The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-12
THE EVENING STORY
Marrying Hetty on.
(By James Lewis.o


| Supper had been eaten. the dishes
| washed and the cows MIXED. and the
| MIXED strained Farmer Johnson and
his wife sat on the piazza and look
ed up and down the dusty highway.
They had sat for ten minutes without
| speaking, when the husband cleared
4 his throat and said:
! Ma, I've been thinking for the last
| three or four days.
| Yes, I 'sDose a person has to think
som etimes,'' she replied.
But I've been thinking about our
Hetty. She's purity nigh twenty years
old, haint she?''
shes purity good-looking and purity
smart"
Yes; she takes after me in those
| things
But she don't get married. All the
| other gals around here are stepping off.
| but she don't seem to have no fellers.
did think, up to month ago, that
! she and that Teller from town named
Watterson was going to make a
match of it, but it seems she's stuck up
her nose at him. I'm kinder feeling
that it's my duty to have a serious
talk with her.
Then you throw your feelings right
over the fence" replied the wife in de-
cisive tones. "Hetty hain't going to
throw herself at no mans head. As for
Mr.. Watterson. he got miffed about
something and quit coming here. and
he can stay miffed for all we care.
don't see no great rush about her get
ting married"
to say that her last hat cost six dol
lars, and her last dress eighteen, and
that in the fall she would want
cloak costing at least fifteen, but his
wife knew him to be close man.
What he remarked when he got ready
to say anything further was:
''There,d be room right here In the
house for her and her husband, If she
L. i IT. 1t hnf
milk and chore around. and I'd make
their board purity reasonable. If you
told her so, perhaps it would encour-
age her"
Samuel am I Hetty's mother or
not?" asked the wife.
You are her mother, of course. =
"Then you leave things to me, and
don't worry yourself any more. When
a girls mother don't know what is
best for her, her father needn't try.
He sighed and groaned and grunted,
and said the wind would probably
change to the east by midnight and
reluctantly dropped the subject. TWO
days later he came home from the viii
lage, where he had been to buy
grindstone, and his face wore a
broad smile as he entered the house
after putting up his team. He wh1sp-
cred to his wife:
..Say, now, but what dye 'spose has
happened 2" ,o-u,aro o.,
Nope. I've found a husband for
Hetty.'
Samuel Johnson. what did I tell
you 'tother evening"" exclaimed the
wife, as she trimmed off the edges of
pie crust.
When 1 was buying a grindstone in the
hardware store there was wire fence
man there. and when he found out
where 1 lived he said he was coming
into this neighborhood to put up some
fencing for Lester. He offered me
four dollars for a weeks board. and
1 told him to come along,
well, what's going to happen If he
comes?'
Say. -Hetty can't help but fall in love
with him. He's got two watchcha1ns,
wears tan shoes and talks the biggest
words you ever heard. He's hero,
even if he hain't a millionaire. Don't
say nothing to Hetty. 1 want to take
her sudden like. L didn't say nothing
to him about her, and he'll be taken
suddenly When you see EN- standing
up to be married you'll allow know
thing or two after all.
"Tll allow just as 1 do now, that you
ought to be sent to an idiot asylum"
A day later the "hero" came. Hetty
wasn't bit surprised. Besides having |
two watchchains, the stranger had |
heap of nerve. and he wasn't astonish-
ed. Farmer Johnson made him one of
folks were only barely civil. 1t tran |
spired after a couple of days that Mr.. |
Meeker, as the wire-fence man called
himself. was actually a hero. He
had killed a mad dog and shot at a |
thief. AS he slyly showed the farmer |
a $50 bill there was no room to doubt |
that he was a millionaire as well. AT
the end of a week his job at Testers
was finished, but he said he thought he |
would take rest from his tremendous
struggles, so he had paid another
weeks board.
.'Didn't 1 tell you so?" whispered
the farmer in his wifes ear. Il tell
you he's stuck on our Hetty and If she
gives him half a chance he's going to
propose to her within a week. just
think of having a millionaire and a
hero for a son-in-law! 1 could prob
ably get the whole farm wire-fenced
at half cost. Can't we manage to
leave him and Hetty together on the
piazza in the EVENING""
your own affairs if you tried hard?''
tartly replied the wife. Samuel
johnson, I never saw you acting up
as you are now. Are you going to
break out with boils again.
But you hain't doing anything, and
Hetty hafn't doing anything, and so
Il don't see nothing. except that
Hetty wouldn't wipe her old shoes on
no such man as this Meeker."
you don't say sol" groaned the
'ather What on earth can the gal
want?"
"She wants to be let alone"
Mr.. Meeker stayed on for the third
week There was no doubt in any
mind that he was seeking to make a
favorable impression, but at least two
minds doubted his ability. 1t was
lear the end of the third week '
hat Mrs. johnson saw Mr.. Watterson
irive past the house for the first
lime since the tiff" She also saw I
hat he took notice of things out of the
corner of his eye and seemed in no &
hurry to get out of sight. She knew
hat Hetty hadn't seen him, and with !
| childish innocence on her face she :