The Newtown bee., 1904-01-22

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 membered much-quoted speech which Lydia Allen had once made in her hearing:-
 "Folks don' know what they miss by not being soft 'enough. All you've got to do is jest to flop down in heap an say. o Lord! I'm done for! can't go no further!' an some kind soul will pick you up an carry you an think it's privilege"
 The words floated through Ruths thoughts like an echo, and then she grew ashamed of such reflections sitting: there at the feet of the fearful woman with the black-bordered handkerchief. After all, lwhy should not such weakness claim sympathy as. much as any physical defect like lack of sight? Nancy's helplessness was like the help- lessness of child-there was peculiar appeal in it to such nature as Ruth's. The two women drew closer to each other in the twilight, and Nancy made no further reference to taking in wash ing, but went away to bed with more cheerful face.
 | So the days went by, and soon Swans town had new sensation,-in fact, two of them. One was created by the news of an offer made to Dan Ferrand by prosperous southern firm of fruit growers. The salary was merely nom- l inal at first, but there was an excellent chance of promotion in few years, and one of the firm, native of Swans town, had promised to be a friend to the son of his old neighbor. Dan, sec ing no chance for advancement in his own town, felt that he ought to accept, though his heart felt like lead at the thought of the time and the distance it would put between himself and Ruth. Dan was 30 years old, in spite of his boyish looks, and he had waited long already.
 Then there was another matter that was setting the village by the ears and giving the face of Ruins lover hag- gard look in spite of belief in her. Just beyond the Warren place lived the one rich man of the town, old Ezra Leman, who had gone South and made hun dred thousand dollars in cotton spec ulation before the war, and returning to his birthplace had ever since lived alone gloating over his own sharpness. He had grown to be almost a miser with the years, spending next to noth- ing of what in Swanstown was an im- mense fortune, until eight months be- fore he had suddenly announced his intention of marrying the prettiest girl he could find, and had built on the site of the tumbledown old Leman homestead dwelling that to the un- accustomed eyes of Swanstown seemed veritable castle from fairyland. At this point, however, he had apparently become alarmed at the thought of in- curing further expense, and had re- tired into his gorgeous shell and be- come as inaccessible to any approach as an oyster at the bolton of the ocean. Lately, however, change had been observed. The new house had been opened and aired. Hired help imported from Brookville worked in- doors and out, putting things to rights. Lydia Allen, with field glass in her window across the way,-old Ezra was held in such awe that no one cared to pry into his concerns openly-made out that the lace curtains newly hung in the front room must have cost at least SIS pair, and there was a new set of green and white china in the dining-room closet.
 It was evident to the dullest behold CT that Ezra's plan of taking a wife had revived with the springtime. The burning question was, on whom would his choice fall? Swanstown discussed the matter excitedly at tea drinking and informal meetings at the one gro- cery. Old Ezra had lived practically the life of hermit for 40 years: he had never been known to look at a woman. "But it don't make an atom O. diff erence!" declared Jim Townsend, the OAoOAC OA oAO 8AOCCAy. nc COUlU Al8V6 any girl in town jest by crookin' his bonY finger at her. That hundred thousand must 'a' doubled twice over the way he's had it invested, an he ain't spent nothing for livin'."
 So the second senation that shook the neighborhood came from the sim pie fact that Ruth Warren and Ezra Leman had been seen walking up from the postof1ce together, and had stopped to talk on his vine-hung bridge, below which Dan and Ruth had set the day for the postponed wedding. Moreover Ezra had come to meeting for the first time since the war, and had hired a front pew next to the one occupied by the Warrens for four generations, and after the service had hastened to over- take Ruth on the homeward road, and to give her a seat in the ancient gig which, with rope-mended harness and the superannuated sorrel, formed the favorite turnout of the wealthy citizen of Swanstown. AS Sunday after Sun- AAM&M@&AM A