The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-10-18

fshhawks crcled; the deep thickets Of
spruce through which the ocean winds
rourmured and where great beds Of
ferns and clusters Of red bunch berries
grew We're one and all left undisturbed
week in, week out.
At the Cape, where Uncle Terry
Aunt Lissy and Telly lived their sim
pie home life, and Bascom, the store
keeper and postmaster, talked unceas
ingly when he could find listener
and Deacon Oaks wondered why 1.-THE
grace O God hadn't freed the lane
from stuns," no one ever came to dis
turb its quietude. Every morning Cn
Gle Terry, often accompanied by Telly
In a calico dress and sunbonnet, rowec
out to pull his lobster traps, and after
dinner harnessed and drove to the neaC
Of the island to meet the mail boat
then at eventide, after lighting his pipe
and the lighthouse lamp at about the
same time, generally strolied over tc
Bascom's to have a chat, while Telly
made a call on the 'sWidder Leach 8
misanthropic but pious protegee OF
hers, and Aunt Lissy read the paper.
Once in about three weeks, according
to weather, the monotoDy Of the village
was disturbed by the arrival Of small
schooner owned jointly by Uncle Terry
Oaks and Bascom, and which piled be-
tween the Cape and Boston. Once il
two weeks services were held, as usual
in the little brown church, and as often
the lighthouse tender called and left
coal and oil for Uncle Terry. Regu
larly On Thursday evenings the few
piously inclined, led by Deacon Oaks
gathered in the church to sing hymns
ti:cS repeated ffty-two times each year
. t2::i to a prayer by Oaks that seldom
'..':a:l in single sentence, and heard
unite Leach thank the Lord for his
";r"ny mercies," though what they
were in her ease it would be hard .te
tell, unless being permitted to live
alone and work hard to live at all was
a mercy. The scattered islanders and
the handful whose dwellings comprised
the Cape worked hard, lived frugallJ
and were unconscious that all around
them was a rocky shore whose cliffs
and inlets and beaches were so many
poems Of picturesque and charming
scenery.
ThisSwas Southport in summer, but
in winter, when the little harbor at
the Cape was icebound, the winding
road to the head of the island buried
beneath drifts and the people often for
weeks at a time absolutely cut off
from communication with the rest OF
the world, it was q place cheerless IN
its desolation. Like so many wood
chucks then the residents kept within
doors or only stirred out to cut wood
fodder the stock and shovel paths so
that the children could go to school.
The days were short and the evenings
long, and to get together and spend
hours in Iabored conversation the only
pastime. 1t was one Of those long even.
ings and when Aunt Lissy and Telly
were at neighbor's and Uncle Terry,
left to himself, was reading every line,
including the advertisements, in the
last Journal, that the following met
his eye:
WANTED.-Informat that will lead
to the discovery Of an heir to the estate
Of one Eric Peterson, a landowner and
shipbuilder of Stockholm. Sweden. whose
son, with his wife. child and crew. was
known to have been wrecked on the coast
of Maine IN March, 1S7-. Nothing has
ever been heard Of said Peterson or his
wife, but the child may have been saved.
Any one having information that will lead
to the discovery Of this child will be
amply rewarded by communicating with
NICHOLAS FRYE, Attorney at Law, =
Pemberton Square. Boston.
"Waal, I'll be everlastin'ly gol darn
edr' Uncle Terry exclaimed after he
had read it for the third time. IF this
don't beat all natur I'm a goat"
1t was fortunate he was alone, for II
gave him time to think the matter
over, and after half an hour Of aston
ishment he decided to say nothing to
his wife or Telly.
"I'll jist breathe easy an sag up
he said to himself, same as though ]
was crossin' thin ice, an if nothin'
comes ont nobody II be the worse fol
worryin'."
Then be cut the slip out and hid it in
his black leather wallet, and then cut
out the entire page and burned it.
"Wimmin are sich curis creeters
they'd be sure to want to know what
I'd cut out O. that page be said to
himself, "an' never rest till I told EN-
When Aunt Lissy and Telly came
home Uncle Terry was as composed
as a rock and sat quietly putting bis
pipe, with his feet on top of chair
and pointing toward the fire.
"Were you lonesome, father" asked
Telly, who usually led conversation in
the Terry home. I'VE stopped at Bas'
CONS, and you know he never stops
talking.V
Hes worse'n burdock burs ter git
away FROM answered Uncle Terry
IAN ye c.n't be perlite ter him unless
ye want t. spend the rest O yer life
listenin'. His tongue allus seemed ter
be hung in the middle an wag both
ways. T wasn't lonesome" be contin.
ued, rising and adding few sticks
to the fire as the two women laid aside
their wraps and drew chairs up. 1--WE
read the paper purity we'll through an
had spell O. livir' over bygones," and
then. turning to Telly and smiling, he
added: Il got thinkin' O the day ye
came ashore, an mother she got that
excited she sot the box ye was IN on
the stove an then put more wood in
It's q wonder she didn't put ye in the
stove instead o. the woodv'
AS this joke was not new to the lis
teners no notice was taken OF it, anc
the three lapsed into silence
Outside the steady boom Of the surf
beating on the rocks came with monot
onous regularity, and inside the clock
t;,1-o5 Eo, q lonc time TTnclp Terry