The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-08-09
Hustling
Zebediah.
BY LUCY STEWART.
Copyrighted, 1907, by L. c. PARCELS.

"Jabez Strong I'm not going to stand
| this thing another day"
"SEap, ma, how you TALK
"And you've got to help me-"
| The cows had been MIXED, the hog.
| led, and JabeZ Strong, farmer. had
| taken lis seat beside his wife Oh the
| veranua. He didn't ask what it was
| she would not stand, for the matter
| had been the subject of numerous con
| versations before He had always as
| sumel a neutral position and argued
| that things would come ont all right
| IL left alone, but now he realized that
| crisis had arrived.
| IF she bad Il mother it would be
| different" continued the good wife as
| she famed away the mosquitoes with
! Il folded paper, but she hasn't one
She's only got father, and he's the
| biggest old poke in six counties. Jest
| the last thing Mclvina Williams said Ia
me on her dying bed was to be a moth
| er to Emeline, and now I'm going to
| he or know the reason why. I'm going
| to call her over here tomorrow for Il
/
Zcbediah. 1t han't right, and You
| can't make it right
| at allus makes things wuSs to mix
| ill.," answered her husband after Il
| minute.
1T might if Emclne had mother,
| but she hain't got. I've let it go OH
and on thinking mebbe l hadn't better
| 1,,tt I Oh of
other day. | may want You to help
me. If do, you've got to pitch right
| in"
Across the highway from Farmer
| Strong's was the farmhouse Of Farmer
| Williams. The two families had been
| neighbors for fifteen years. Farmer
| Williams was Il good man, but it was
! also true that he was Il poke" That
| is, he worked from morning till night,
| and then after reading his county pa
| per for half an hour he wound UP the
| clock and went to bed. When his wife
| had died, she left a daughter Emeline,
| eighteen years old. That was two
| years before the opening Of this story.
Just about that time Zebediah Hender
Zeb was twenty-thrce years Old and
well thought of, but he was slow and
conservative by nature.
Some hired men would have fallen
| in love with Emeline inside of week.
for she was a bright, ATTRACTIVE coun-
try maiden, but Zeb winted three
months. 1t came to be a case of love
on both sides, and three months later
he proposed and was accepted. 1t
stopped short at that, so far rs Zcb
was concerned. He meant TO marry
some day, but that day was indefinite
Farmer Williams came to know of the
engagement, but he had no opinion to
express. He went on with his blowing
and eating boiled dinners and left mat
ters to fate.
1t was this state Of affairs that had
provoked the Indignation of Mrs
Strong. She didn't think it right Oh
the part of Zebediah to keep Emeline
ION the hooks" as she expressed it.
While all other young men were driv-
EN- away by knowledge of the engage
ment, Zebediah continued to poke
around as if he had fifty years to get
married in. On one or two occasions.
when he had come over to borrow q
hoe or sit on the veranda and discuss
crops with her husband she had spok-
en- her mind pretty plainly. She had
limited that she knew of farmers sons
who were looking about for wives and
that there were more windmill and
wire fence men coming along than
she could shake a stick at, but Zebe-
diah was unmoved She had made
Emellne own up to the engagement,
and she had advised her not to make q
long engagement Of II, but when the
girl blushingly asked her what she
could do Mrs. Strong had no plan at
hand and didn't know where she was
to get one.
Fortune favors the consprator as
well as the brave. Two or three days
after her talk with her husband on the
veranda Mrs. Strong's brother came on
visit from Illinois. He was a jovial
hustling young man. II he hadn't had
a sweetheart back home he would
have fallen in love with Emeline Will
liams. 1t was while he was praising
her that Mrs. Strong got her plan. 1t
was as simple as sliding down n cellar
door. She crowed and giggled over ii
for half an hour and was still growing
and gigglng when the girl from across
the road came over to borrow q draw
ing Of tea. Mrs. Strong brought out
the tea and then mOtioned her pretty
neighbor to take chair and began:
"Einelne Williams, you have no
mother"
"No?"
"Your mother asked me to be a
mother to you after she was gone"
II know it, and you've been awful
good to me-"
"Emelinc, it's dreadful thing for
girl to he in love and have no moth.
or and an Old poke Of a father. and
can't stand 1t any longer. I've got TO
be your mother and advise with you"
"But father IS kind and good. and
Icb isis
"Ieb is what? Been engaged for
year and half, and he hain't asked
you to set the day yet. He may 20
another year and n half. He may go
five years. You can't tell nothing
rbout such critter He'll keep poking
along till he's bit bv n rattlesnake or