Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-01-11
And the little figure preceded him


across his soft, cropped lawn.
Caleb Hunter had never married, and
even now at the age of forty and
odd in particularly mellow moments he
was liable to confess that, while mat
rimony no doubt offered a far wider
field for both general excitement and
variety, as far as he himself was con-
cerned he felt that his bachelor condi-
ton had points of excellence too OBJ
vious to be treated with contumely.
Perhaps the fact that Sarah Hunter,
four years his senior, had kept so we'll
oiled the cogs of the domestic ma
chinery of the white place on the hill
that their churnings had never been
evidenced may have been in part an
answer to his contentment.
For Sarah Hunter, too, had never
married. To the townspeople, who had
never dared to try to storm the wall Of
her apparent frigidity or been able
quite to understand her aloof austeri-
ty, she was little more than a weekly
occurrence as dependable as the rising
and setting Of the sun itself Every
Sunday morning rare vision Of state
" dignity for all her tininess, assisted
by Caleb. she descended from the Hun
ter equipage to enter the portals of the
Morrison Baptist church. After the
service she reappeared and, having
complimented the minister upon the
sagacity OF his discourse. again assist
cd h. 90 ?EA oh tn
seat of the surrey and rolled back up
the hill
That was as much as the tOWnspeO-
pie ever saw of Cal Hunters maiden
sister unless there happened to be a
prolonged siege Of sickness in the vii
lage Or a worse accident than usual.
Then she came and camped on the
scene until the crisis was over, soft
voiced, soft fingered and serenely sure
of herself Sarah had never married,
and even though she had in the long
interval which year by year had
tundity grown slender and slenderer
still and fiat chested and sharp angled
in face and figure Caleb knew that I'M
beneath it all there had been no
shrinkage in her soul-knew that there
were no bleak eXpanses in her heart or
edges to her pity.
They often joked each other about
their state of single blessedness, did
Caleb and his sister. Often, hard upon
his easy boast of satisfaction with
things as they were. she would quote
the fable Of the fox and the high hang
ing grapes. only to be tainted mo-
| ment later with her own celibacy.
But the taunt and the fable had long
been stinGless. For Sarah Hunter
knew that one end Of Caleb's heavy
gold watch chain still carried bit
Of gold coin worn smooth and thin
from years of handling; she knew
thas the single word across it's back,
faced so far as other eyes were con-
cerned, was still there for him to see.
AnG Caleb, rummaging one day for
some lost article or other in pigeon
hole in Sarah's desk. in which he had
no license to look, had come across 4
picture of a tall and black haired lad
brave in white trousers and an amaZ
ing waistcoat Caleb remembered hay
ing been told that he had died for an
other with that same smile which the
picture had preserved-the tall and
| jaunty youngster. And so their com
pre1ension was mutual. They under
stood, did Caleb and his sister.
Bat sure Us he was Of Sarah's funda-
mental Kindness Caleb experienced
tWi1ge Of guilty uncertainty that Au-
gus. afternoon as he closed the iron
gate behind the grotesque little figure
which had already started across his
lawn For the moment he had for
gotten that the sun was low in the
west He had overlooked the fact
that it was customary for the Hunter
establishment to sup early during the