The Washington herald., 1907-05-12

Our Mite Society met that day, and Sal
~ Ann and me had il up. and we all
talked It over. Il come out that every
woman there had seen the same things
we'd been seein' but nobody said any
thing about 1t as long as they wasn't Ger
tain, 'Somethin ought to be done says
Sally Ann: Itd be a shame TO let that
pore child go to destruction right before
our eyes when word might save her.
She's fatherless, and pretty near mother
less, too says she.
You see the Bakers was tenants Of
old Squire Elrod's. and after Millys fa-
ther died o. consumption the old squire
jest let 'em live on the same as before.
Mis- Elrod give EN- quiltln and SEWN to
do, and they had their little gyarden. and
managed to sit along well enough. Some
folks called EN- pore white trash. They
was pore enough. goodness knows, but
hthey was clean and hard~workin'. and
that's two things that trash never is.
used 10 hear that Millys mother come OF
/ a good family, but she'd married beneath
herself and got down in the world like
folks always do when they're cast of by
their own people. Milly had come up
Ike a Wild rose in a fence corner, and
she was Jest the kind of a girl TO be
fooled by a man like Dick, handsome and
smooth talkin', with all the ways and
manners that take women In. Emily
/ Crawford used 10 say IL made her feel
| like a queen jest 20 see Dick take his
/ hat on to her. If mems manners match
ed their hearts, honey, this'd be a heap
easier world for women. But whenever
/ you see a man that's got good manners
/ and a bad heart, you may know there's
( trouble ahead for some woman.
/ "Well us women talked II over till
/ dark come, and I reckon If we had ap-
/ p'inted a committee to look after Mllly
/ and Dick, somethin might have been
I done. But everybody's business is no
/ body's business. and I though Sally Ann
would go 70 Aiilly and give her a word o.
warnin', and Sally Ann thought I'd DO
it. and so it went, and nothin' was said or
( done at last and before long il was
all over the neighborhood that pore little
/ Mily was in trouble"
Aunt Jane paused. took of her glass
es and wiped them carefully on corner
/ of her gingham apron.
/ "Many's the time" she said, slowly
! that I've laid awake till the chickens
( crowed. blamin' myself and wonderin
/ how far I was responsible for Millys mis-
[ hap. I've lived a long time since then.
and I don't worry any more about such
/ things. There's some things that's got
/ 10 be; and when a person is all wore out
/ tryin TO find out why this thing happen
! ed and why that thing didn't happen, he
can jest throw himself back on the eteT-
/ nal DEGREES, and it's like layin' down on
/ a good soft feather bed after you've done
/ a hard days work. The preao ohers1l tell
/ you that every man is his brothers keep
1 er, but faint so. / ain't my brothers
! keeper, nor my sisters neither. There's
/ jest one person I've got 20 keep, and
| that's myself.
''The Bible says. "A word spoken in
/ due season. how good It isr But when
/ folks is ia love there amt any due sea-
/ son for speakin waTnin' words TO EN-.
/ There was Emmeline Amos; her father
/ told her If she married Hal. he'd cut her
name out o. the family Bible and leave
/ her clear out O. his VIII But that didn't
/ hinder her She went right on and mar
I ried him, and lived 10 rue the day she did
/ II. No. child: there's might little sal
vation by words for folks that's in love
1 reckon If a word from me would a
! saved Milly. the word would "a been
given to me. and the season too; as they
wasat, why l hadn't any call 10 blame
myself
"Abram and sam Crawford did try to
talk to Old Man Bob; but. la you might
as we'll a talked 10 the east wind All
he said was. II Annie wants Dick Elrod.
Annie shall have him.. That's what he'd
been sayln' ever since Annie was born
Nobody said anything to Annie. for she
was the sort o. girl who didn't care
whose feeiin's was tramped on. II Jest she
had her own way.
so IL went on. and the weddin day
was set. and nothin was talked, about
but Annie's first-day dress and Annie's
secOnd-day dress. and how many rufiies
she had on her petticoats, and what
the lace on her nightgowns cost; and
all the time there was pore Milly Baker
cryln' her eyes out night and day. and
US women gitun' up ali our old baby
clothes for Dick Elrod's unborn child"
Aunt Jane dropped her knitting In her
lap. and gazed across the fields as If
she were seeking in the sunlit ether the
faces Of those who moved and spoke in
her story. a farm wagon came lumber
Ing through the Stiffness. and she gather
ed up the double thread Of story and
knitting and went On
Annie always said she was goin' to
have such weddin as the county nev.
er had seen. and she kept her word Old
Man Bob had the house fixed up inside
and out They sent up 10 Loulsville for
the cakes and things. and the weddin'
cake was three feet high. There was a |
solid gold ring in it. and the bridesmaids !
cut Tor IL; and every gyiTl there had a /
slice o the brides cake to carry home to /
dream on that night Annie's weddin' /
dress was white satin, so heavy IL stood
alone. so they said And Old Man Bob
had the whole neighborhood laughin', !
tellin' how many heifers and steers it /
took TO pay for the lace around the neck
of it,
Annie and Dick was married in Octob- /
er about the time the leaves fell. and Mil /
Z To- %
Lord! Lord. what a world this is Old /
Man Bob wouldn't hear to Annie's leayin /
him. so they stayed right on In the old /
nome place. IN them days folks didn't ]
go a-lopin' all over creation as soon as .
they got married; they settled down 10 /
housekeepln' like sensible folks ought toi
DO. Old Lady ElrOd was as foolish over
Dick as Old Man Bob was over Annie.
and 1t was laid down beforehand that
they was 10 spend hale the time at Old
Man Bob's and half the time at the
sources, bout the worst thing they could
a done. The further a young couple can
git from the old folks on both sides the
better for everybody concerned. And
besides, Annie wasn't the kind of a evirl
TO git along with Dicks mother A gyirl
with the kind O. raisin' Annie'd had
wasn't any fit daughter-in-law for a par
ticular, high-steppin' woman like old
Lady ElT0d.
Ihere was some people that expected a
heap O Dick after he married but ] Dev-
er did. If q man can't be faithful to a
woman before he marries her. he aip't
likely to be faithful after he marries
her. And shore enough the shine wasn't
on O. Annie's weddin' clothes before Dick
was back 10 his Old ways drinkin' ana
earryin' on with the women same rs
ever and the first thing we knew, him
and Annie had a big quarrel ana Oia