The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-07

l1loI
n day, going into see her. / found
her furtively gnawing a crust of
brea0, g1Ven her by a passing tramp
VINO saw starvation in her face as
slle sat at h window; or that she
was in the habit of fleeing to the
upper story of her stronghold when
the butcher, the baker, the candle
suck maker came laundering at her
door with their bills. No. Aunt
Emily has been placed above the
sord1dness of life by a brothers pro-
tecting love. The butcher, the baker,
the candle-stick maker" bow and
scrape before the little lady on her
~infrequent visits to their shops, and
her little green silk purse has done
many an act of charity in secret.
The cashier of the bank which
Aunt Emily patronizes told me once
that he would not be absent from
town or sick for any amount on the
day When she goes to the bank to
receive her quarterly income, and
have 1T duly placed to her credit.
This is the only occasion on which
she is ever known to ide She hires
a carriage n arrives at the bank IN
state. She is very conscious but as
beseens her somewhat stately and
condescendang to all the officials, and
makes her way with no little dig
nifty straight to the cashiers room.
She is very strict with him, he Die
me, and sometimes a little sharp. She
demands to sec her account, and
lscrutinfzes it. closely and critically
though, the dear little princess"
said the cashier, with a big laugh.
8 n don't know any more about fig
|ures than a Govt" When she de-
parts the whole bank staff escort her
Ito the carriage and she drives away
with a gracious bow.
But let us return to our muttons.'
fThn ff1rnit1rn of sE,rf E-1lx'c', rft-
Fting room consists of a horse-hair
sofa and the old style high-backed
horse-hair chairs the wood always
brightly polished, for she is as great
a stick1er for neatness as was Sir
Walter SCOTS Mag. Dods, landIady Of
the Cliekum Of st. Romans. Aunt
Emily and the one servant she keeps
have many a clash on this same sub
iject of polishing and ~scrubbing.
though otherwise they agree very
we'll, and at heart the maid adores
the mistress.
The furniture Of the tiny parlor-
it's Sp1endOrS revealed to the world
only on state occasions-is Xix that
of the stting room, only kept in a
higher state of polists If poss bic.
Two old, but we'll preserved and f1ne-
ly executed oil portraits of Aunt
Emiiy's' father and mother face each
other from opposite walls. Conf
ldentially, if her father was like his
portrait, T. suspect that he was an
insufferable prig and bore. He has
small beady eyes under beetling eye
brows, a dry hin mouth, a pinched
up nose, and enough neckeloth and
shirt ruff1e to smother hm. But, the
mother looks i'm her portrait just such
a mother as one would expect Aunt
Emily to have.
On the wall in the parlor, sus-
~.~lo f~o~ ~ I,oo1y hy n oiIf no-1 &c
a Continental cooked hat. 1t has pro
voked many a smile; for. although an
heirloom, it seems such a funny heir
loom. THAT hat was worn by an an
~cestor Of mine, a distinguished officer
in the Revolutionary War" you viii!
be told by Aunt Emily as she sees
you glance up at it. What a pity
Aunt Emily that you did not hav
his sword" My DEAR she will re-
ply very innocently, I have been told
that the enemy took his sword; that
hat is good enough for me
How old are yOu?' Aunt Emily
pounced on me with this question one
AFTERNOON while I was paying her a
visit. This was q, habit of hers, VIII Oh
cannot better describe thai by say
ing hat she pouncmed on a body with
a question; breakin" the silence like
the crack of a ~wagoner's whip on q
lonely country road. L am sixty-twc
years old" 1 replied, land l feel as il
I were one hundred, Aunt Emily
t"Pshaw, Railing at the world because
it has gwen you a few back-handeC
Hicks tina you deserve. ! am thirteen
years older than 0 are and / Ion
feel as if ! were half a hundred. II
lyou feel that way, you are over three
score, why don't 0 take DR.. Osler's
advice and chloroforIn yourself? p
Then, Frightening UP at me sweetly
she added: No, no, my friend, dom
take me seriously; / don't intend to be
I~caustic or severe. But, in truth, 1 d.
not like to hear p man of your stand
ing and Intelligence talking III thai
way. Do you know that every sylla-
BILE of that brief utterance Of yours :
really railing and repining agains'
Gods orderings? It means, if il
means anything. tina God has with.
drawn his blessings and c~ountenance