllly would have brought him over
10 the Carter farmhouse on the lump
tut, backed by feeling OF injury and
her mother, she refused TO speak 81
1t thus came about that the "tiff"
threatened TO have disastrous conse-
quences. and there was possibility OF
two lives being wrecked. One even
Ing when she was forced TO realize
this Nancy quietly asked OF her hus
band:
John. did you see Silas anywhere
ground when you was passin' the farm
the other dayT
YES" was the reply. "He was
buildin' fence jest beyond the barn
Is IL all of between Afllly and himY'
Cant say whether tits or not. Did
you ever know our old gray mare to
run awayY"
LANDS, mol NotbIn' on earth would
scare her"
But II somethln' did, JohnP II Milly
was driv.n' her to town and she ran
away. what would happen?"
shed probably stop for breath after
goin' about i've rods" laughed the hus-
band.
"She wouldn't kick the wagon to
pieces or kill MIlly?"
''She might fetch up I'm fence cor
ner and bump her own head, but
guess that would be the worst OF It.
What's up. Nancy?"
"Nothin' for you TO know. You lest
! keep quiet aud femme work this thing
out by myself Milly's goin' TO town
! after a darnin' needle and a spool OF
black thread after dinner tomorrer, and
she'll drive the old mare"
After dinner next day the horse was
hitched to light wagon and left
standing under shed in the barnyard
until wanted. When Milly was ready
for her trip. the mother brought the
outfit around. taking much more time
than seemed necessary. Moreover.
when the old mare. who had passed
her twentieth birthday, was brought
UP at the gate she was what Milly call
ed "wriggIy"-that is. she was nervous
and restless and evidently full of 60
She had to be held by the bit until the
girl got In and secured the lines.
! "She acts real colty today" said the
mother as she patted the mares nose,
"but she'll steady down before you get
TO the schoolhouse. She has never run
away in her life. but If she should do
so now
81 guess won't CO." interrupted
Milly.
"You go right along. AS was sayin'.
IL she should run away you hold her
steady In the middle OF the road and
scream for help. Now let her g'lamg."
| The old gray mare moved off with a
rush. and for quarter of a mile she
maintained pace to surprise her drIy-
er. Then she suddenly gave a squeal
and broke into run. sIIlly dropped
the lines and chung to the seat, and she
also remembered her mothers injunc.
ton to scream. Silas Johnson was still
working on the fence "jest beyond the
barn" He was also calling himself n
fool and thinking he would give Eve
years OF his life to make up with Milly
when he heard screams and a chatter
down the road. He grasped the situa-
ton at glance.
1t is none Of the readers affair
whether he resolved to do or die,
whether he made hero OF himself or
not, whether the 'wriggly" old mare
was glad OF an excuse to stop or made
frantic efforts TO continue her wild
flight 1t is sufficient that he stopped
her, that the screaming MilIy fell into
his arms, that after a time he drove her
back home and didn't return to his
fence building again that day.
The main point OF interest shifts to
that side veranda again. Nancy is SIT