The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-05-11
q "a y Shackleford Hannah

! 2 ! of the Briarley preserves.
Despite Hannah's genuine grief, 1t
could not but be relief to her that her
aunt, old Eunice Briarley, was dead.
and her bitter heart at rest She had
brought up Hannah from child, and it
had been no light-hearted glrlhood.
Hannah Overton had done her duty,
but Shackleford had watched the youth
fade out of her face. and it was glad
that at last she was to have chance,
a chance of what, perhaps Shackleford
Shardly kuew. To be sure. Briariey
farm was mortgaged, but there was
sale at good profit in Boston for the
Briarley jams and je!lies. Shackleford
had refused to be anxious over the
mortgage. 1t was more apprehensive
that the coming Of the stranger, Lena
Pierce, might in some way bring trou-
BILE to Hannah.
But Lena Pierce brought no trouble.
she was the orphan child of Eunice
'Brlarley's favorite nephew, and joint
heir with Hannah Overton to the Briar-
ley farm. Lena was brisk, rosy, ca
pable little person Of twenty. For three
years she had supported herself as a
stenographer. Once, when little girl,
she had visited Briarley farm, and ever
afterward the visit had remained
sunny memory, as she walked the city
streets where her lot was cast.
A course of varied fortunes bad
taught Lena adaptability. With an
ease that was amazing she took to her
new inheritance and her new cousin,
TO the cultivation Of small fruits and
the manufacture of preserves.
From the first Hannah and Lena
were companionable. For Hannah II
was q story that never grew stale TO
hear Lena tell of the experiences of her
checkered childhood, story that Lena
told with q quaint, detached amuse-
ment, as If it had not been herself at
all, and always with a protecting ten
derness for the pair of impractical par
ents who had been so helpless and so
loving. Hannah's life seemed strangely
meager beside that Of the girl Of
twenty.
"rm afraid you'll be lonely here"
Hannah said, as they sat together on
the front porch in the summer twilight.
"No," answered Lena, with decision.
.sEver since I can remember I've al
ways been moving, but this is home"
As the weeks went on they grew
more than companionable. 1t seemed
to each that she had wanted the other
for a long time.
Then came on the part Of each an
effort to live up to the others opinion OF
her. Hannah had seen how Lena's
keen young eyes looked through people;
she had heard her forming judgments
that showed relentless common sense.
Would those keen eyes see through
Hannah herself one day?
''She thinks I'm Briarley.' groaned
Hannah. "She's all Briarley herself.
did think this summer l might get
some rest, but I shouldn't dare, with
her in the house. That's the Brlarley
Of itr'
Sadly enough Hannah remembered
how often her old Aunt Eunice had
said that if Hannah's hands had been
more capable and her feet swifter,
there need never have been a mortgage
on Briarley farm. o that mortgage!
How Hannah hated 1t.
Yet that summer she toiled as she
had never toiled before; and all be-
cause there had come into her life a
young person, energetic, fiercely hating
sloth, a young person merry and full Of
good cheer and good to have about.
who looked at Hannah with eyes full
of admiration and of love.
On her first arrival Lena had given
the accounts of the farm sharp in
spection. She had found out the as
sets of the Briarley preserves, and the
amount Of the mortgage. The idea of
the mortgage was hideous to her. She
and her cousin would work until they
got rid Of 1t and the Briarley farm was
theirs.
Therefore Lena learned the secrets
of strawberry runners, and Of the
thinning of blackberry bushes, and
clad in blue pinafore, toiled over the
steaming sirups until, in one short sum-
mer, her currant jelly eQualed Han
nah's, and her black raspberry jam was
just shade better.
But it was really all very new to her,
and her efficiency was at the cost Of
strict self-discipline. She was here at
last on the Brlarley farm, that fairy
land of her childhood. and, since Lena
was but twenty, and had never had
time TO be young, the farm itself ap-
pealed to her with an intoxicating de-
light.
What q place the apple orchard was
for dreaming! But apples. Lena had
to remember, meant beautiful amber
jelly, and jelly meant dollars, and dol
Jars meant mortgage payments.
-NLena admonished herself to take pat
tern by her cousin Hannah, for whom
this toilsome summer was 10 first ey-
e perience, and who stepped so unwear
Iedly about the old kitchen. To Lena
all the farm-the clean. Shadowy barn,
the orchard in which the indolent
locusts droned. the nesting cornfields
called, Come out of that kitchen and
enjoy me-
II wonder" Lena asked herself. '.if
Cousin Hannah ever wanted to play.
7 sunnoSe not That's the Briarley of