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diff --git a/15899.txt b/15899.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11b097c --- /dev/null +++ b/15899.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5215 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop, by Anne Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop + +Author: Anne Warner + +Release Date: May 25, 2005 [EBook #15899] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSAN CLEGG AND HER FRIEND *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +SUSAN CLEGG + +AND + +Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop + + + +BY + +ANNE WARNER + +Author of "A Woman's Will," etc. + + + +BOSTON +Little, Brown, and Company + +1904 + + +_Copyright, 1903, 1904_, +BY THE CENTURY COMPANY. + + +_Copyright, 1904_, +BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS +CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + + + + +_PREFATORY NOTE_ + + +_The first four chapters of "Susan Clegg and her Friend Mrs. Lathrop" +appeared in "The Century Magazine" as separate stories during the +past year. They have been revised and partly rewritten for book +publication, and "The Minister's Vacation," never before printed, +has been added._ + +_Miss Clegg and her friend Mrs. Lathrop, as well as the other +characters in the book, and the scenes in which they figure, are +wholly imaginary_. + + + + +Contents + + + Page +I +The Marrying of Susan Clegg 1 + +II +Miss Clegg's Adopted 43 + +III +Jathrop Lathrop's Cow 83 + +IV +Susan Clegg's Cousin Marion 126 + +V +The Minister's Vacation 166 + + + + +SUSAN CLEGG + +_And her Friend Mrs. Lathrop_ + + + + +I + +THE MARRYING OF SUSAN CLEGG + + +Susan Clegg and Mrs. Lathrop were next-door neighbors and bosom +friends. Their personalities were extremely congenial, and the +theoretical relation which the younger woman bore to the elder was a +further bond between them. Owing to the death of her mother some +twenty years before, Susan had fallen into the position of a helpless +and timid young girl whose only key to the problems of life in general +had been the advice of her older and wiser neighbor. As a matter of +fact Mrs. Lathrop was barely twelve years the senior, but she had +married and as a consequence felt and was felt to be immeasurably the +more ancient of the two. + +Susan had never married, for her father--a bedridden paralytic--had +occupied her time day and night for years. He was a great care and as +she did her duty by him with a thoroughness which was praiseworthy in +the extreme she naturally had very little leisure for society. Mrs. +Lathrop had more, because her family consisted of but one son, and she +was not given to that species of housekeeping which sweeps under the +beds too often. It therefore came about that the one and only +recreation which the friends could enjoy together to any great extent +was visiting over the fence. Visiting over the fence is an occupation +in which any woman may indulge without fear of unkind criticism. If +she takes occasion to run in next door, she is of course leaving the +house which she ought to be keeping, but she can lean on the fence all +day without feeling derelict as to a single duty. Then, too, there is +something about the situation which produces a species of agreeable +subconsciousness that one is at once at home and abroad. It followed +that Susan and Mrs. Lathrop each wore a path from her kitchen door to +the trysting-spot, and that all summer long they met there early and +late. + +Mrs. Lathrop did the listening while she chewed clover. Just beyond +her woodpile red clover grew luxuriantly, and when she started for the +place of meeting it was her invariable custom to stop and pull a +number of blossoms so that she might eat the tender petals while +devoting her attention to the business in hand. + +It must be confessed that the business in hand was nearly always Miss +Clegg's business, but since Mrs. Lathrop, in her position of +experienced adviser, was deeply interested in Susan's exposition of +her own affairs, that trifling circumstance appeared of little moment. + +One of the main topics of conversation was Mr. Clegg. As Mr. Clegg had +not quitted his bed for over a score of years, it might seem that his +novelty as a subject of discussion would have been long since +exhausted. But not so. His daughter was the most devoted of daughters, +and his name was ever rife on her lips. What he required done for him +and what he required done to him were the main ends of her existence, +and the demands of his comfort, daily or annual, resulted in numerous +phrases of a startling but thoroughly intelligible order. Of such a +sort was her usual Saturday morning greeting to Mrs. Lathrop, "I 'm +sorry to cut you off so quick, but this 's father's day to be beat up +and got into new pillow-slips," or her regular early-June remark, +"Well, I thank Heaven 't father 's had his hair picked over 'n' 't +he's got his new tick for _this_ year!" + +Mrs. Lathrop was always interested, always sympathetic, and rarely +ever startled; yet one July evening when Susan said suddenly, "I 've +finished my dress for father's funeral," she did betray a slight +shock. + +"You ought to see it," the younger woman continued, not noticing the +other's start,--"it's jus' 's _nice_. I put it away in camphor balls, +'n' Lord knows I don't look forward to the gettin' it out to wear, f'r +the whole carriage load 'll sneeze their heads off whenever I move in +that dress." + +"Did you put newspaper--" Mrs. Lathrop began, mastering her earlier +emotions. + +"In the sleeves? Yes, I did, 'n' I bought a pair o' black gloves 'n' +two handkerchiefs 'n' slipped 'em into the pockets. Everythin' is all +fixed, 'n' there 'll be nothin' to do when father dies but to shake it +out 'n' lay it on the bed in his room. I say 'in his room,' 'cause o' +course that day he 'll be havin' the guest-room. I was thinkin' of it +all this afternoon when I sat there by him hemmin' the braid on the +skirt, 'n' I could n't but think 't if I sit 'n' wait very much longer +I sh'll suddenly find myself pretty far advanced in years afore I know +it. This world's made f'r the young 's well's the old, 'n' you c'n +believe me or not jus' 's you please, Mrs. Lathrop, but I 've always +meant to get married 's soon 's father was off my hands. I was +countin' up to-day, though, 'n' if he lives to be a hunderd, I 'll be +nigh onto seventy 'n' no man ain't goin' to marry me at seventy. Not +'nless he was eighty, 'n' Lord knows I ain't intendin' to bury father +jus' to begin on some one else, 'n' that's all it 'd be." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + +"I set there thinkin' f'r a good hour, 'n' when I was puttin' away the +dress, I kep' on thinkin', 'n' the end was 't now that dress 's done I +ain't got nothin' in especial to sew on 'n' so I may jus' 's well +begin on my weddin' things. There's no time like the present, 'n' 'f I +married this summer _he 'd_ have to pay f'r half of next winter's +coal. 'N' so my mind's made up, 'n' you c'n talk yourself blind, 'f +you feel so inclined, Mrs. Lathrop, but you can't change hide or hair +o' my way o' thinkin'. I 've made up my mind to get married, 'n' I 'm +goin' to set right about it. Where there's a will there 's a way, 'n' +I ain't goin' to leave a stone unturned. I went down town with the +kerosene-can jus' afore tea, 'n' I bought me a new false front, 'n' I +met Mrs. Brown's son, 'n' I told him 't I wanted him to come up +to-morrow 'n' take a look at father." + +"Was you thinkin' o' marryin' Mrs. Br----" Mrs. Lathrop gasped, taking +her clover from her lips. + +"Marryin' Mrs. Brown's son! Well, 'f your mind don't run queer ways! +Whatever sh'd put such an idea into your head? I hope you 'll excuse +my sayin' so, Mrs. Lathrop, but I don't believe anybody but you would +ever 'a' asked such a question, when you know 's well 's everybody +else does 't he's runnin' his legs off after Amelia Fitch. Any man who +wants a little chit o' eighteen wouldn't suit my taste much, 'n' +anyhow I never thought of him; I only asked him to come in in a +friendly way 'n' tell me how long he thinks 't father may live. I +don't see my way to makin' any sort o' plans with father so dreffle +indefinite, 'n' a man who was fool enough to marry me, tied up like I +am now, would n't have s'fficient brains to be worth lookin' over. +Mrs. Brown's son 's learnin' docterin', 'n' he's been at it long +enough so 's to be able to see through anythin' 's simple 's father, +_I_ sh'd think. 'T any rate, 'f he don't know nothin' yet, Heaven help +Amelia Fitch 'n' me, f'r he'll take us both in." + +"Who was you thinkin' o'--" Mrs. Lathrop asked, resuming her former +occupation. + +"The minister," replied Miss Clegg. "I did n't stop to consider very +much, but it struck me 's polite to begin with him. I c'd marry him +without waitin' for father, too, 'cause a minister could n't in reason +find fault over another man's bein' always to home. O' course he would +n't be still like father is, but I ain't never been one to look +gift-horses in the mouth, 'n' I d'n' know 's I 'd ought to expect +another man _jus'_ like father in one life. Mother often said father's +advantages was great, for you always knew where he was, 'n' 'f you +drew down the shade you c'd tell him it was rainin' 'n' he could n't +never contradick." + +Mrs. Lathrop nodded acquiescently but made no comment. + +Miss Clegg withdrew somewhat from her confidentially inclined +attitude. + +"I won't be out in the mornin'," she said. "I sh'll want to dust +father 'n' turn him out o' the window afore Mrs. Brown's son comes. +After he's gone I'll wave my dish-towel, 'n' then you come out 'n' I +'ll tell you what he says." + +They separated for the night, and Susan went to sleep with her own +version of love's young dream. + +Mrs. Brown's son arrived quite promptly the next morning. He drove up +in Mr. Brown's buggy, and Amelia Fitch held the horse while he went +inside to inspect Mr. Clegg. The visit did not consume more than ten +minutes, and then he hurried out to the gate and was off. + +The buggy was hardly out of sight up the road when Miss Clegg emerged +from her kitchen door, her face bearing an imprint of deep and +thorough disgust. + +"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I don't think much o' _that_ young man," she +announced in a tone of unmitigated disapproval; "'peared to me like he +was in a hurry to get done with father 's quick 's he could just so 's +to be back beside Amelia Fitch. I 'd venture a guess that 'f you was +to ask him this minute he 's forgot every word I said to him already. +I asked him to set some sort of a figger on father, 'n' he would n't +so much 's set down himself. Stood on one leg 'n' backed towards the +door every other word, 'n' me, father's only child, standin' there at +his mercy. Said 't last 's he _might_ die to-morrow 'n' _might_ live +twenty years. I tell you my patience pretty near went at that. I don't +call such a answer no answer a _tall_. I 've often thought both them +things myself, 'n' me no doctor. Particularly about the twenty years. +Father's lived seventy-five years--I must say 't to my order o' +thinkin' he's pretty well set a-goin', 'n' that the life he leads +ain't drainin' his vitality near 's much 's it's drainin' mine." + +Miss Clegg stopped and shook her head impatiently. + +"I d'n' know when I 've felt as put out 's this. 'N' me with so much +faith in doctors too. It's a pretty sad thing, Mrs. Lathrop, when all +the comfort you c'n get out of a man is the thinkin' 't perhaps God in +his mercy has made him a fool. I had a good mind to tell that very +thing to Mrs. Brown's son, but I thought maybe he'd learn better +later. Anyway I 'm goin' right ahead with my marriage. It'll have to +be the minister now, 'n' I can't see what I 've ever done 't I sh'd +have two men around the house 't once like they 'll be, but that's all +in the hands o' Fate, 'n' so I jus' took the first step 'n' told Billy +when he brought the milk to tell his father 't if he 'd come up here +to-night I 'd give him a quarter for the Mission fund. I know the +quarter 'll bring him, 'n' I can't help kind o' hopin' 't to-morrow +'ll find the whole thing settled 'n' off my mind." + +The next morning Mrs. Lathrop laid in an unusually large supply of +fodder and was very early at the fence. Her son--a placid little +innocent of nine-and-twenty years--was still in bed and asleep. Susan +was up and washing her breakfast dishes, but the instant that she +spied her friend she abruptly abandoned her task and hastened to the +rendezvous. + +"Are you goin' t'--" Mrs. Lathrop called eagerly. + +"No, I ain't," was the incisive reply. + +Then they both adjusted their elbows comfortably on the top rail of +the fence, and Miss Clegg began, her voice a trifle higher pitched +than usual. + +"Mrs. Lathrop, it's a awful thing for a Christian woman to feel forced +to say, 'n' Lord knows I would n't say it to no one but you, but it's +true 'n' beyond a question so, 'n' therefore I may 's well be frank +'n' open 'n' remark 't our minister ain't no good a _tall_.--'N I d'n' +know but I'll tell any one 's asks me the same thing, f'r it certainly +ain't nothin' f'r me to weep over, 'n' the blood be on his head from +now on." + +Miss Clegg paused briefly, and her eyes became particularly wide open. +Mrs. Lathrop was all attention. + +"Mrs. Lathrop, you ain't lived next to me 'n' known me in 'n' out 'n' +hind 'n' front all these years not to know 't I 'm pretty sharp. I +ain't been cheated mor' 'n twice 'n my life, 'n' one o' them times was +n't my fault, for it was printed on the band 't it would wash. Such +bein' the case, 'n' takin' the minister into consideration, I do +consider 't _no_ man would 'a' supposed 't he could get the better o' +me. It's a sad thing to have to own to, 'n' if I was anybody else in +kingdom come I 'd never own to it till I got there; but my way is to +live open 'n' aboveboard, 'n' so to my shame be 't told 't the +minister--with all 't he's got eight children 'n' I ain't even +married--is certainly as sharp as me. Last night when I see him comin' +up the walk I never 'd 'a' believed 's he c'd get away again so easy, +but it just goes to show what a world o' deceit this is, 'n' seein' 's +I have father to clean from his windows aroun' to-day, I 'll ask you +to excuse me 'f I don't draw the subjeck out none, but jus' remark +flat 'n' plain 't there ain't no chance o' my _ever_ marryin' the +minister. You may consider that a pretty strong statement, Mrs. +Lathrop, 'n' I don't say myself but 't with any other man there might +be a hereafter, but it was me 'n' not anybody else as see his face +last night, 'n' seein' his face 'n' bein' a woman o' more brains 'n +falls to the lot of yourself 'n' the majority, I may just as well say +once for all that, 's far 's the minister's concerned, I sh'll never +be married to _him_." + +"What did he--" began Mrs. Lathrop. + +"All 't was necessary 'n' more too. He did n't give me hardly time to +state 't I was single afore he come out strong 't we 'd both better +stay so. I spoke right out to his face then, 'n' told him 't my +shingles was new last year 'n' it was a open question whether his 'd +ever be, but he piped up f'r all the world like some o' the talkin' +was his to do, 'n' said 't he had a cistern 'n' I 'd only got a sunk +hogshead under the spout. I did n't see no way to denyin' _that_, but +I went right on 'n' asked him 'f he could in his conscience deny 't +them eight children stood in vital need of a good mother, 'n' he spoke +up 's quick 's scat 'n' said 't no child stood in absolute vital need +of a mother after it was born. 'N' then he branched out 'n' give me to +understand 't he had a wife till them eight children all got +themselves launched 'n' 't it was n't his fault her dyin' o' Rachel +Rebecca. When he said 'dyin',' I broke in 'n' said 't it was +Bible-true 's there was 's good fish in the sea 's ever was caught out +of it, 'n' he was impolite enough to interrupt 'n' tell me to my face +'Yes, but when a man had been caught once he was n't easy caught +again.' I will own 't I was more 'n put out 't that, for o' course +when I said _fish_ I meant his wife 'n' me, but when he pretended to +think 't I meant him I begin to doubt 's it was worth while to tackle +him further. One man can lead a horse to water, but a thousand can't +get him to stick his nose in 'f he don't want to, 'n' I thank my stars +'t I ain't got nothin' 'n me as craves to marry a man 's appears +dead-set ag'in' the idea. I asked him 'f he did n't think 's comin' +into property was always a agreeable feelin', 'n' he said, 'Yes, but +not when with riches come a secret thorn in the flesh,' 'n' at that I +clean give up, 'n' I hope it was n't to my discredit, for no one on +the face of the earth could 'a' felt 't there 'd be any good in +keepin' on. But it was no use, 'n' you know 's well as I do 't I never +was give to wastin' my breath, so I out 'n' told him 't I was n't giv' +to wastin' my time either, 'n' then I stood up 'n' he did too. 'N' +_then_ I got even with him, 'n' I c'n assure you 't I enjoyed it, f'r +I out 'n' told him 't I 'd changed my mind about the quarter. So he +had all that long walk for nothin', 'n' I can't in conscience deny 't +I was more 'n rejoiced, for Lord knows I did n't consider 't he'd +acted very obligin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop ceased to chew and looked deeply sympathetic. + +There was a brief silence, and then she asked, "Was you thinkin' o' +tryin' any--" + +Miss Clegg stared at her in amazement. + +"Mrs. Lathrop! Do you think I'd give up now, 'n' let the minister see +'t my marryin' depended on _his_ say-so? Well, I guess not! I'm more +dead-set 'n' ever, 'n' I vow 'n' declare 't I'll never draw breath +till after I've stood up right in the face o' the minister 'n' the +whole congregation 'n' had 'n' held some man, no matter who nor when +nor where. Marryin' was goin' to have been a pleasure, now it's a +business. I'm goin' to get a horse 'n' buggy this afternoon 'n' drive +out to Farmer Sperrit's. I've thought it all over, 'n' I c'n tell +father 't I'll be choppin' wood; then 'f he says afterwards 't he +called 'n' called, I c'n say 't I was makin' so much noise 't I did +n't hear him." + +"You'll have to hire--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop. + +"I know, but it won't cost but fifty cents, 'n' I saved a quarter on +the minister, you know. I'd like to ask you to drive out with me, Mrs. +Lathrop, but if Mr. Sperrit's got it in him to talk like the minister +did, I'm free to confess 't, I'd rather be alone to listen. 'N' +really, Mrs. Lathrop, I must go in now. I've got bread a-risin' 'n' +dishes to do, 'n', as I told you before, this is father's day to be +all but scraped 'n' varnished." + +Mrs. Lathrop withdrew her support from the fence, and Miss Clegg did +likewise. Each returned up her own path to her own domicile, and it +was long after that day's tea-time before the cord of friendship got +knotted up again. + +"Did you go to the farm?" Mrs. Lathrop asked. "I was to the Sewin' +So--" + +"Yes, I went," said Miss Clegg, her air decidedly weary; "oh, yes, I +went. I had a nice ride too, 'n' I do believe I saw the whole farm, +from the pigs to the punkins." + +There was a pause, and Mrs. Lathrop filled it to the brim with +expectancy until she could wait no longer. + +"Are you--" she finally asked. + +"No," said her friend, sharply, "I ain't. He wasn't a bit spry to hop +at the chance, 'n' Lord knows there wa'n't no great urgin' on my part. +I asked him why he ain't never married, 'n' he laughed like it was a +funny subjeck, 'n' said 's long 's he never did it 't that was the +least o' _his_ troubles. I didn't call that a very encouragin' +beginnin', but my mind was made up not to let it be _my_ fault 'f the +horse was a dead waste o' fifty cents, 'n' so I said to him 't if he'd +marry any woman with a little money he could easy buy the little Jones +farm right next him, 'n' then 't 'd be 's clear 's day that it 'd be +his own fault if he didn't soon stretch right from the brook to the +road. He laughed some more 't that, 'n' said 't I didn't seem to be +aware 't he owned a mortgage on the Jones farm 'n' got all 't it +raised now 'n' would get the whole thing in less 'n two years." + +Mrs. Lathrop stopped chewing. + +"They was sayin' in the Sewin' Society 's he's goin' to marry Eliza +Gr--" she said mildly. + +Miss Clegg almost screamed. + +"Eliza Gringer, as keeps house for him?" + +Her friend nodded. + +Miss Clegg drew in a sudden breath. + +"Well! 'f I'd knowed _that_, I'd never 'a' paid fifty cents for that +horse 'n' buggy! Eliza Gringer! why, she's older 'n' I am,--she was to +'Cat' when I was only to 'M.' 'N' he's goin' to marry her! Oh, well, I +d'n' know 's it makes any difference to me. In my opinion a man as 'd +be fool enough to be willin' to marry a woman 's ain't got nothin' but +herself to give him, 's likelier to be happier bein' her fool 'n he +ever would be bein' mine." + +There was a pause. + +"Your father's just the--" Mrs. Lathrop said at last. + +"Same? Oh yes, he's just the same. Seems 't I can't remember when he +wasn't just the same." + +Then there was another pause. + +"I ain't discouraged," Susan announced suddenly, almost +aggressively,--"I ain't discouraged 'n' I won't give up. I'm goin' to +see Mr. Weskin, the lawyer, to-morrow. They say--'n' I never see +nothin' to lead me to doubt 'em--'t he's stingy 'n' mean for all he's +forever makin' so merry at other folks' expense; but I believe 't +there's good in everythin' 'f you're willin' to hunt for it 'n' Lord +knows 't if this game keeps up much longer I 'll get so used to +huntin' 't huntin' the good in Lawyer Weskin 'll jus' be child's play +to me." + +"I was thinkin'--" began Mrs. Lathrop. + +"It ain't no use if you are," said her neighbor; "the mosquitoes is +gettin' too thick. We 'd better in." + +And so they parted for the night. + +* * * * * + +The following evening was hot and breathless, the approach of Fourth +of July appearing to hang heavily over all. Susan brought a palm-leaf +fan with her to the fence and fanned vigorously. + +"It ain't goin' to be the lawyer, either," she informed the expectant +Mrs. Lathrop, "'n' I hav' n't no tears to shed over _that_. I went +there the first thing after dinner, 'n' he give me a solid chair 'n' +whirled aroun' in one 't twisted, 'n' I did n't fancy such manners +under such circumstances a _tall_. I'd say suthin' real serious 'n' +he'd brace himself ag'in his desk 'n' take a spin 's if I did n't +count for sixpence. I could n't seem to bring him around to the +seriousness of the thing nohow. 'N' I come right out square 'n' open +in the very beginnin' too, for Lord knows I 'm dead sick o' beatin' +around the bush o' men's natural shyness. He whirled himself clean +around two times 'n' then said 's long 's I was so frank with him 't +it 'd be nothin' but a joy for him to be equally frank with me 'n' +jus' say 's he'd rather not. I told him he 'd ought to remember 's he +'d have a lot o' business when father died 'f he kept my good will, +but he was lookin' over 'n' under himself to see how near to unscrewed +he was 'n' if it was safe to keep on turnin' the same way any longer, +'n' upon my honor, Mrs. Lathrop, I was nigh to mad afore he got ready +to remark 's father 'd left him a legacy on condition 't he did n't +charge nothin' for probatin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + +"So I come away, 'n' I declare my patience is nigh to gin out. This +gettin' married is harder 'n' house-paintin' in fly-time. I d'n' know +when I 've felt so tired. Here's three nights 't I 've had to make my +ideas all over new to suit a different husband each night. It made my +very bones ache to think o' pilin' them eight children 'n' the +minister on top o' father, 'n' then the next night it was a good jump +out to that farm, f'r I never was one to know any species o' +fellow-feelin' with pigs 'n' milkin'. 'N' last night!--well, you know +I never liked Mr. Weskin anyhow. But I d'n' know who I _can_ get now. +There's Mrs. Healy's husband, o' course; but when a woman looks +happier in her coffin 'n she ever looked out of it it's more'n a hint +to them's stays behind to fight shy o' her husband. They say he used +to throw dishes at her, 'n' I never could stand that--I'm too careful +o' my china to risk any such goin's on." + +Mrs. Lathrop started to speak, but got no further. + +"There's a new clerk in the drug-store,--I see him through the window +when I was comin' home to-day. He looked to be a nice kind o' man, but +I can't help feelin' 't it 'd be kind o' awkward to go up to him 'n' +have to begin by askin' him what my name 'd be 'f I married him. Maybe +there's them 's could do such a thing, but I 've never had nothin' +about me 's 'd lead me to throw myself at the head o' any man, 'n' +it's too late in the day f'r me to start in now." + +Mrs. Lathrop again attempted to get in a word and was again +unsuccessful. + +"I don't believe 't there's another free man in the town. I've thought +'n' thought 'n' I can't think o' one." She stopped and sighed. + +"There's Jathrop!" said Mrs. Lathrop, with sudden and complete +success. Jathrop was her son, so baptized through a fearful slip of +the tongue at a critical moment. He was meant to have been John. + +Miss Clegg gave such a start that she dropped her fan over the fence. + +"Well, Heaven forgive me!" she cried,--"'n' me 't never thought of him +once, 'n' him so handy right on the other side of the fence! Did I +ever!" + +"He ain't thir--" said Mrs. Lathrop, picking up the fan. + +"I don't care. What's twelve years or so when it's the woman 's 'as +got the property? Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I certainly _am_ obliged to you +for mentionin' him, for I don't believe he ever would 'a' occurred to +me in kingdom come. 'N' here I've been worryin' my head off ever since +supper-time 'n' all for suthin' 's close 's Jathrop Lathrop. But I had +good cause to worry, 'n' now 't it's over I don't mind mentionin' the +reason 'n' tellin' you frank 'n' plain 't I'd begun on my things. I +cut out a pink nightgown last night, a real fussy one, 'n' I felt sick +all over 't the thought 't perhaps I'd wasted all that cloth. There +wasn't nothin' foolish about cuttin' out the nightgown, for I'd made +up my mind 't if it looked too awful fancy on 't I'd just put it away +for the oldest girl when she gets married, but o' course 'f I can't +get a husband stands to reason there'll be no oldest girl, 'n' all +that ten cent gingham 't Shores is sellin' off't five 'd be a dead +waste o' good stuff." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + +"Do you suppose there'll be any trouble with Jathrop? Do you suppose +it'll matter any to him which side o' the fence he lives on?" + +Mrs. Lathrop shook her head slowly. + +"I sh'd think he ought to be only too pleased to marry me 'f I want +him to, all the days 't I tended him when he was a baby! My, but he +_was_ a cute little fellow! Everybody was lookin' for him to grow up a +real credit to you _then_. Well, 's far 's that goes, it's a ill wind +'t blows no good, 'n' no one c'n deny 't he's been easy for you to +manage, 'n' what's sauce f'r the goose is sauce f'r the gander, so I +sh'll look to be equally lucky." + +Mrs. Lathrop looked proud and pleased. + +"Why can't you ask him to-night 'n' let me know the first thing in the +mornin'? That'll save me havin' to come 'way aroun' by the gate, you +know." + +Mrs. Lathrop assented to the obvious good sense of this proposition +with one emphatic nod of her head. + +"'N' I'll come out jus' 's quick 's I can in the mornin' 'n' hear what +he said; I'll come 's soon 's ever I can get father 'n' the dishes +washed up. I hope to Heaven father'll sleep more this night 'n he did +last. He was awful restless last night. He kept callin' f'r things +till finally I had to take a pillow and go down on the dinin'-room +lounge to keep from bein' woke up any more." + +"Do you think he's--" + +"No, I don't think he's worse; not 'nless wakin' up 'n' askin' f'r +things jus' to be aggravatin' is worse. If it is, then he is too. But, +lor, there ain't no manner o' use in talkin' o' father! A watched pot +_never_ boils! Jathrop's more to the point right now." + +Upon this hint Mrs. Lathrop de-fenced herself, so to speak, and the +friendly chat ended for that time. + +The morning after, Miss Clegg was slow to appear at the summons of her +neighbor. When she did approach the spot where the other stood +waiting, her whole face and figure bore a weary and fretful air. + +"Father jus' about kept me up this whole blessed night," she began as +soon as she was within easy hearing. "I d'n' know what I want to get +married f'r, when I'm bound to be man-free in twenty-five years 'f I +c'n jus' make out to live that long." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed and listened. + +"If there was anythin' in the house 't father didn't ask f'r 'n' 't I +didn't get him last night, it must 'a' been the cook-stove in the +kitchen. I come nigh to losin' a toe in the rat-trap the third time I +was down cellar, 'n' I clum that ladder to the garret so many times 't +I do believe I dusted all overhead with my hair afore mornin'. My ears +is full o' cobwebs too, 'n' you know 's well 's I do 't I never was +one to fancy cobwebs about me. They say 't every cloud has a silver +linin', but I can't see no silver linin' to a night like last night. +When the rooster crowed f'r the first time this mornin', I had it in +my heart to march right out there 'n' hack off his head. If it 'd 'a' +been Saturday, I'd 'a' done 't too, 'n' relished him good at Sunday +dinner!" + +Miss Clegg paused and compressed her lips firmly for a few seconds; +then she gave herself a little shake and descended to the main +question of the day. + +"Well, what did Jathrop say?" + +Mrs. Lathrop looked very uncomfortable indeed, and in lieu of an +answer swallowed her clover. + +"You asked him, didn't you?" + +"Yes, I--" + +"Well, what 'd he say?" + +"He ain't very--" + +"My soul 'n' body! What reason did he give?" + +"He's afraid your father's livin' on a annu--" + +"Well, he ain't." Susan's tone was more than a little displeased. +"Whatever else father may 'a' done, he never played no annuity tricks. +He 's livin' on his own property, 'n' I'll take it very kindly o' you, +Mrs. Lathrop, to make that piece o' news clear to your son. My +father's got bank-stock, 'n' he owns them two cottages across the +bridge, 'n' the blacksmith-shop belongs to him too. There! I declare I +never thought o' the blacksmith,--his wife died last winter." + +"Jathrop asked me what I th--" + +"Well, what 'd you tell him?" + +"I said 't if your father was some older--" + +Miss Clegg's eyebrows moved understandingly. + +"How long is it since you've seen father?" she asked without waiting +for the other to end her sentence. + +"Not since your mother died, I guess; I was--" + +"I wish you c'd come over 'n' take a look at him now 'n' tell me your +opinion. Why can't you?" + +Mrs. Lathrop reflected. + +"I don't see why I can't. I'll go in 'n' take off--" + +"All right, 'n' when you've got it off, come right over 'n' you'll +find me in the kitchen waitin' for you." + +Mrs. Lathrop returned to her own house to shed her apron and wash her +hands, and then sallied over to view Mr. Clegg. The two friends +mounted the stair together, and entered the old man's room. + +It was a scrupulously clean and bright and orderly room, and the +invalid in the big white bed bore evidence to the care and attention +so dutifully lavished on him. He was a very wizened little old man, +and his features had been crossed and recrossed by the finger of Time +until their original characteristics were nearly obliterated. The +expression upon his face resembled nothing so much as a sketch which +has been done over so many times that its first design is altogether +lost, and if there was any answer to the riddle, it was not the mental +perception of Mrs. Lathrop that was about to seize upon it. + +Instead, that kindly visitor stood lost in a species of helpless +contemplation, until at last a motion of Susan's, directed towards the +ordering of an unsightly fold in the wide smoothness of the +counterpane, led to her bending herself to do a similar kindness upon +her side of the bed. The action resulted in a slight change in her +expression which Susan's watchfulness at once perceived. + +"Was it a needle?" she asked quickly. "Sometimes I stick 'em in while +I'm sewin'. You see, his havin' been paralyzed so many years has got +me where I'm awful careless about leavin' needles in his bed." + +"No," said Mrs. Lathrop; "it wasn't a--" + +"Come on downstairs again," said the hostess; "we c'n talk there." + +They went down into the kitchen, and there Mrs. Lathrop seated herself +and coughed solemnly. + +"What is it, anyhow?" the younger woman demanded. + +Mrs. Lathrop coughed again. + +"Susan, did I feel a feather--" + +"Yes," said Susan, in great surprise; "he likes one." + +"I sh'd think it was too hot this--" + +"He don't never complain o' the heat, 'n' he hates the chill o' rainy +days." + +Mrs. Lathrop coughed again. + +Miss Clegg's interest bordered on impatience. + +"Now, Susan, I ain't sayin' as it's noways true, but I _have_ heard as +there's them 's can't die on--" + +"On feathers?" cried the daughter. + +"Yes; they say they hold the life right in 'n'--" + +Miss Clegg's eyes opened widely. + +"But I couldn't take it away from him, anyhow," she said, with a +species of determined resignation in her voice. "I'd have to wait +'till he wanted it took." + +Mrs. Lathrop was silent. Then she rose to go. Susan rose too. They +went out the kitchen door together, and down the steps. There they +paused to part. + +"Do you believe 't it 'd be any use me thinkin' o' Jathrop any more?" +the maiden asked the matron. + +"I believe I'd try the blacksmith if I was you; he looks mighty nice +Sundays." + +Miss Clegg sighed heavily and turned to re-enter the house. + +Mrs. Lathrop went "round by the gate" and became again an inmate of +her own kitchen. There the thought occurred to her that it was an +excellent morning to clean the high-shelf over the sink. For years +past whenever she had had occasion to put anything up there, showers +of dust and rolls of lint had come tumbling down upon her head. Under +such circumstances it was but natural that a determination to some day +clean the shelf should have slowly but surely been developed. +Accordingly she climbed up on the edge of the sink and undertook the +initiatory proceedings. The lowest stratum of dirt was found to rest +upon a newspaper containing an account of one day of Guiteau's trial. +Upon the discovery of the paper Mrs. Lathrop suddenly abandoned her +original plan, got down from the sink, ensconced herself in her +kitchen rocker, and plunged into bliss forthwith. + +An hour passed pleasantly and placidly by. Bees buzzed outside the +window, the kettle sizzled sweetly on the stove, the newspaper rustled +less and less, Mrs. Lathrop's head sank sideways, and the calm of +perfect peace reigned in her immediate vicinity. + +This state of things endured not long. + +Its gentle Paradise was suddenly broken in upon and rent apart by a +succession of the most piercing shrieks that ever originated in the +throat of a human being. Mrs. Lathrop came to herself with a violent +start, sprang to her feet, ran to the door, and then stood still, +completely dazed and at first unable to discern from which direction +the ear-splitting screams proceeded. Then, in a second, her senses +returned to her, and she ran as fast as she could to the fence. As she +approached the boundary, she saw Susan standing in one of her upstairs +windows and yelling at the top of her voice. Mrs. Lathrop paused for +no conventionalities of civilization. She hoisted herself over the +fence in a fashion worthy a man or a monkey, ran across the Clegg +yard, entered the kitchen door, stumbled breathlessly up the dark back +stairs, and gasped, grabbing Susan hard by the elbow,-- + +"What _is_ it, for pity's--" + +Susan was all colors and shaking as if with the ague. + +"You never told me 's it 'd work so quick," she cried out. + +"What would--" + +"The feathers!" + +"Whose feathers?" + +"Father's feathers." + +"Lord have mercy, Susan, you don't mean--" + +"Yes, I do." + +"He ain't never--" + +"Yes, he is." + +Mrs. Lathrop stood stricken. + +Susan wiped her eyes with her apron and choked. + +After a while the older woman spoke feebly. + +"What did hap--" + +Miss Clegg cut the question off in its prime. + +"I don't know as I c'n ever tell you; it's too awful even to think +of." + +"But you--" + +"I know, 'n' I'm goin' to. But I tell you once for all, Mrs. Lathrop, +'t this'll be a lesson to me forever after 's to takin' the say-so o' +other folks unto myself. 'N' I didn't really consider 't I was doin' +so this time, f'r if I had, Lord knows I'd 'a' landed three beds atop +o' him afore I'd 'a' ever--" She stopped and shook convulsively. + +"Go on," said Mrs. Lathrop, her curiosity getting the better of her +sympathy, and her impatience ranking both. + +Susan ceased sobbing, and essayed explanation. + +"You see, after you was gone, he said 't he _was_ pretty hot these +last nights, 'n' 't that was maybe what kept him so awfully awake. I +asked him if--if--maybe the feather-bed 'n'--well, Mrs. Lathrop, to +put the whole in a nut-shell, we settled to move him, 'n' I moved him. +I know I didn't hurt him one bit, for I'm 's handy with--at least, I +_was_'s handy with him 's I am with a broom. 'N' I laid him on the +lounge, 'n' dumped that bed out into the back hall. I thought I 'd sun +it 'n' put it away this afternoon, f'r _you_ know 's I'm never no hand +to leave nothin' lyin' aroun'. Well, I come back 'n' got out some +fresh sheets, 'n' jus' 's I was--" + +The speaker halted, and there was a dramatic pause. + +"Where is--" Mrs. Lathrop asked at last. + +"Back in the feathers. My heaven alive! When I see what I'd done, I +was that upset 't I just run 's quick 's ever I could, 'n' got the +bed, 'n' dumped it right atop of him!" + +There was another dramatic silence, finally broken by Mrs. Lathrop's +saying slowly and gravely,-- + +"Susan, 'f I was you I wouldn't never say--" + +"I ain't goin' to. I made up my mind to never tell a livin' soul the +very first thing. To think o' me doin' it! To think o' all these years +'t I've tended father night 'n' day, 'n' then to accidentally go 'n' +do a thing like that! I declare, it fairly makes me sick all over!" + +"Well, Susan, you know what a good daughter you've--" + +"I know, 'n' I 've been thinkin' of it. But somehow nothin' don't seem +to comfort me none. Perhaps you'd better make me some tea, 'n' while +I'm drinkin' it, Jathrop c'n go down town 'n'--" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Lathrop, "'n' I'll go right 'n'--" + +"That's right," said the bereaved, "'n' hurry." + +It was a week later--a calm and lovely evening--and the two friends +stood by the fence. The orphan girl was talking, while Mrs. Lathrop +chewed her clover. + +"It don't seem like only a week!--seems more like a month or even a +year. Well, they say sometimes, folks live a long ways ahead in a very +short time, 'n' I must say 't, as far 's my observation 's extended, +comin' into property always leads to experience, so I couldn't in +reason complain 't not bein' no exception. This 's been the liveliest +week o' my life, 'n' I'm free to confess 't I haven't cried anywhere +near 's much 's I looked to. My feelin's have been pretty agreeable, +take it all in all, 'n' I'd be a born fool 'f I didn't take solid +comfort sleepin' nights, 'n' I never was a fool--never was 'n' never +will be. The havin' somebody to sleep in the house 's been hard, 'n' +Mrs. Macy's fallin' through the cellar-flap giv' me a bad turn, but +she's doin' nicely, 'n' the minister makes up f'r anythin'. I do wish +'t you'd seen him that afternoon, Mrs. Lathrop; he did look _so_ most +awful sheepish, 'n' his clean collar give him dead away afore he ever +opened his mouth. He set out by sayin' 't the consolations of religion +was mine f'r the askin', but I didn't take the hint, 'n' so he had to +jus' come out flat 'n' say 't he'd been thinkin' it over 'n' he'd +changed his mind. I held my head good 'n' high 't that, I c'n assure +you, 'n' it was a pretty sorry look he give me when I said 't I'd been +thinkin' it over too, 'n' I'd changed my mind too. He could 'a' talked +to me till doomsday about his bein' a consolation, I'd know it was +nothin' 't changed him but me comin' into them government bonds. No +man alive could help wantin' me after them bonds was found, 'n' I had +the great pleasure o' learnin' that fact out o' Lawyer Weskin himself. +All his species o' fun-makin' 't nobody but hisself ever sees any fun +in, jus' died right out when we unlocked father's old desk 'n' come on +that bundle o' papers. He give one look 'n' then all his gay +spinniness oozed right out o' him, 'n' he told me 's serious 's a +judge 't a woman 's rich 's I be needed a good lawyer to look out f'r +her 'n' her property right straight along. Well, I was 's quick to +reply 's he was to speak. 'N' I was to the point too. I jus' up 'n' +said, Yes, I thought so myself, 'n' jus' 's soon 's I got things to +rights I was goin' to the city 'n' get me one." + +Miss Clegg paused to frown reminiscently; Mrs. Lathrop's eyes never +quitted the other's face. + +"There was Mr. Sperrit too. Come with a big basket o' fresh vegetables +'t he said he thought 'd maybe tempt my appetite. I d'n' know 's I +ever enjoyed rappin' no one over the knuckles more 'n I did him. I +jus' stopped to take in plenty o' breath 'n' then I let myself out, +'n' I says to him flat 'n' plain, I says, 'Thank you kindly, but I +guess no woman in these parts 's better able to tempt her own appetite +'n' I be now, 'n' you'll be doin' me the only kindness 't it's in you +to do me now if you'll jus' take your garden stuff 'n' give it to some +one 's is poor 'n' needin'.' He looked so crestfallen 't I made up my +mind 't it was then or never to settle my whole score with him, so I +up 'n' looked him right in the eye 'n' I says to him, I says, 'Mr. +Sperrit, you didn't seem to jus' realize what it meant to me that day +'t I took that horse 'n' buggy 'n' drove 'way out to your farm to see +you; you didn't seem to think what it meant to me to take that trip: +but I c'n tell you 't it costs suthin' for a woman to do a thing like +that; it cost me a good deal--it cost me fifty cents.' He went away +then, 'n' he can marry Eliza Gringer if he likes, 'n' I'll wish 'em +both joy 'n' consider myself the luckiest o' the three." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + +"'N' then there's Jathrop!" continued the speaker, suddenly +transfixing her friend with a piercing glance,--"there's even Jathrop! +under my feet night 'n' day. I declare to you 't upon my honor I ain't +turned around four times out o' five this week without almost fallin' +over Jathrop wantin' me to give him a chance to explain his feelin's, +I don't wish to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' it's natural 't, +seein' you can't help yourself, you look upon him 's better 'n' +nothin', but still I will remark 't Jathrop's the last straw on top o' +my hump, 'n' this mornin' when I throwed out the dish-water 'n' hit +him by accident jus' comin' in, my patience clean gin out. I didn't +feel no manner o' sympathy over his soapy wetness, 'n' I spoke my mind +right then 'n' there. 'Jathrop Lathrop,' I says to him, all forgettin' +how big he'd got 'n' only rememberin' what a bother he's always been, +'Jathrop Lathrop, you let that soakin' be a lesson to you 'n' march +right straight home this instant, 'n' 'f you want to think of me, +think 't if I hear any more about your feelin's the feelin' you'll +have best cause to talk about 'll be the feelin' o' gettin' spanked.'" + +Mrs. Lathrop sighed slightly. + +Miss Clegg echoed the sigh. + +"There never was a truer sayin' 'n' the one 't things goes by +contraries," she continued presently. "Here I've been figgerin' on +bein' so happy married, 'n' instid o' that I find myself missin' +father every few minutes. There was lots o' good about father, +particular when he was asleep. I'd got so used to his stayin' where I +put him 't I don't know 's I c'd ever get used to a man 's could get +about. 'F I wanted to talk, father was always there to listen, 'n' 'f +he wanted to talk I c'd always go downstairs. He didn't never have but +one button to keep sewed on 'n' no stockings to darn a _tall_. 'N' all +the time there was all them nice gover'ment bonds savin' up for me in +his desk! No, I sha'n't consider no more as to gettin' married. While +it looked discouragin' I hung on 'n' never give up hope, but I sh'd be +showin' very little o' my natural share o' brains 'f I didn't know 's +plain 's the moon above 't 'f I get to be eighty 'n' the fancy takes +me I c'n easy get a husband any day with those bonds. While I couldn't +seem to lay hands on no man I was wild to have one--now 't I know I +c'n have any man 't I fancy, I don't want no man a _tall_. It'll +always be a pleasure to look back on my love-makin', 'n' I wouldn't be +no woman 'f down in the bottom of my heart I wasn't some pleased over +havin' 's good 's had four offers inside o' the same week. But I might +o' married, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' Heaven might o' seen fit to give me such +a son 's he give you, 'n' 'f I hadn't no other reason for remainin' +single that alone 'd be s'fficient. After all, the Lord said 'It is +not good for man to be alone,' but He left a woman free to use her +common sense 'n' I sh'll use mine right now. I've folded up the pink +nightgown, 'n' I'm thinkin' very seriously o' givin' it to Amelia +Fitch, 'n' I'll speak out frank 'n' open 'n' tell her 'n' everybody +else 't I don't envy no woman--not now 'n' not never." + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + + + + +II + +MISS CLEGG'S ADOPTED + + +It was an evening in early October,--one of those first frosty nights +when a bright wood fire is so agreeable to contemplate and so more +than agreeable to sit in front of. Susan Clegg sat in front of hers, +and doubtless thoroughly appreciated its cheerful warmth, but it +cannot be said that she took any time to contemplate it, for her gaze +was altogether riveted upon the stocking which she was knitting, and +which appeared--for the time being--to absorb completely that +persevering energy which was the dominant note of her character. + +But still the beauty and brilliancy of the leaping flames were not +altogether lost upon an unseeing world, for there was another present +beside Susan, and that other was full to overflowing with the power of +silent admiration. Her little black beady eyes stared at the dancing +lights that leapt from each burning log in a species of rapt +absorption, and it was only semi-occasionally that she turned them +back upon the work which lay upon her lap. Mrs. Lathrop (for of course +it was Mrs. Lathrop) was matching scraps for a "crazy" sofa-pillow, +and there was something as touchingly characteristic in the calmness +and deliberation of her matching as there was in the wild whirl which +Susan's stocking received whenever that lady felt the moment had come +to alter her needles. For Susan, when she knit, knit fast and +furiously, whereas Mrs. Lathrop's main joy in relation to labor lay in +the sensation that she was preparing to undertake it. The sofa-pillow +had been conceived--some eighteen months before--as a crazy-quilt, but +all of us who have entertained such friends unawares know that the +size of their quilts depended wholly upon the wealth of our +scrap-bags, and in the case of Mrs. Lathrop's friends their silk and +satin resources had soon forced the reduction of her quilt into a +sofa-pillow, and indeed the poor lady had during the first weeks felt +a direful dread that the final result would be only a pin-cushion. She +had begun the task with the idea of keeping it for "pick-up" work, and +during the eighteen months since its beginning she had picked it up so +rarely that after a year and a half of "matching" it was not yet +matched. It goes without saying that Miss Clegg had very little +sympathy with her friend's fancy-work and despised the slowness of its +progress, but her contempt had no effect whatever upon Mrs. Lathrop, +whose friendship was of that quality the basis of which knows not the +sensation of being shaken. + +So the older woman sat before the fire, and sometimes stared long upon +its glow, and sometimes thoughtfully drew two bits of silk from her +bag and disposed them side by side to the end that she might calmly +and dispassionately judge the advisability of joining them together +forever, while the younger woman knit madly away without an instant's +loss or a second's pause. + +Mrs. Lathrop was thinking very seriously of pinning a green stripe to +a yellow polka-dotted weave which had once formed part of Mrs. Macy's +mother's christening-robe, when Susan opened her lips and addressed +her. The attack was so sudden that the proprietor of the crazy-work +started violently and dropped the piece of the christening-robe; but +the slight accident had no effect upon her friend. + +"It does beat me, Mrs. Lathrop," she began, "how you can potter over +that quilt year in and year out. I sh'd think you'd be so dead-sick o' +the sight o' them pieces 't you'd be glad to dump the whole in the +fire. I don't say but the idea is a nice one, an' you know 's well as +I do that when they're too frayed to wear every one's nothin' but glad +to save you their bonnet-strings, but all the same my own feelin' in +the matter is 't a thing that ain't come to sewin' in two years ain't +never goin' to come to bindin' in my lifetime, an' naturally that 'd +leave you to finish your quilt some years after you was dead. I don't +see how you're goin' to get a quilt out o' them pieces anyhow. This +town ain't give to choppin' up their silk in a way that's likely to +leave you many scraps, 'n' I know 's far 's I'm concerned 't if I had +any good silk I sh'd certainly save it to mend with, 'n' I'm a rich +woman too." + +"I ain't tryin' for a quilt," said Mrs. Lathrop mildly, "I'm only--" + +"_Mrs. Lathrop_"--Susan's tone was emphatically outraged--"Mrs. +Lathrop, do you mean to say that after all this givin' you ain't goin' +to do your share? 'N' me lettin' you have the inside of the top of +father's hat, 'n' Mrs. Fisher savin' you all her corners jus' on your +simple askin'. You _said_ a quilt, 'n' we give for a quilt, 'n' if +you've changed your mind I must say I want the inside o' the hat again +to polish my parlor lookin'-glass with." + +"I ain't got enough for the quilt," said Mrs. Lathrop; "it's a +sofa-pillow I'm--" + +"Oh," said Susan, much relieved, "well--I'm glad to hear it. I +couldn't hardly believe it of you, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' yet if you can't +believe what a person says of themselves who can you believe when it +comes to talkin' about anybody? I'm glad to know the truth, though, +Mrs. Lathrop, for I was more upset 'n I showed at the notion o' losin' +faith in you. You know what I think of you, 'n' I called you over +to-night to ask your advice about suthin' as has been roamin' my head +for a long time, 'n' you can mebbe understand 's it didn't over-please +me to have your first remark one as I couldn't in reason approve of. A +woman as 'll begin a quilt 'n' trade hen's eggs 'n' all but go aroun' +town on her bended knees to get the old ties of other women's lawful +husbands, jus' to give up in the end has got no advisin' stuff for me +inside o' her. I wouldn't like to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, +'n' as long as you say it's a sofa-pillow o' course there's no harm +done, but still it _was_ a shock 'n' I can't deny it." + +Mrs. Lathrop appeared most regretful, withdrew her gaze from the fire +and the yellow polka-dots and directed its entire volume at Susan. + +The latter altered her needles with a fierce fling, and then +continued: + +"However, now 's all is made clear I will go on 'n' tell you what's on +my mind. I'd be a fool not to tell you, havin' got you over here just +for the purpose o' bein' told, 'n' yet I've sat here a good hour--'n' +you know I ain't over-give to sittin', Mrs. Lathrop--tryin' to decide +whether after all I would tell you or not. You see this subjeck isn't +nowise new to me, but it'll be new to you, 'n' bein' new to you I +can't see how anythin' 's goin' to be got out o' askin' you f'r +advice. It ain't likely 't any one first go-off c'n think of things 't +I ain't thought of already, 'n' you know yourself, Mrs. Lathrop, how +little you ever have to say to me compared to what I say to you. +Besides, 's far's my observation 's extended no one don't ask f'r +advice 'nless they've pretty well made up their mind not to take it, +if so be 's it suits 'em better untook, 'n' when I make up my mind I'm +goin' to do a thing anyhow so there ain't much use in me askin' you 'r +anybody else what they think about it. A woman 's rich 's I be don't +need to take no one else's say-so nohow--not 'nless she feels so +inclined, 'n' the older I get the less I incline." + +Mrs. Lathrop sighed slightly, but did not alter her position by a +hair. Susan whirled her stocking, took a fresh breath, and went on: + +"It's a subjeck 't I've been lookin' straight in the face, 's well 's +upside down 'n' hind end to, f'r a good long time. I 'xpeck 't it'll +mebbe come in the nature of a surprise to the c'mmunity in general, +'n' yet, to tell you the truth, Mrs. Lathrop, I was thinkin' o' this +very thing away back las' spring when Mrs. Shores eloped. I was even +thinkin' of it that very minute, f'r I was one o' them 's was in the +square when Johnny come runnin' from the station with the telegram. +Everybody 's see Johnny's face thought 's two trains had smashed on +his a'count somewhere, 'n' I recolleck Mr. Kimball's sayin' 's he +couldn't 'a' looked more miserable 'f he'd been the man 's had run +away with her. It was too bad you wasn't there, Mrs. Lathrop,--Mrs. +Macy always says 't she'll regret to her dyin' day 's she thought o' +comin' to town that mornin' to get the right time f'r her clock 'n' +then decided to wait 'n' set it by the whistle. Gran'ma Mullins was +there--she was _almost_ in front o' Mr. Shores' store. I've heard her +say a hunderd times 't, give her three seconds more, 'n' she'd 'a' +been right in front; but she was takin' her time, 'n' so she jus' +missed seein' Johnny hand in the telegram. I was standin' back to the +band-stand, tellin' Mrs. Allen my receipt for cabbage pickle, so I +never felt to blame myself none f'r not gettin' nearer quicker. The +first thing I recolleck was I says, ''N' then boil the vinegar again,' +'n' Mrs. Allen give a scream 'n' run. Then I turned 'n' see every one +runnin', 'n' Mr. Shores in the lead. They do say 's he was so crazy 't +first 't he seemed to think he c'd catch the Knoxville Express by +tearin' across the square. But he give out afore he reached Judge +Fitch's, 'n' Johnny 'n' Hiram Mullins had to carry him home. Well, it +was a bad business at first, 'n' when she kidnapped the baby 't was +worse. I was down in the square the day 't Johnny come with that +telegram too. I remember Mrs. Macy 'n' me was the only ones there +'cause it was Monday. I wasn't goin' to wash 'cause I only had a +nightgown 'n' two aprons, 'n' the currants was ripe 'n' I'd gone down +to get my sugar, 'n' Johnny come kitin' up fr'm the station, 'n' Mrs. +Macy 'n' me didn't put on no airs but just kited right after him. Mrs. +Macy always says she learned to see the sense in Bible miracles that +day, f'r she had n't run in years then, 'n' she's walked with a stick +ever since, but she run that day, 'n' Johnny bein' tired 'n' Mrs. Macy +'n' me fresh--she was a little fresher 'n me f'r I 'd been talkin'--we +all three come in on Mr. Shores together. Seems like I c'n see him +now. He sort of shivered all over 'n' says, 'Ah--a telegram!' 'n' +Johnny says, 'Jus' come,' 'n' then we all waited. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, +I guess I've told you before how he jus' sort o' went right up in the +air!--it said, 'We have took the child,' 'n' he bounced all over like +a rat that ain't good caught 'n' then he out 'n' away 'n' we right +after him. He kept hollerin', 'It's a lie--it's a lie,' but when he +got home he found out 't Mrs. Shores had kep' her word 's usual. Mrs. +Macy put cold water to his head 'n' I mixed mustard plasters 'n' put +'em on anywhere 't he was still enough, but all the same they had to +lace him to the ironin' board that night. I hear lots o' folks says 's +he's never really knowed which end up he was walkin' since, but I +guess there's more reasons f'r that 'n her takin' the baby. My own +view o' the matter is 't he misses his clerk full 's much 's he misses +his family, f'r he's got to tend both sides of the store at once 'n' +he don't begin to be as spry 's that young feller was. He can't hop +back 'n' forth over the counter like he used to; he's got to go way +back through the calicoes every time or else climb up in the +window-seat over that squirrel 't he keeps there in a cage advertisin' +fur-lined mitts 'n' winter nuts. Mr. Kimball 's forever makin' one o' +them famous jokes of his over him, 'n' sayin' 't he never looks across +the square without he sees Shores tryin' to rise above his troubles +'n' his squirrel together, but I don't see nothin' funny in any of it +myself. I think it's no more 'n' what he might of 'xpected. He got the +squirrel himself 'n' his wife too, 'n' she never did suit him. He was +all put out at first over her takin' it so to heart 't he wore a wig, +'n' then he was clean disgusted over the baby 'cause he wanted a boy +'t he could name after himself. They said he all but cried, 'n' she +cried dreadful, f'r she didn't know nothin' about babies 'n' thought +it was goin' to be bald always, jus' like him. But what did he marry +for if he did n't want trouble?--That was what I said to the +minister's wife. She come to call right in the first of it, 'n' I must +say 't if she hadn't come mebbe a good many things might o' been +different, for my mind was about made up then, an' I was thinkin' very +serious o' mebbe sayin' suthin' to you that very night. But she put me +at outs with the whole thing--not as I won't admit 't there ain't a +difference between one 'n' nine, f'r any one c'n work _that_ out on +their fingers fast enough." + +Mrs. Lathrop assented to this statement by moving her head in a slow +acquiescent rhythm as she rocked. + +"But her talk was certainly awful discouragin'. She was tryin' to +speak o' Mr. Shores, but she kep' trailin' back to herself, 'n' when +she said 't she'd never had time to crimp her hair since her weddin' +day she jus' broke right down. I cheered her up all I could. I told +her she couldn't with a clear conscience blame any one but herself 'n' +she'd ought to say her prayers of gratitude 't she hadn't got eight +herself, same 's him. She sort o' choked 'n' said she couldn't have +eight 'cause she had n't been married but one year. 'Well,' I says, 'I +don't see no great sense in that; he had eight the day he was married +'s far 's that goes, did n't he?' She jus' rocked back 'n' forth 'n' +said 't no one in the whole wide world had any notion how many eight +children was till they turned aroun' from the altar 'n' see 'em strung +out in the pew 's is saved for the family. I told her 't as far 's my +observation 'd 'xtended quite a number o' things looked different +comin' down from the altar, 'n' it was in my heart to tell her 't if +I'd let any man get so much the better o' me 's to marry me, my +self-respeck would certainly shut my mouth up tight afterwards. As +long 's a woman 's single she's top-dog in the fight 'n' can say what +she pleases, but after she's married a man she'll keep still 'f she's +wise, 'n' the wiser she is the stiller she'll keep, for there's no +sense in ever lettin'folks know how badly you've been fooled.--But I +didn't say all that to the minister's wife, for she didn't look like +she had strength to listen, 'n' so I made her some tea instead.--'N' +_then_ it come out 't after all what she come for was to borrow my +clo'es-wringer! Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I certainly didn't have no blame +f'r myself at feelin' some tempered under them circumstances,--me _so_ +sympathetic--'n' the tea--'n' all." + +Mrs. Lathrop shook her head in calm and appreciative understanding. + +"Did you lend--" she asked. + +"--'N' there are folks just like that in this world too," Susan +continued, "'n' it beats me what the Lord makes 'em so for, for +they'll talk 'n' talk 'n' wander all over every subjeck in Creation to +come 'n' never even begin to get around to the point till you're clean +gi'n out with listenin'. 'F the minister's wife hadn't come that day +'n' hadn't talked as she did, I might 'a' been left less wore out and, +as a consequence, have told you that night what I ain't never told you +yet, for it was strong in my mind then 'n' it's strong in my mind now, +'n' bein' one o' them 's wastes no words, I'll state to you at once, +Mrs. Lathrop, 't before Mrs. Shores run away--'n' after she run away +too, f'r that matter--I was thinkin' very seriously o' adoptin' a +baby." + +"A--" said Mrs. Lathrop, opening her eyes somewhat. + +"A baby," repeated Susan. "I feel you ought to be the first one to +know it because, 's much 's I'm out, you'll naturally have the care of +it the most of the time." + +Mrs. Lathrop clawed feebly among her pieces and seemed somewhat +bewildered as she clawed. + +"Mrs. Shores' ba--" she queried. + +Susan screamed. + +"_Mrs. Lathrop!_"--she stopped knitting so that she might concentrate +her entire strength into the extreme astonishment which she desired to +render manifest in those two words--"Mrs. Lathrop!--Me!--adopt Mrs. +Shores' baby! Adopt the baby of a woman as 'd gone off 'n' left it!" + +Mrs. Lathrop looked deeply apologetic. + +"I didn't know--" she ventured. + +"Well, you'd ought to of," said Susan, "'n' if you didn't I'd never +own to it. Such a idea never entered my head, 'n' I can't conceive +when nor how it entered yours. Only I'm free to confess to one thing, +Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' that is 't 'f _I_ was give to havin' ideas 's +senseless 's yours often are, I'd certainly keep my mouth shut 'n' let +people 's knows more do the talkin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop swallowed the rebuke and remained passively overcome by +the after-clap of her astonishment. + +Susan began to knit again. + +"I wasn't thinkin' o' Mrs. Shores' baby 'n' I wasn't thinkin' o' no +baby in particular. I never said I was thinkin' of any baby--I said I +was thinkin' of _a_ baby. I sh'd think you could 'a' seen the +difference, but even if you can't see it there is a difference just +the same. My sakes alive! it's a serious enough matter decidin' to +adopt some one for good 'n' all without hurryin' the doin' of it any. +If you was 's rich 's I be, Mrs. Lathrop, you'd understand that +better. 'N' if you was 's rich 's I be, you might not be in no more of +a hurry 'n I am. I ain't in a hurry a _tall_. I ain't in a hurry 'n' I +don't mean to be in a hurry. I'm only jus' a-gettin' on towards makin' +up my mind." + +Mrs. Lathrop slowly and meditatively drew a piece of sky-blue farmer's +satin from her bag and looked at it absent-mindedly. Susan twirled her +stocking and went on. + +"'S long 's I've begun I may 's well make a clean breast of the whole +now. O' course you don't know nothin', Mrs. Lathrop, but, to put the +whole thing in a shell, this adoptin' of a child 's a good deal to +consider. When a woman 's married, it's the Lord's will 'n' out o' the +Bible 'n' to be took without no murmurin' 's to your own feelin's in +the matter. Every one 's sorry for married people, no matter how their +children turn out, because, good or bad, like enough they done their +best, 'n' if they didn't it was always the other one's fault; but +there ain't no one goin' to lay themselves out to try 'n' smooth my +child's thorns into a bed o' roses for me. Every one 's jus' goin' to +up 'n' blame me right 'n' left, 'n' if it has a pug-nose or turns out +bad I can't shoulder none of it onto the Lord, I'll jus' have the +whole c'mmunity sayin' I've got myself 'n' no one else to thank. Now, +when you know f'r sure 't you can't blame nobody else but jus' +yourself, you go pretty slow, 'n' for that very reason I'm thinkin' +this subjeck well over afore I decide. There's a good many questions +to consider,--my mind 's got to be made up whether boy or girl 'n' age +'n' so forth afore I shall open my lips to a livin' soul." + +Mrs. Lathrop appeared to be slowly recovering from the effects of her +surprise. + +"Would you take a small--" she asked, perhaps with some mental +reference to the remark that dowered her with the occasional charge of +the future adopted Clegg. + +"Well, I d'n' know. That's a very hard thing that comes up first of +all every time 't I begin thinkin'. When most folks set out to adopt a +baby, the main idea seems to be to try 'n' get 'em so young 't they +can't never say for sure's you ain't their mother." + +Mrs. Lathrop nodded approval, mute but emphatic, of the wisdom of her +friend's views. + +"But I ain't got none o' that foolish sort o' notions in me. I +wouldn't be its mother, 'n' 'f there was n't no one else to tell it so +Mr. Kimball 'd rejoice to the first time I sent it down town alone. +It's nigh to impossible to keep nothin' in the town with Mr. Kimball. +A man f'rever talkin' like that 's bound to tell everythin' sooner or +later, 'n' I never was one to set any great store o' faith on a +talker. When I don't want the whole town to know 't I'm layin' in +rat-poison I buy of Shores, 'n' when I get a new dress I buy o' +Kimball. I don't want my rats talked about 'n' I don't mind my dress. +For which same reason I sh'll make no try 't foolin' my baby. I'll be +content if it cooes. I remember Mrs. Macy's sayin' once 't a baby was +sweetest when it cooes, 'n' I don't want to miss nothin', 'n' we ain't +never kep' doves for me to be dead-sick o' the noise, so I want the +cooin' age. I think it'll be pleasant comin' home days to hear the +baby cooin', 'n' 'f it cooes too loud when I'm away you c'n always +come over 'n' see if it's rolled anywhere. I c'n see that, generally +speaking, it's a wise thing that folks jus' have to take 'em as they +come, because when it's all for you to choose you want so much 't like +'s not I can't be suited after all. It's goin' to be pretty hard +decidin', 'n' when I've done decidin' it's goin' to be pretty hard +findin' a baby that's all 't I've decided; 'n' then, _if_ I find +it,--then comes the raisin' of it, 'n' I espect that 'll be suthin' +jus' awful." + +"How was you goin' to find--" Mrs. Lathrop asked. + +"Well, I've got to go to town to look at winter coats, 'n' I thought +'t when I'd found what I wanted I'd jus' glance through two or three +orphan asylums afore comin' home." + +Mrs. Lathrop pinned the purple to the yellow and shut one eye so as to +judge of the combination from the single standpoint of the other. She +seemed to be gradually regaining her normal state of abnormal +calmness. + +"I thought 't your coat was pretty good," she said mildly, as Susan +altered her needles. The stocking started violently. + +"Pretty good! It's most new. My heavens alive, Mrs. Lathrop, don't you +know 's well 's I do 't I ain't had my new coat but four years 'n' +then only to church!" + +"You _said_ 't you was goin' to get--" Mrs. Lathrop remarked, unpinning +the purple as she spoke and replacing it in the bag. + +"_Mrs. Lathrop_! 'f you don't beat anythin' 't I ever saw for puttin' +words 't I never even dreamed of into other folks's mouths! 'S if I +should ever think o' buyin' a new coat 'n' the price-tag not even +dirty on the inside o' mine yet! I never said 't I was goin' to buy a +coat,--I never thought o' goin' to buy a coat,--what I did say was 't +I was goin' to _look at_ coats, an' the reason 't I'm goin' to look at +coats is because I'm goin' to cut over the sleeves o' mine. I thought +all last winter 't it was pretty queer for a woman 's rich 's I be to +wear old-fashioned sleeves--more particularly so where I c'n easy cut +a new sleeve crossways out o' the puffs o' the old ones. 'N' _that's_ +why I want to look at coats, Mrs. Lathrop, for I ain't in the habit o' +settin' my shears in where I can't see my way out." + +Mrs. Lathrop fingered a piece of rusty black silk and made no comment. + +"When I get done lookin' at coats, lookin' 't orphans 'll be jus' a +nice change. If I see any 't I think might suit I'll take their +numbers 'n' come home 'n' see about decidin', 'n' if I don't see any +'t I like I'll come home jus' the same." + +The clock struck nine. Mrs. Lathrop rose and gathered up her bag of +pieces. + +"I mus' be goin' home," she said. + +"I was thinkin' that very same thing," said Susan, rising also. "It's +our thinkin' so much the same't keeps us friends, I guess." + +Mrs. Lathrop sought her shawl and departed. + +* * * * * + +It was about a week later that the trip to town took place. The day +was chosen to suit the opening of a most unprecedented Fire-Sale. Miss +Clegg thought that the latest styles in coat-sleeves were likely to +bloom broadcast on so auspicious an occasion, and Mrs. Lathrop herself +was sufficiently infected by the advertising in the papers to dare to +intrust her friend with the whole of a two-dollar bill to be +judiciously invested if bargains should really run as wildly rife as +was predicted. + +Susan departed very early and did not get back till very late--so late +in fact that her next-door neighbor had the time to become more than a +little anxious as to the possibilities of some mischance having +befallen her two-dollar bill. + +But towards eight o'clock signs of life next door appeared to the +anxious watcher in the Lathrop kitchen window, and one minute later +she was on her way across. She found the front door, which was +commonly open, to be uncommonly shut, and was forced to rap loudly and +wait lengthily ere the survivor of the Fire-Sale came to let her in. + +Then when the door did open the figure which appeared in the opening +was such as to startle even the phlegmatically disposed chewer of +clover. + +"My heavens alive, Susan, whatever is the matter with--" + +Susan backed faintly into the hall so as to allow the other to enter. + +"I'm worn to a frazzle--that's all!" she said weakly and wearily. + +They turned into the parlor, where the lamp was burning, and Mrs. +Lathrop gave a little frightened scream: + +"Susan! why, you look half--" + +Miss Clegg collapsed at once heavily upon the haircloth-covered sofa. + +"I guess you'd better make me some tea," she suggested, and shut her +eyes. + +Mrs. Lathrop had no doubt whatever on the subject. Hurrying out to the +kitchen, she brewed a cup of the strongest possible tea in the fewest +possible moments, and brought it in to the traveller. The latter drank +with satisfaction, then leaned back with a sigh. + +"It was a auction!" she said in tones that gasped. + +Mrs. Lathrop could restrain her anxiety no longer. + +"Did you get anything with my--" she asked. + +"Yes; it's out in the hall with my shawl." + +"What did--" + +"It's a parrot," said Susan. + +"A parrot!" cried Mrs. Lathrop, betraying as much feeling as it was in +her to feel. + +"Without any head," Susan added wearily. + +"Without any head!" + +Then Miss Clegg straightened up in her seat and opened her eyes. + +"There ain't no need o' bein' so surprised," she said in that peculiar +tone with which one who has spent another's money always defends his +purchase,--"it's a stuffed parrot without any head." + +"A stuffed parrot without any head!" Mrs. Lathrop repeated limply, and +her tone was numb and indescribable. + +"How much did it--" she asked after a minute. + +"I bid it in for one dollar 'n' ninety-seven cents,--I was awful +scared f'r fear it would go over your two dollars, an' it wasn't +nothin' that I'd ever want, so I couldn't 'a' taken it off your hands +if it _had_ gone over your money." + +"I wonder what I can do with it," her neighbor said feebly. + +"You must hang it in the window so high 't the head don't show." + +"I thought you said it didn't have no head." + +Miss Clegg quitted the sofa abruptly and came over to her own chair; +the tea appeared to be beginning to take effect. + +"It _hasn't_ got no head! If it had a head, where would be the sense +in hangin' it high a _tall_? It's your good luck, Mrs. Lathrop, 't it +hasn't got no head, for the man said 't if it had a head it would 'a' +brought four or five dollars easy." + +Mrs. Lathrop got up and went out into the hall to seek her parrot. +When she brought it in and examined it by the light of the lamp, her +expression became more than dubious. + +"What did _you_ get for your--" she asked at last. + +"I didn't get nothin'. I didn't see nothin' 't I wanted, 'n' I learned +long ago 't an auction 's generally a good place f'r buyin' things 't +you don't want after you've bought 'em. Now take that parrot o' +yours!--I wouldn't have him 'f you was to offer him to me for a gift; +not to speak o' his not havin' no head, he looks to me like he had +moths in him,--you look at him by daylight to-morrow 'n' see if it +don't strike you so too." + +Mrs. Lathrop was silent for a long time. Finally she said: + +"Did you go to the Orphan Asylum?" + +"Well--no--I did n't. I would 'a' gone only I got on the wrong car 'n' +ended in a cemetery instead. I had a nice time there, though, walkin' +roun' 'n' readin' ages, an' jus' as I was goin' out I met a monument +man 't had a place right outside the gate, 'n' he took me to look at +his things, 'n' then I remembered father--two years dead 'n' not a +stone on him yet!" + +Mrs. Lathrop laid the parrot aside with a heavy sigh and concentrated +all her attention upon her friend's recital. + +"The man was about 's pleasant a man 's ever I met. When I told him +about father, he told me he took a interest in every word, whether I +bought a monument of him or not. He said he'd show me all he had 'n' +welcome 'n' it was no trouble but a joy. Then he took me all through +his shop 'n' the shed behind, 'n' really I never had a nicer time. I +see a lamb lyin' down first, 'n' I thought 't that would be nice f'r a +little, but the further back we went the finer they got. The man +wanted me to take a eagle grippin' a pen 'n' writin' father's name on +a book 't he's sittin' on to hold open while he writes. I told him 'f +I bought any such monument I cert'nly would want the name somewhere +else than up where no one but the eagle could read it. He said 't I +could have the name below 'n' let the eagle be writin' 'Repose in +Peace,' but I told him 't father died of paralysis after bein' in bed +for twenty years 'n' that his idea o' Heaven wasn't reposin' in +peace,--he always looked forward to walkin' about 'n.' bein' pretty +lively there. Then the man said 't maybe suthin' simple would be more +to my taste, 'n' he took me to where there was a pillow with a wreath +of roses on it, but--my gracious, I'd never be so mean 's to put a +pillow anywhere near father after all them years in bed, 'n' as to the +roses they'd be jus' 's bad or worse, for you know yourself how they +give him hay-fever so 's we had to dig up all the bushes years ago. + +"But I'll tell you, Mrs. Lathrop, what I _did_ see that nobody on the +wide earth c'd help wishin' was on top o' their grave the minute they +laid eyes on it. It's a lion--a weepin' lion--kind o' tryin' to wipe +his eyes with one paw. I tell you I never saw nothin' one quarter so +handsome over no one yet, 'n' if I wasn't thinkin' o' adoptin' a child +I'd never rest until I'd set that lion on top of father. But o' +course, as it is, I can't even think how it might look there; the +livin' has rights over the dead, 'n' my child can't go without the +necessaries of life while my father gets a weepin' lion 't when you +come right square down to it he ain't got no more use for 'n' a cat +has for two tails. No, I'm a rich woman, but all incomes has their +outside fence. 'F a man 's got a million a year, he can't spend two +million, 'n' I can't start in child raisin' 'n' tombstone father all +in the same year. Father 'll have to wait, 'n' he got so used to it +while he was alive 't he ought not to mind it much now he's dead. But +I give the man my address, 'n' he give me one o' his cards, 'n' when I +go to the Orphan Asylum I may go back 'n' see him, an' maybe if I tell +him about the baby he'll reduce the lion some. The lion is awful +high--strikes me. He's three hunderd dollars, but the man says that 's +because his tail 's out o' the same block. I asked him if he couldn't +take the tail off, but he said 't that would hurt his reputation. He +said 'f I'd go up the ladder to his second floor 'n' look down on the +lion I'd never talk about sawin' off his tail, 'n' he said 't anyhow +cuttin' it off would only make it cost more because it was cut on in +the first place. I saw the sense o' that, 'n' I remembered, too, 't +even 'f folks in the cemetery never can see the tail, father 'll have +to look at it from higher up 'n the ladder to the monument man's shed, +'n' I don't want him to think 't I economized on the tail of his +tombstone. I tell you what, Mrs. Lathrop, I cert'nly do want that +lion, but I can't have it, so I've decided not to think of it again. +The man c'd see I wanted it, 'n' I c'd see 't he really wanted me to +have it. He felt so kind o' sorry for me 't he said he'd do me a +weepin' fox for one hunderd 'n' fifty, if I wanted it, but I didn't +want no fox. Father didn't have nothin' like a fox--his nose was broad +'n' kind o' flat. He hadn't nothin' like a lion, neither, but I'd like +to have the only lion in the cemetery ours." + +Mrs. Lathrop nodded her head sympathetically. + +Miss Clegg sighed and looked pensive for a moment, but it was soon +over. + +"'N' I've decided about my child too," she continued briskly,--"I've +decided to have a boy. I decided goin' in on the train to-day. I'd +been sorter thinkin' that I'd leave it to chance, but ordinary folks +can't do no more 'n' that, 'n' where 's the good o' me bein' so open +'n' above-board 'f I dunno whether it'll be a boy or girl, after all? +I might 's well 's married the minister, 'n' Lord knows Mrs. Shores's +troubles ought to be warnin' enough to no woman in this community not +to marry no man, f'r one while, at any rate. If Mrs. Shores hadn't +married Mr. Shores, she c'd easy 'a' married his clerk when she fell +in love with him. No woman that 's goin' to fall in love ever ought to +begin by marryin' another man first. It mixes everythin' all up. But +Mrs. Shores was a fool or she never would 'a' married him to begin +with. I told him that the first time 't I see him after she was gone. +I thought 't if it was any comfort to him to know that there was one +person in the c'mmunity 't looked on his wife as a fool he was welcome +to the knowin'. So I told him, 'n' I used those very self-same words +too,--'n' I cert'nly did ache to tell him that he was jus' 's big a +fool himself to 'a' ever married her, but I didn't think 't that would +be jus' polite. + +"But all that was right in the first of it--before she took the baby. +I'm free to confess 't I think he c'd 'a' stood anythin' 'f she hadn't +took the baby. It was the baby as used him all up. 'N' that seems kind +o' queer too, for seems to me, 'f my wife run away, I'd be glad to +make a clean sweep o' her 'n' hers 'n' begin all afresh; I'd never +have no injunctions 'n' detectives drawin' wages for chasin' no wife +'n' baby 't left o' their own accord. But that's jus' like a man, 'n' +I must say 't I'm dead glad 't no man ain't goin' to have no right to +interfere with my child. I c'n take it 'n' go anywhere 't I please 'n' +never be afraid o' any subpenny comin' down on me. 'S far 's I'm +concerned, I only wish 't she'd send back 'n' abduct him too, 'n' then +the community 'd have some peace on the Shores subjeck. There ain't +nothin' left to say, 'n' every one keeps sayin' it over 'n' over from +dawn to dark. I must say, Mrs. Lathrop, 't when I c'nsider how much +folks still find to say o' Mrs. Shores 'n' it all, I'm more 'n proud +that I ain't never been one to say nothin' a _tall_." + +Mrs. Lathrop did not speak for some time. Then she took up her parrot +again and looked thoughtfully at its feet. + +"What made you decide on a b--" she asked at last. + +"I didn't decide. I c'u'd n't decide, 'n' so I shook a nickel for +heads 'n' tails." + +"'N' it came a boy." + +"No, it came a girl, 'n' the minute 't I see 't it was a girl I knew +'t I'd wanted a boy all along, so, 's the good o' me bein' free to act +'s I please is 't I do act 's I please, I decided then 'n' there on a +boy." + +Mrs. Lathrop turned the parrot over. + +'F you was so set on a boy, why did you--" + +"What do folks ever toss up for? To decide. Tossin' up always shows +you jus' how much you didn't want what you get. Only, as a general +thing, there's some one else who does want it, an' they grab it 'n' +you go empty-handed. The good o' me tossin' is I c'n always take +either side o' the nickel after I've tossed. I ain't nobody's +fool--'n' I never was--'n' I never will be. But I guess I've got to +ask you to go home now, Mrs. Lathrop. I've had a hard day 'n' I'm +'most too tired to pay attention to what you say any longer. I want to +get to bed 'n' to sleep, 'n' then to-morrow maybe I'll feel like +talkin' myself." + +* * * * * + +The third morning after Miss Clegg's trip to town she astonished her +neighbor by tapping on the latter's kitchen window at the early hour +of seven in the morning. Mrs. Lathrop was getting breakfast, and her +surprise caused her to jump unduly. + +"Well, _Susan_!" she said, opening the door, "what ever is the--" + +"Matter! Nothin' ain't the matter, only I've had a letter from the +monument man. It come last night, 'n' the minister took it out o' the +post-office 'n' sent it over by little 'Liza Em'ly when she come with +the milk this mornin'. I dunno whether to thank the minister for bein' +so kind or whether to ask him to mind his own business. It's got +'Important' on the corner, 'n' sometimes I don't go to the post-office +for two days at a time, but jus' the same it strikes me 't I ain't +altogether in favor o' the minister's carryin' my mail home with him +any time he feels so inclined. If I'd 'a' married him, I never 'd 'a' +allowed him to interfere with my affairs, 'n' 's long 's I didn't +marry him I don't see no good reason for his doin' so now." + +Susan paused and looked at the letter which she held in her hand. Mrs. +Lathrop slid one of the kitchen chairs up behind her, and she sat +down, still looking at the letter. + +"It's from the monument man," she said again, "'n' I don't know what +ever I shall do about it, I'm sure." + +Mrs. Lathrop was all attention. + +"It's about the lion. He says 't he's been 'n' took some black chalk +'n' marked around under him 'Sacred to the memory of Blank Clegg,' 'n' +he says 't it looks so noble 't he's had an offer for the monument 'n' +he wants me to come in 'n' see it afore he sells it to--to some one +else." + +There was a short silence, broken at last by Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Your father's name wa'n't 'Blank,'" she said; "it was 'Henry.'" + +Susan knit her brows. + +"I know, 'n' that's one thing 't 's been troublin' me. It's written +out in good plain letters--'Blank Clegg'--'n' I've been tryin' 'n' +tryin' to think what I could 'a' said to 'a' made him suppose 't it +could 'a' been 'Blank.' That 'd be the last name in the wide world for +anybody to name anybody else, I sh'd suppose, 'n' I can't see for the +life o' me why that monument man sh'd 'a' hit on it for father. I'm +cert'nly mighty glad that he's only marked it on in black chalk 'n' +not chopped it out o' the bottom o' the lion. O' course 'f he 'd +chopped it out I'd 'a' had to 'a' taken it an' it'd jus' made me the +laughin'-stock o' the whole community. I know lots o' folks 't are +plenty mean enough 's to say 't that lion was weepin' because I didn't +know my own father's name." + +Mrs. Lathrop looked sober. + +"So I guess I've got to go to town by to-day's ten o'clock. I ain't no +intention o' takin' the lion, but I _shall_ like to stand off a little +ways 'n' look at the part o' the name 't 's spelt right. Later maybe +I'll visit a few asylums--I ain't sure. But anyway I thought I'd jus' +run over 'n' let you know 't I was goin', 'n' ask you if there's +anythin' 't I can get f'r you while I'm in town." + +"No, there isn't," said Mrs. Lathrop with great firmness. + +Susan rose to go. + +"I'm thinkin' o' buyin' the Shores baby outfit," she said. "I guess +Mr. Shores 'll be glad to sell it cheap. They say 't he can't bear to +be reminded o' the baby, 'n' I don't well see what else the crib 'n' +the baby carriage can remind him of." + +"I wonder if the sewing-machine reminds him o' Mrs. Shores," said Mrs. +Lathrop. "I'd be glad to buy it if it did 'n' 'f he was wantin' to +sell it cheap." + +"I dunno why it sh'd remind him o' Mrs. Shores," said Susan; "she +never sewed on it none. She never did nothin' 's far 's I c'd make out +except to sit on the front porch 'n' talk to his clerk. My, but I sh'd +think he 'd hate the sight o' that front porch. If it c'd be got off, +I 'd like to buy that of him too. My front porch 's awful old 'n' +shaky 'n' I 'll need a good porch to wheel baby on. He c'd take my +porch in part payment. It's bein' so old 'n' shaky wouldn't matter to +him I don't suppose, for I 'll bet a dollar he 'll never let no other +wife o' his sit out on no porch o' his, not 'ntil after he's dead 'n' +buried anyway; 'n' as for sittin' on a porch himself, well, all is I +know 't if it was me it 'd scorch my rockers." + +"What time do you think 't you '11 get back?" asked Mrs. Lathrop. + +"I ain't sure. 'F I should get real interested huntin' orphans, I +might stay until it was too dark to see 'em good. I can't tell nothin' +about it, though. You 'd better watch for the light in the kitchen, +'n' when you see it burnin' I wish 't you'd come right over." + +Mrs. Lathrop agreed to this arrangement, and Miss Clegg went home to +get ready for town. + +* * * * * + +She returned about five o'clock, and the mere general aspect of her +approaching figure betokened some doing or doings so well worthy of +neighborly interest that Mrs. Lathrop left her bread in the oven and +flew to satisfy her curiosity. + +She found her friend warming her feet by the kitchen stove, and one +look at her radiant countenance sufficed. + +"You found a baby!" + +Susan upraised supremely joyful eyes. + +"No," she replied, "but I've bought the weepin' lion!" + +Mrs. Lathrop sat suddenly down. + +"You never saw anythin' so grand in all your life! He rubbed the +'Blank' off with a wet cloth 'n' wrote in the 'Henry' with me standin' +right there. I never see anythin' that went right through me that way +before. Puttin' on 'Henry' seemed to bring the lion right into the +family, an'--well, you can believe me or not jus' as you please, Mrs. +Lathrop, but I up 'n' begin to cry right then 'n' there. The monument +man made me sit down on a uncut block 'n' lean my back up against a +No-Cross-no-Crown, 'n' while I sat there he chalked in father's birth +'n' death 'n' 'Erected by his devoted daughter Susan,' 'n' at that I +stood right up 'n' said 't I 'd take it, 'n' it wasn't no hasty +decision, neither, f'r after I 'd made up my mind I couldn't see no +good reason for continuin' to sit there 'n' draw frost out o' granite +'n' into my shoulder-blades jus' for the looks o' the thing." + +"But about the ba--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Oh, the baby 'll have to go. I told you all along 't it had to be one +or t' other an' in the end it's the lion as has come out on top. I +guess I was n't cut out to be a mother like I was a daughter. I know +'t I never wanted a baby for myself half like I 've wanted that lion +for my dead 'n' gone father. Do you know, Mrs. Lathrop, I do believe +'t I had a persentiment the first time I ever see that lion. Suthin' +sort o' crep' right up my back, 'n' I 'm jus' sure 't folks 'll come +from miles roun' to see it. I guess it's the Finger o' Fate. When you +come to think o' it, it 's all for the best jus' the way 't it 's come +out. The baby 'd 'a' grown up an' gone off somewhere, an' the lion 'll +stay right where you put him, for he 's so heavy that the monument man +says we 'll have to drive piles all down aroun' father. Then, too, +maybe I could n't 'a' managed a boy an' I can scour that lion all I +want to. 'N' I will scour him too,--nobody need n't suppose 't I've +paid three hunderd dollars f'r anythin' to let it get mossy. I've +invited the monument man 'n' his wife to come 'n' visit me while he's +gettin' the lion in place, 'n' he says he's so pleased over me 'n' +nobody else gettin' it 't he's goin' to give me a paper sayin' 't when +I die he'll chop my date in f'r nothin'. I tell you what, Mrs. +Lathrop, I certainly am glad 't I've got the sense to know when I'm +well off, 'n' I cert'nly do feel that in this particular case I'm +mighty lucky. So all 's well 't ends well." + +Mrs. Lathrop nodded. + + + + +III + +JATHROP LATHROP'S COW + + +Jathrop Lathrop was just the style and build of young man to be easily +persuaded into taking a kicking cow in full payment of a good debt. +Jathrop having taken the cow, it naturally fell to the lot of his +mother to milk her. The reader can quickly divine what event formed +the third of these easily to be foreseen developments of the most +eventful day in the life of the cow's new proprietor. The kicking cow +kicked Jathrop Lathrop's mother, not out of any especial antipathy +towards that most innocuous lady, but just because it was of a kicking +nature and Mrs. Lathrop was temptingly kickable. The sad part of the +matter was that Mrs. Lathrop was not only kickable but breakable as +well. It followed that at twelve o'clock that noon Miss Clegg, +returning from a hasty trip to the city, was greeted at the depot by +the sad tidings, and it was not until various of the town folk had +finished their versions of the disaster that she was at last allowed +to hasten to the bedside of her dear friend, whom she found not only +in great bodily distress but also already cast in plaster. + +Miss Clegg's attitude as she stood in the doorway was one of blended +commiseration and disgust. + +"Well, I never would 'a' believed it o' Jathrop!" she burst forth at +last. + +"'T wa'n't Jathrop," Mrs. Lathrop protested feebly; "it was the--" + +"I know, but the cow never come of her own free will, 'n' it strikes +me 't Jathrop's the one to blame. I never was so done up in my life 's +I was when I hear this about you. You kin believe me or not jus' 's +you please, Mrs. Lathrop, but I was so nigh to struck dead 't I +stopped short with one leg on the station 'n' the other on the train. +It was Johnny 's dodged out o' the ticket-office to tell me the minute +the train stopped, 'n' I d'n' know but I'd be there yet--f'r I was +clean struck all in a heap--only a man jus' behind jammed me with a +case o' beer 't he was bringin' home. To think 's I see you goin' to +the barn jus' 's I was lookin' f'r a place to hide my keys afore +leavin', 'n' then to think 's them was your last legs 'n' you usin' +'em 's innocent 's a grasshopper on a May mornin'!--I tell you I was +so used up I thought some o' askin' to be druv up here, but Johnny +didn't have no time to give pertickilers 'cause the telegraph begin to +work jus' at that very minute 'n' he had to dodge back to see what +they wanted to tick him about, so I see 't the wisest thing was to +walk up 'n' find out f'r myself. Besides, you c'n understand 't if you +was beyond hope I'd be nothin' but foolish to pay a quarter to get to +you in a hurry, 'n' I never was one to be foolish nor yet to waste +quarters, 'n' so I come along through town, 'n' as a consequence I +guess 't I know 's much 's you know yourself now." + +Mrs. Lathrop looking duly inquisitive for details of her own accident, +Miss Clegg advanced forthwith upon a seat and occupied it before +beginning. + +"I see Mrs. Macy first, 'n' she told me all as to how it happened. She +says you turned two back somersaults 'n' just missed squashin' the +cat, 'n' 't young Dr. Brown told her 't if he hadn't been so busy +plantin' his garden to-day he certainly would 'a' felt 't it 'd 'a' +been nothin' but right to diagnose you all over. Mrs. Macy says she +ain't none too over-pleased 't the way he spoke, for, to her order o' +thinkin', you had a pretty serious kick 'n' you'd ought to realize it. +She wanted me to ask you 'f he had you hang to the head-board while he +give your leg a good hard jerk, 'cause she says 't that's the only +real safe way to make all the bones come back into place; she says 'f +you ain't shattered you're bound to come straight pervided the doctor +jerks hard enough. She says they did her lame leg that way over thirty +years ago, 'n' she says 't, sittin' down 'n' side by side, she'd bet +anything 't the minister 'n' all the deacons couldn't pick out one +from t' other. She says all her trouble comes when she walks. Nights +'n' rockin' she'd never know she was lame herself." + +Mrs. Lathrop looked slightly distressed. + +"Gran'ma Mullins come up while we was talkin', 'n' she's terrible +upset over you. She never had no lameness, she says; her trouble 's +all in her ribs,--them ribs 't go from under your arms down. But she +wants to know if you was put in plaster, 'n' she said f'r me to ask +right off." + +"Yes; I--" replied Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Oh!" Susan's face darkened. "I declare, that's too bad. 'N' young Dr. +Brown 's gone now too. I see him 'n' Amelia drivin' out towards the +Sperrits' while I was in the square. Well, if it's on, it's on, 'n' +the Lord be with you, Mrs. Lathrop, f'r 'f Gran'ma Mullins says truth, +no one else c'n help you now. You see, she told Mrs. Macy 'n' me what +plaster is. It's eatin', that's what it is. Plaster 'll eat anythin' +right up, hide, hair, 'n' all. She says don't you know how, when you +smell a dead rat in the wall, you throw some plaster in on him, 'n' +after a while you don't smell no more rat 'cause there ain't no more +rat there to smell; the plaster 's eat him all up. She says you may +laugh 'f you feel so inclined, but there ain't no such big difference +between your leg 'n' a dead rat but what it'll pay you to mark her +words. She says 'f it don't do no more 'n eat the skin off it'll still +be pretty hard for you to lay there without no skin 'n' feel the +plaster goin' in more 'n' more. She says 't we all wish him well, 'n' +yet no one in their right mind c'n deny as young Dr. Brown is n't old +Dr. Carter, 'n' no amount o' well wishin' c'n ever make him so. She +says 'f she was you she 'd never rest till old Dr. Carter 'd looked +into that leg, f'r a leg is a leg, 'n' it says in the Bible 't if you +lose your salt what 'll you salt with." + +Mrs. Lathrop's distress deepened visibly. + +"I tell you I was more 'n a little troubled over her words. Gran'ma +Mullins ain't one to make up nothin', 'n' I know myself 't that 's +true about the plaster. I 've eat up rats that way time 'n' +again,--mice too, f'r that matter. It 'd be an awful thing f'r you to +lay there peaceful 'n' happy till it come time f'r him to unwrap your +leg 'n' then when he unwrapped have him find no leg in the centre. +Nothin' 't he could say would help any--there you 'd be one leg gone +forever. 'F it was your foot, it 'd all be different, f'r you could +hop around right spry with a false foot, but I d'n' know what good +your foot 'll do you with the leg in between gone. I never hear o' no +real foot on a false leg, 'n' 'f I was you, I certainly wouldn't want +to lay wonderin' 'f I still had two legs f'r six weeks." + +"Six weeks!" cried Mrs. Lathrop, with a start that collapsed at once +into a groan; "must I lay--" + +"Gran'ma Mullins says," pursued Susan, "'t the reason she knows so +much about it all is 't she had a cousin with a broken leg once. It +wa'n't no cow 's kicked him, jus' he was give to meditatin', 'n' while +meditatin' durin' house-cleanin' he stepped down the wrong side o' the +step-ladder. She says the doctor didn't so much 's dream o' plasterin' +him up, he put splints on him, 'n' he come out fine, but she says he +was suthin' jus' awful to take care of. They thought they couldn't +stand it the first weeks he was so terrible cross, but then his bones +begin to knit, 'n' she says she hopes she may fall dead then 'n' there +'f she ever hear anythin' to equal that leg-knittin'. She said they +was livin' so far out 't they could feel to leave him 'n' go to church +Sunday, 'n' she says when they was comin' back they could hear him +knittin' a good half-mile away." + +"Dear, dear--" commented Mrs. Lathrop, giving a heave of unrest. + +"Can you feel your leg now?" Susan inquired. + +"Yes; I--" + +"Then it 's all right so far, but, my! you mus' n't begin gettin' +restless this soon. You ain't been kicked six hours yet, 'n' you 've +got to lay that same way f'r six weeks. After a while it'll be pretty +bad, I expeck, but you ain't got nothin' to complain of to-day. I see +the minister just after I left Mrs. Macy, 'n' he said you must say to +yourself, 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof' 'n' get along +the best you can. I c'd see he was some put out over your gettin' a +cow, f'r he c'd n't but understand 't with a cow over the fence I was +n't goin' to be takin' milk from over the crick. He said 't your bein' +kicked was a judgment 'n' the sins o' the parents should be visited on +the children even unto the third 'n' fourth generation. I did n't know +whose sins he was meanin', the cow's or Jathrop's, but I did n't ask. +I guess we 'd ought to make allowances f'r the minister,--he ain't +seemed to ever be able to bear up under them twins. He was pushin' 'em +in the carriage to-day 'n' drawin' little Jane after him in a express +wagon. I asked him how his wife was, 'n' he said she's doin' nicely, +only she can't decide what to name the baby. He walked with me a +piece; it seemed to do him good to speak out frank 'n' open, 'n' I +guess he sees more 'n' more what a mistake he's made; he couldn't but +see it, I sh'd suppose, f'r his wife 's had four children in three +years, 'n' I didn't even adopt one. It's that four-in-three-years +business 't seems to 'a' used him up the most. He says he never even +had a idea 't it could be done. He says his first wife was so +different, 'n' he says it's just been shock after shock, 'n' two +shocks when the twins come. Little Jane caught her dress in a wheel +while we was talkin', 'n' we had to turn her 'n' the express-wagon +both upside down 't once afore we could unwind it, 'n' while we was +doin' that, one o' the twins fell out o' the carriage. The minister +says he don't thank no man to talk race-suicide when he's aroun'; he +says his blood runs cold to think what his family 'll be at his silver +weddin'. I tell you, Mrs. Lathrop, I will own 't I've always felt some +sore at the minister on a'count o' his not marryin' me, but 'f I ever +desired any species o' revenge I certainly 'd be hard to please 'f I +didn't get it to-day when I see him with twins ahead 'n' little Jane +behind 'n' nine at home." + +Mrs. Lathrop sighed. + +"That reminds me o' what I come over to ask you," said Susan. "Have +you had any dinner?" + +"No; I--" + +"Then I'll fix you some when I cook mine. I c'n call Jathrop 'n' have +him bring it over when it's ready. I see him in the yard when I come +by; he was peekin' in at the cow. I ain't never had no great opinion +o' Jathrop, but I guess he c'n carry a tray. 'N' now afore I leave +you, Mrs. Lathrop, I will say jus' once more 's my advice is f'r you +to keep a sharp eye on your leg, 'n' if it feels anyway like you can't +feel nothin' I'd have that plaster off in a jiffy. How's it put on? +Round 'n' roun'?" + +"He's sent for the windin'," said Mrs. Lathrop weakly; "it's jus' got +some plaster 'n' a long piece o' tore sheet." + +Susan moved towards the door. + +"It beats me what ever made you go near the hind end o' that cow for," +she remarked, pausing on the threshold. "Don't you know as it 's the +hind end 's always does the kickin'? The front end can't do +nothin'--'nless it gores. Does she gore?" + +"Oh, I d'n' know," wailed poor Mrs. Lathrop. + +"I 'm goin'," said Miss Clegg, turning her back as she spoke. "You +jus' lay still now 'n' think o' pleasant things. Nothin' else can't +happen to you 'nless the house catches fire." + +Then she went out and away. + +* * * * * + +It was late in the afternoon that Susan entered next door on her +second visitation of mercy. + +"Did you like your dinner?" she inquired, as she brought a rocker to +where it would command a fine view of the bed and its occupant. + +"Dinner! I ain't had no--" + +Miss Clegg screamed. + +"Ain't had no dinner! Why, I give it to Jathrop with my own hands. +Everythin' hot, 'n' the whole tucked up nice in the cloth 't I put +over the bird-cage nights. I made the tea awful strong so 's to keep +up your strength, 'n' there was a scramble o' eggs, 'n' one was fresh, +I _know_. Whatever c'n he have done with it, do you suppose?" + +"Maybe he ate--" Mrs. Lathrop began. + +Her friend chopped her off with a second scream. + +"Ate it!--Jathrop Lathrop!--Do you mean to tell me 't I've been +stewin' myself to feed Jathrop Lathrop! 'N' that good egg too. 'N' all +my tea. I declare, but I am aggravated. The fire 's out now 'n' +everythin' 's put away or I'd go 'n' cook you suthin' else, but I'd +never trust that young man to carry it over." + +"I ain't hun--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"It's certainly your good luck 'f you ain't. But to think o' him +havin' the face to eat up your dinner! But he's got the face fr +anythin'. 'F it wasn't f'r hurtin' your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, I'd +jus' up 'n' tell you 't, to my order o' thinkin', Jathrop always did +look more like a frog 'n he did like his own father, 'n' I'll take my +Bible oath 't I've told Mrs. Macy that a hunderd times. She says 't he +ain't active enough to remind her o' no frog, but she always owns up +'t his eyes 'n' mouth is like one. 'F I was talkin' to any one but +you, I'd say, spot him with green 'n' he could make you a nice livin' +alongside o' the dog-faced boy in a Dime Museum,--'n' never need to +move. As a family, you ain't very lively anyhow, 'n' I ain't much +surprised 't the cow 's gettin' out o' patience. She's been trampin' +aroun' 'n' mooin' a lot this last hour. The minister was walkin' by +with six o' the childern, 'n' the childern come 'n' asked 'f they +could see the cow 't kicked you. I didn't see no good reason why not, +so we boosted 'em all up so 's they'd have a good view o' her through +the little window. The minister quoted 'Wild bulls o' Bashan' 'n' +'Muzzle not the ox 't treadeth out the corn,' 'n' I felt like askin' +him 'f he didn't know a cow when he see one. She looked cross enough +for any Bible talk, though, 'n' Rachel Rebecca was awful scared 'n' +they all begin to cry. I took 'em into my kitchen 'n' give 'em a cooky +apiece, 'n' that smoothed 'em out. The minister was real pleased; he +quoted 'Even as ye did it unto the least o' these, ye did it unto me,' +so I took the hint 'n' give him a cooky too. They was goin' up to Mrs. +Brown's to tea. I must say she 's pretty good to have six o' 'em all +to once." + +Mrs. Lathrop twisted wearily. + +"C'n you feel your leg?" her friend asked anxiously. + +"Yes, I c'n feel--" + +"Mrs. Macy was up this afternoon. She says she 's more 'n' more +worried over you. She says it is n't as she don't wish young Dr. Brown +well, 'n' she 's intendin' to call him in sometime herself when she +knows jus' what 's the matter with her 'n' jus' what she 'd ought to +take for it, but she says 't in your circumstances there ain't a mite +o' doubt but what you 'd ought to have old Dr. Carter 's fast 's he +could be raked over here from Meadville. She says legs is scarce +birds, 'n' you can't go lavishin' one on every young man 's is anxious +to build up a practice on you. She says how do you know 's it 's a +clean break 's you've got there anyhow? Maybe it 's a fracture. A +fracture 's when the bone splinters all to pieces 'n' fans out every +way inside o' your leg. O' course young Dr. Brown ain't got beyond +clean breaks yet, 'n' if you're splintered in place o' bein' clean you +don't want him to learn the difference at your cost. If you lose your +leg, Mrs. Lathrop, it certainly will be a awful thing for you. A woman +can't ever say 's she was a brakeman or in the war, 'n' them 's the +only good excuses 's can be give. Then, too, if you have a wooden leg +'n' the wind catches you at it, it'll take you in a way 's 'll make +you look more like a scarecrow 'n a Christian. Mrs. Macy says 't she +was speakin' to Mr. Kimball about you, 'n' he was nigh to serious f'r +once in his life. She says he says 't they take the hair off o' +horse-hides with plaster 'n' that wooden legs is very hard to get +comfortable. I s'pose the long 'n' short of it would be 't I'd have to +come over every mornin' 'n' hook it on to you,--'f it was left to +Jathrop he'd probably have you half o' the time with your toes +pointin' back 'n' your heel in front. C'n you feel it now?" + +"Yes; I--" + +"Then it's still there, but, Lord! how that cow does kick 'n' pull 'n' +moo! Why don't Jathrop do suthin' to her? She'd ought to be tended to. +When you come right square down to it, she ain't no more to blame f'r +kickin' you 'n' he is f'r lookin' like a frog. They was each made so. +But even then she'd ought to be milked jus' the same, 'n' Jathrop 'd +ought to be settin' at it." + +"I don't want--" + +"It's got to be him or me or the butcher, 'n' I must say I don't see +no good 'n' sufficient reason why it should be me. I didn't have +Jathrop, nor yet the cow, 'n' I don't see why I sh'd lay myself open +to bein' snapped off any where, jus' because your son 's half a +fool--the head half." + +Mrs. Lathrop groaned. + +"Now there ain't no use in _that_" said Susan firmly; "lots o' things +might be worse 'n they are. She might 'a' broken both your legs, or +she may break both his when he tries to milk her to-night. You must +look on the bright side, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' not twist aroun' like you'd +been in bed four weeks 'n' only had two more ahead o' you. The whole +six is ahead now, 'n' instid o' wrigglin' 'n' sighin', you'd ought to +think how good it is as I'm here to take care o' you. I must say 't, +to my order o' thinkin', your leg is goin' to be pretty nigh 's hard +on me 's on you. 'F I can't trust Jathrop to so much 's carry a tray +after I've been to all the bother o' cookin' it, it stands to reason +'s I must be kitin' with 'em all day long. I'm very friendly with you, +Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' whether single or two-legged I'd never but wish you +well; still, I _am_ a rich woman, 'n' bein' a rich woman, it does seem +kind o' hard for me to have to slave back 'n' forth over the fence for +six weeks; but, such bein' the case, it strikes me 't, of us two, you +certainly ain't the one 's 'd ought to be doin' the groanin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop appeared contrite and dumb. + +"I guess I'll go 'n' get supper now," said her visitor, rising; "when +it's got I'll bring you over some. I ain't goin' to trust Jathrop with +nothin' again, I know. To think o' his eatin' your dinner! I must say, +Mrs. Lathrop, 't if you was cut out to be a mother, it certainly seems +a pity 't you never got beyond Jathrop, for no one 's ever see him +could believe it of you. However, I don't suppose 's any one in their +senses could blame you f'r stoppin' right off short when you see what +you 'd gone 'n' done the first time." + +Mrs. Lathrop made no attempt to reply. Miss Clegg left the room, and +returned not until she came with the supper. + +"I did n't see Jathrop nowhere," she announced as she entered, "but +the cow 's goin' on jus' awful." + +"Jathrop 's gone for the--" + +"Well, I _am_ glad. The butcher 's the only one 's 'd ought to go near +her. I persume I c'd 'a' milked her, 'n' 'f she 'd been my cow I w'd +'a' milked her, but bein' 's she wa'n't mine I did n't see no good 'n' +sufficient reason why I sh'd so much 's take a interest in her. I will +own 't I did sorter ache to see her kick Jathrop into kingdom come, +but the chances are 't he'd 'a' come out alive, 'n' so it would n't +'a' paid in the end. I 'll be glad to hear her stop mooin', though. I +was sick o' the noise afore she begun, 'n' she 's kep' right on ever +since." + +Mrs. Lathrop ate a little and drank a little, looking blandly +non-committal as she did so. Miss Clegg rocked vigorously. + +"I can't get that plaster out o' my head," she continued presently. "I +wonder if it won't give you rheumatism anyhow. Deacon White got +rheumatism from movin' into a house where the plaster was damp, 'n' it +stands to reason it'd be worse yet if it's tied right tight to you. I +must say 't I agree with Mrs. Macy; I think you'd ought to have old +Dr. Carter. O' course it'll cost suthin' to have him over from +Meadville, but it'll cost you a sight more to have a wooden leg up +from the city. There ain't no sense in tryin' to save money over a +kick, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' what's the good o' your economizin' all these +years 'f you can't indulge yourself a little when you want to? That's +what Mr. Shores said to me--jus' them very self-same words--when he +wanted to sell me that fancy green 'n' yellow parasol 's he had up f'r +Easter. I didn't want no parasol, though; it had a pointed-nose dog +f'r a handle, 'n' I didn't fancy myself goin' to church hangin' on to +a dog's nose, even 'f it was silver-plated. I ain't no great admirer +o' green 'n' yellow, neither, 'n' so I told him flat 'n' plain 't I +wa'n't through my economizin' years yet. He sold the parasol to Mrs. +Jilkins, 'n' she let it down on her thumb 'n' come nigh to breakin' +her thumb. She says she won't carry no parasol 's she can't shut down +without riskin' her thumb 'n' she 's goin' to give it to her niece +over to Meadville. She says her niece is awful womans-rightsy, 'n' can +swing dumb-bells 'n' look over backward 't her own heels, 'n' that +parasol 'll be nothin' but child's play to her. I ain't no sympathy +with such views myself--I never was one as believed overmuch in +womans' rights. My idea is to let the men have the rights, 'n' then +they're satisfied to let you do 's you please. 'S far 's my +observa--Lord have mercy on us!" + +The cause of the abrupt termination of Miss Clegg's speech was a +sudden crashing back of the house, followed by a rush and a swish at +the side. The friendly visitor made one jump for the window, took one +look out, and was off and away. The door slammed before Mrs. Lathrop +got her mouth open to ask what was the matter. She called, but no +answer came. Then she waited, and waited some more, and finally grew +weary in her waiting and fell asleep. + +She slept long and dreamlessly. It was well after seven when the noise +of footsteps awakened her. + +It was Susan. Having left the tray behind in her mad flight of the +night before, she had come over with the teapot in one hand and a +plate of toast in the other. But it was not the breakfast which +attracted Mrs. Lathrop's attention, it was the expression of her +neighbor's face. Tidings of vast importance were deeply imprinted +there, and when Miss Clegg set the teapot down and said, "Well, Mrs. +Lathrop!" there was that within the tone of her voice which seemed to +cause the very air to quiver in anticipation. + +"Is anything the--" + +"Matter?" Susan put down the toast and drew herself up to her full +height as she spoke. "Yes, Mrs. Lathrop, a good deal is the matter. +You ain't seen Jathrop, have you?" + +"No; where--" + +"He's gone!" + +"Gone?" + +"Gone. Mr. Weskin give him to understand as he'd better go somewhere +'n' he got on a train 'n' did it. If he hadn't, he might 'a' been +lynched." + +"Lynched!" screamed the mother, sitting suddenly up. A direful +cracking resounded under the bed-clothes as she did so, but in the +excitement of the moment its possible evil portent went unnoticed. + +"Lynched," repeated Susan; "that's what I said, 'n' bein' 's I was +brought up to speak the truth 'n' fear no man, you c'n depend upon its +bein' so. But you must eat your breakfast, Mrs. Lathrop,--you mustn't +go without eatin' or you'll lose your strength 'n' then blood poison +'ll set in. 'N' that reminds me 't Mr. Weskin asked me yesterday if +you'd made your will. Have you?" + +"No; but I want to know about--" + +"He says you'd ought to right off. He says there 's no tellin' where +anythin' 'll end 'n' it 's wise to be prepared for the worst. He said +he knowed a man as walked on a tack 'n' jus' called it a tack, 'n' +first they had to cut off the tack 'n' then the toe 'n' then the foot, +'n' they kept on slicin' him higher 'n' higher till he died without no +will a _tall_. I said you wasn't no tack but a cow, but he said it was +all one, 'n' I guess it is 's far 's the lawyers go. I expeck it'd be +only a poor lawyer 's couldn't argue a tack into a cow--'n' out of her +again, too, f'r that matter--'n' Mr. Weskin ain't no poor--" + +"But about Ja--" + +"--Lawyer. He's 's fine 's they make. O' course a good deal o' the +time no one knows what he means, but that ain't nothin' ag'in' him, +f'r I think with a lawyer you ginerally don't. It's a part o' their +business not to let no one know what they mean, f'r 'f law was simple +no one 'd ever get fooled." + +'N' Jath--" + +"He's gone. You c'n make your mind easy about him, f'r he got away all +safe. Hiram Mullins chased him clear to the station 'n' nigh to +catched him, but there was a train jus' movin' out, 'n' Jathrop +shinned up the little fire-escape on the back o' the calaboose 'n' was +off. 'N' now 't he is gone, Mrs. Lathrop, I'm goin' to right out plain +'n' tell you to your face 's it's a good thing f'r you 's he _is_ +gone, 'n' you want to thank Heaven 's sent him to you 't that train +was so handy to take him away ag'in." + +"But what--" asked Mrs. Lathrop feebly. + +"It was the cow," said Susan. "Don't you remember how I run last +night? I hear a noise, 'n' my first thought was 's it was Jathrop or +mebbe the butcher, but I got to the window jus' in time to see a tail +make the turn o' the gate, 'n' the seein' the tail showed right off 's +it warn't Jathrop nor yet the butcher. Seems 't Jathrop, not seein' no +ring to tie her to, tied her to a spoke in the hay-rack 'n' in her +mooin' she broke it. Seems't then she squose out into the chicken-coop +'n' then busted right through the wire nettin' 'n' set off. She run +like wild fire, they say. She headed right f'r town 'n' down the main +street. She come into the square lickety-split, 'n' the town committee +was in the middle of it examinin' the band-stand where Judge Fitch +says 't it shakes when he has to stamp 'n' pound in his speeches. She +come on the committee so sudden 't they did n't even know what it was. +She knocked Deacon White over on his back, 'n' threw Mr. Shores so +hard ag'in' the waterin'-trough 't all his suspender tins come out +before 'n' behind. Gran'ma Mullins was comin' across with six new +teacups done up in each hand. Ed was comin' along after her with the +saucers, but she'd told Mr. Kimball right out to his face as she would +n't trust Ed with nothin' as had handles 'n' so she'd carry them cups +home herself. The cow hit her cornering, 'n' them cups 'n' her false +teeth went all over the square. Some o' 'em hit Deacon White in the +face where he lay gaspin', but the cow never stopped. She jus' flew. +Mr. Fisher was hurryin' along to join the rest o' the committee 't the +bandstand, 'n' he met her next. She lowered her head 'n' jus' gouged +Mr. Fisher's three-quarters around him 'n' tore right on. She took the +crick road, 'n' Polly Allen 'n' Sam Duruy was out walkin' 'n' see her +pass. They say greased lightenin' was donkeys to the way she went. The +minister 'n' the six childern was jus' comin' home from Mrs. Brown's, +'n' the five childern at home was all come runnin' to meet them. The +cow charged right into the middle o' the bunch, 'n' the minister 'n' +all them eleven childern is laid out f'r one spell. + +"Well, 'n' even _then_ she did n't stop. Seemed like ploughin' through +the minister's family only give her fresh strength. She kept right +straight on down the crick road, 'n' jus' by the ditch she come on Mr. +'n' Mrs. Jilkins. They was comin' up to town to spend the night with +the Whites, 'n' they had the green 'n' yellow parasol all done up to +send to Mrs. Jilkins' niece along with 'em. The cow was 's unexpected +to them as to every one else, 'n' she hit the parasol right square in +the middle. It broke, 'n' the wires all bust out 'n' punched Mr. +Jilkins full o' holes afore he had time to point it at his wife. She +got her share anyhow, though, f'r that dog's nose handle caught her +right aroun' her leg 'n' throwed her head foremost into the ditch. + +"'N' the cow did n't stop then! She rushed right along, 'n' on the +first bridge was Mrs. Macy. She was standin' wonderin' what was to pay +up the road, 'n' then she see it was a cow. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, you +know what Mrs. Macy is on cows. I hear her say one day as she 'd +rather have a mouse run up her skirts any day 'n a cow. She told me 't +she often go 'way round by Cherry Pond sooner 'n be alone with one in +the road, 'n' such bein' the case, you can't suppose but what she was +mortal scared. Her story is 's she only had time to see its horns 'n' +the wildness of its eyes afore she never _will_ know what did possess +her. She never see a cow that near in all her life before, 'n' she +says 'f that 's the way they look face to, she ain't surprised 't +folks sit a little back when milkin'. It was nigh to on to her, 'n' +you know yourself 't the bridge is narrow 'n' Mrs. Macy ain't. Well, +Mrs. Lathrop, you c'n believe me or not jus' 's you please, 'cause it +'ll be Mrs. Macy 's you 'll be doubtin' anyhow, but this is what she +says happened. The bridge is _here_, you know," Susan laid off the +plan on her knee, "'n' the road is _here_. The cow was runnin' like +mad along _here_, 'n' Mrs. Macy was white 'n' tremblin' so 't the +whole bridge shook under her, right atop of it. She says to her dyin' +day she 'll never see how she done it, but she jus' grabbed her +skirts, spread 'em out wide 'n' said 'Shoo!' 's loud 's she could. Her +story is 't the cow stopped, like she was struck dumb that second; +then she reared up 's pretty a rear 's Mrs. Macy 'll ever ask to see, +'n' then she fell sideways into the mill-race. The water was on full +'n' she went right down 'n' into the mill-wheel, 'n' some of her +caught in it 'n' she could n't budge. It squinched her right up, 'n' +she kicked some, 'n' mooed some, 'n' bust the wheel some, 'n' died. + +"But Mrs. Macy wa'n't wastin' no time or words on the cow. She was +walkin' 's fast 's she could along to where the nearest noise was +comin' from. + +"First she found Mr. Jilkins sittin' on a stump pickin' parasol out o' +himself 'n' swearin' in a way 's Mrs. Macy hopes to be spared +hereafter. While she was jus' bridge side o' him, Mrs. Jilkins come +scramblin' up out o' the ditch madder 'n sixty-five hornets. Seems she +'d got most to the top twice, 'n' it was so slippery 't she'd slid +clean back to the bottom again. Mrs. Macy says the Lord forgive her +all her sins forever 'n' ever, 'f she ever see such a sight afore. She +tried to wring her out in spots, but she was way beyond wringin'. +Besides, Mrs. Macy says she ain't been a widow so long but what she +see 't a glance 't they 'd be better 'n' happier without no third +party by, 'n' so she left 'em 'n' went on to where the minister 'n' +his family was feebly tryin' to put themselves together again. Polly +Allen 'n' Sam was there helpin' 'em, 'n' Mrs. Allen was up on the +porch with the minister's wife. Seems 't was her first sittin' up, 'n' +they 'd got her out in a rocker to see him come home jus' in time to +see him run over. She took on awful 'cause she thought 't he was +killed, sure, 'n' then when she found 't he was n't, the shock done +her up completely. They had to put her straight back in bed, 'n' then +they put the minister 'n his broken nose in with her 'n' went to work +on the rest o' 'em. Sam Duruy got young Dr. Brown there 's quick 's he +could, 'n' young Dr. Brown took off his coat 'n' rolled up his sleeves +'n' jus' went for 'em. He got the bandagin' 's was ordered for your +leg, 'n' used it right up on the minister's family. He sent for all +Shores' flaxseed 'n' all Kimball's cotton, 'n' then if he did n't +pitch in! I was there by that time, 'n' we set Polly to fryin' +poultices, 'n' Mrs. Macy 'n' me slapped 'em on hot. Sam was sent with +the horse to get the doctor's darnin'-needles 'n' thread, 'n' young +Dr. Brown told him to drive by the station 'n' tell Johnny to +telegraph to Meadville f'r old Dr. Carter to come over 'n' help him 's +fast as he could. + +"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I wish 't you could 'a' been there to see us. The +water jus' streamed off Mrs. Macy 'n' me, 'n' I bet them poultices was +hot, for no one never asked f'r a nother o' their own free will. Young +Dr. Brown soon had to take off his vest, 'n' roll up his sleeves +c'nsiderably more high, 'n' I will say 't beavers was nothin' to the +way he worked. When he had the last one sewed off 'n' was ready to go, +he looked like there was nothin' left 's he did n't know how to do. He +brung me home in his buggy. I know it was pretty late, 'n' I never was +no great hand to approve o' buggy-ridin' after dark, but he's married +'n' I thought 's no real harm could come o' it, so I up 'n' in. Mrs. +Macy said she 'd stay all night 'n' sleep with 'Liza Em'ly 'n' Rachel +Rebecca in the little half-bed. We come up along through town, 'n' I +tell you I never see the square so gay any election night 's it was +last night. Not a store was closed, 'n' Mr. Kimball was sellin' +soda-water 't four cents a glass, with a small sheet o' court plaster +throwed in at that. Dr. Brown stopped to go in back o' the fountain +'n' mix suthin' 't they keep there for him, 'n' it was then 's I hear +about Jathrop. + +"Seems 't along about 'n hour after the cow 'd run over everybody, +Jathrop come moonin' back from where the butcher lives out Cherry Pond +way. Seems 't the sight o' his calmness jus' sort o' set every one 's +wasn't a wreck plum crazy. Seems 't when he asked what was up Deacon +White shook his fist 't him 'n' said he was what 'd ought to be +up--strung up, 'n' Hiram Mullins wanted to souse him in the +waterin'-trough. Seems 't Hiram was mad 'cause he paid for them teeth +o' Gran'ma Mullins, 'n' the teacups too. Well, it was pretty lively, +'n' the first thing any one knew Mr. Weskin drawed Jathrop off to one +side to cross-examine him a little, 'n' Hiram see him start to run f'r +the station. Hiram didn't waste no words findin' fault 't Lawyer +Weskin's lettin' him go, but he went after him jus' jumpin'. He didn't +catch him, though, 'n' so that's the end o' Jathrop." + +Miss Clegg paused, and drew a long, refreshing breath. + +"I guess you've had a nice breakfast," she said in a minute, "only +you'd ought to eat more." + +"I didn't feel much--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Well, you 'd ought to. How's your leg? C'n you feel it this mornin'?" + +"Oh, yes, I c'n--" + +"Then it's all right so far. But I hear last night 's you c'n feel a +leg even after it 's been cut off. Mrs. Macy says she heard of a man +'s suffers awful yet in a leg as he lost in a planin'-mill over thirty +years ago." + +"My Lord alive!" cried Mrs. Lathrop. + +"So you see you ain't sure whether your leg 's still there or not. +However, I 've got to go, leg or no leg. I told Mrs. Macy I 'd be at +the minister's at half-past eight to boil 'em all fresh 'n' I ain't +got more 'n time to make it easy. I 'll be home to get you some +dinner." + +"I wish I knew where Ja--" + +Susan stopped in the act of bending for the tray. + +"Mrs. Lathrop!--Mrs. _Lathrop!_ Do you mean to say 's you don't know a +blessin' when it 's throwed right square in your face like yesterday? +Jathrop 's gone, 'n' he can't never come back, 'n' if you had ten legs +you 'd ought to yield the last one o' 'em up to Heaven without a +murmur out o' sheer gratitude over his bein' took. Now you lay still +there 'n' don't even think such foolishness, or the Lord may lose his +patience like the cow did hers, 'n' after feelin' 'n' seein' 'n' +hearin' what a cow c'n do, I shouldn't feel noways inclined to rouse +the Lord 'f I was you." + +So saying, Susan took up her tray and left the room. + +* * * * * + +The morning was very long to the broken-legged one, who found herself +quite unable to sleep under such circumstances. Her mind did not +exactly race about among the startling developments of the past few +hours, but it did dwell dubiously upon the more unfortunate phases of +past, present, and (possible) future events. + +She was glad beyond words when she heard Miss Clegg's step on the +kitchen stoop about noon, and two minutes later Susan was occupying +the rocker, and the repast which she had brought with her was +beginning to occupy her friend. + +"It 's jus' awful 's you can't get out," the visitor said +sympathetically; "you're missin' things 's you'll never have a chance +to see again--not 'f you live 's high 's Methusylem. The whole +c'mmunity is in the square or else on the crick road. They've got the +minister laid out on the sofa, like he was a president, 'n' Polly +Allen 's right there every minute to open the door 'n' keep the line +amovin'! Every one wants to see the minister 'n' every one wants to +see the cow; so some goes for the minister first 'n' the cow later, +'n' others looks 't the cow first 'n' takes the minister in on the way +back. They all stop one way or the other to look down at Mrs. Jilkins' +clawin's on the side o' the ditch, 'n' they say the way she dug in the +time she finally made it's almost beyond belief. The minister says +it's nothin' but a joy to him to welcome his friends. He lays there +'n' quotes 'All thy waves 'n' billows went right over me,' 'n' smiles +under his cotton, but Mr. Kimball says 'f he told the truth he'd say +'Jathrop Lathrop's cow 's went right over me 'instid. + +"I must say 's the minister seems to be survivin' better 'n his wife. +She says she thought 't the baby was the last straw, 'n' now here was +a cow ten thousand times worse. She says bein' resigned is all right +'f you c'n be alone 'n' sit down in peace, but she'd like to know how +any one c'd resign themselves to a husband 'n' twelve childern all +freshly stepped on. I told her's the new baby hadn't been touched, but +she seemed beyond payin' attention to trifles like tellin' the truth. + +"Young Dr. Brown 's awful anxious for some fresh cotton 'n' old Dr. +Carter to get here from Meadville. He says he wants to dress Henry +Ward Beecher's ear 'f anybody c'n ever catch Henry Ward Beecher. 'Liza +Em'ly 's goin' around huggin' herself 'n' groanin' to beat the band, +but young Dr. Brown says he can't do nothin' for her because there +ain't no way to get in behind a rib 'n' pry it out to place again. I +guess the truth o' the matter is 't he 's jus' plum tired out piecin' +'n' mendin'. It's been a big job sewin' up after Jathrop's cow tore +round like that. They say 's he had all of a foot to over-'n'-over +along Mr. Fisher, 'n' Mr. Jilkins is jus' tufted like a sofa where he +stopped up where he was skewered. Mrs. Jilkins is pretty hot yet over +the parasol's bein' bust 'cause she 'd wrote her niece 's she was +goin' to give it to her 'n' her niece 's bought a hat with yellow +buttercups 'n' green leaves jus' to match it. But I'll tell you who's +in a sad way,--it 's poor Gran'ma Mullins. From the first second 's +they got her right end up again she begin to ask suthin', 'n' on +a'count o' her teeth bein' gone no one could make out what it was. +Hiram didn't get no sleep all night with her sighin' 'n' mumblin', 'n' +towards mornin' he made out 's she was wantin' to know 'f Mr. Kimball +'d replace them cups 's the cow smashed. Hiram went right after +breakfast 'n' asked, 'n' Mr. Kimball said not on Hiram's tin-type he +wouldn't. He said Gran'ma Mullins was carryin' 'em herself sooner 'n +trust Ed, 'n' he wa'n't to blame f'r such wild animals 's might +naturally fancy takin' after her. They tried to console her by lettin' +her see her teeth get put in a mustard box to go to the city to be +mended, but the worst of it is 's two of the teeth can't be found in +the square, 'n' Deacon White thinks he swallowed 'em when he laid +there gaspin' so wide open. He says he never knowed such queer +feelin's 's he had las' night. Mrs. Fisher was there, 'n' she said 'f +Deacon White was bothered 's to how to act with them teeth he only +needed to go 'n' consult Mr. Fisher 'cause there 's nothin' in the +wide world 's Mr. Fisher ain't sure 't he knows more about 'n any one +else. She says Mr. Fisher ain't a bit suited 't the way young Dr. +Brown brought his edges together, 'n' she says he says 't jus' as soon +'s he ain't so stiff 'n' sore about leanin' over he 's goin' to take +all them stitches out 'n' sew himself up the way 't he 'd ought to be +sewed." + +Mrs. Lathrop turned a little in bed. Again the cracking noise might be +heard, but neither one of the friends had mental leisure to notice it. + +"Mr. Weskin stopped me on my way home," Susan continued, "'n' asked me +what steps you was intendin' to take in regard to the lawsuits for +damages--" + +"Damages!" cried Mrs. Lathrop in great fright. + +"Yes, your cow's damages." + +"_My_ cow! I did n't have nothin' to do with her except get kicked +by--" + +"I know, but Mr. Weskin explained all that to me. Jathrop 's gone +nobody knows where, 'n' so you come next. 'F he's proved dead leavin' +property it 'd be yours, 'n' if he leaves damage-suits you inherit 'em +jus' the same." + +"My heavens!" + +"Mr. Weskin says that's how it is, 'n' he mus' know. I 've always had +a great respeck for what Mr. Weskin knows ever since he went into +court 'n' proved 's the mill 's the other side o' the crick from where +it is, jus' by havin' Hiram Mullins 'n' Sam Duruy stand up 'n' swear +the mill-race run 'round behind it. I never could see how he done it, +but I never felt to blame myself none f'r that, 'cause it takes +another lawyer to see what a lawyer 's doin' anyhow. When a lawyer +says anythin' 's so to me, I never take no time to disbelieve him +'cause 'f he wa'n't able to prove the truth o' his own lyin' he 'd +never get to be in the law a _tall_. On the other hand, though, I +don't trust him none, even if I ain't a mite o' doubt as to what he +says. Believin' is cheap, you c'n believe the whole Bible 'n' it won't +cost a cent 'n' is suthin' to your credit; but trustin' live folks is +always expensive. 'F Lawyer Weskin says 's you c'n be sued, you 're +pretty safe to feel it's so--the more so 's it was him 's sent +Jathrop off so slick. But I ain't so sure 't I 'd sit down 'n' let him +sue me 'f I was you. He c'n sue, from now on, but it's for you to +c'nsider whether he gets anythin' but fun out o' it or not. 'F you 're +willin' to be sued, it's ownin' you know you 've done suthin', 'n' you +ain't done nothin'--it was the cow's did it to you. There ain't +nothin' to be gained f'r even the wicked by ownin' up to bein' wicked +in court, 'n' they often get off by ownin' up to bein' innocent. You +can't never lose nothin' by swearin' 's it wa'n't you, 'n' 's far as +my observation 's extended, a person 's starts out by tryin' to be +honest 'n' sayin', 'Yes, I done it,' soon finds themselves with the +whole neighborhood laid at their door 'n' never no thanks for it, +neither. + +"Mr. Weskin says 't Deacon White says 't some one 's got to pay him +f'r happenin' to swallow Gran'ma Mullins' teeth when he wa'n't +thinkin'. Well, 'f he's got a right to anythin', pretty nigh all the +c'mmunity 's got a equal right. There 's Mr. Fisher with a slice out +o' his side, 'n' them nine teacups o' Gran'ma Mullins'. There 's Mr. +Jilkins goin' to set a price for every parasol punch he got, 'n' Mrs. +Jilkins goin' to want a new parasol. + +"'N' then it 'd be jus' like young Dr. Brown to perk up 'n' send you a +bill, instid o' bein' everlastin'ly grateful for all the teachin' he +owes straight to you. He's had a chance to perform 'most every kind o' +operation 'n' to use up the last drop o' all his old liniments jus' as +a result o' that one cow. Then too he's had a chance to call old Dr. +Carter over in consultation, 'n' in the ordinary run o' things he +could n't o' 'xpected to have nothin' to consult about f'r years 'n' +years. He's a made young man 'n' all in one night, jus' owin' to you, +'n' the last time he whipped his horse through the square to-day, Mr. +Kimball said he looked so busy 't he supposed they 'd elect him our +next mayor. + +"You was n't responsible f'r the cow's gettin', 'n' Jathrop was. It's +Jathrop 's is to blame, 'n' if any one's to be sued it 'd ought to be +him, 'n' he ain't got no property but the cow, 'n' she's hung up dead +'n' her own damage, so it's no use sum' him f'r anythin'. Folks 's +ain't got nothin' don't never have any law troubles, 'n' Jathrop is +gone off 'n' so he 's specially handy to blame for everythin'. 'S far +'s my observation 's 'xtended, it 's always folks a long ways off 's +it's wisest to lay all the faults to, 'n' 'f I was you--" + +Mrs. Lathrop's eyes suddenly started out of her head. + +"I can't feel my leg!" she cried. + +Susan sprang to her feet. + +"It's the plaster!" she exclaimed; then, starting towards the door, "I +'ll run 'n' get the axe 'n' hack you right out." + +"No--no," screamed Mrs. Lathrop, "not the axe." + +"Then I 'll bring up the teakettle 'n' pour boilin' water on it till +it softens 'n' comes off." + +"No, I don't want--" + +"Well, Mrs. Lathrop,"--Susan looked her disapproval,--"seems to me you +'re jus' a little fussy. I must say if you ain't willin' to have it +broke off or soaked off, I can't well see how it's goin' to be got +off." + +Mrs. Lathrop bunched herself somewhat, and a grating and powdering +noise resulted. + +"I drew it right up!" she cried joyfully. + +Susan's expression became enigmatic. + +Mrs. Lathrop manoeuvred further. + +"I straightened it out!" she announced further. + +Miss Clegg approached the bed. + +"I don't believe 's it was ever broke," she said in deep disgust. + +"Dr. Brown said he wa'n't sure," the invalid continued, elongating and +contracting herself, caterpillar-like,' "he said 's he 'd wait the +windin'--" + +"Mrs. Lathrop," said Susan suddenly, "I 've jus' thought! It's this +afternoon 's the butcher 'n' the man 's mends church spires 's comin' +together to get the cow out o' the mill-wheel. The whole c'mmunity 's +goin' down to look on, 'n' I can't see no good 'n' s'fficient reason +why you should n't go too. I 'll help you dress, 'n' we 'll scurry +along right now. 'F we meet Mr. Weskin 'n' he says lawsuit to you, you +jus' up 'n' tell him 's you 're goin' to sue him for throwin' you head +foremost into a fever on a'count o' not knowin' where your only son 's +been gone all night, 'n' 'f young Dr. Brown _ever_ has the face to so +much 's hint at a bill, you jus' out 'n' ask him 'f he knows a whole +leg when he sees one, 'n' if he don't answer, say 't you 've got two +in spite o' his plaster. There's always a way out o' anythin' 'f a +person only don't try to think it out, but jus' speaks up sharp 'n' +decided. Come on 'n' get up now, 'n' I 'll help you hurry, 'n' your +leg won't miss nothin' after all." + +Mrs. Lathrop got out of bed at once. + + + + +IV + +SUSAN CLEGG'S COUSIN MARION + + +Mrs. Lathrop was of a placid disposition, and not inclined towards +even that species of mental activity which a more than usual amount of +astonishment demands. Therefore when she saw Susan going out one very +rainy day she merely wondered where her energetic neighbor was going, +and when, an hour later, she observed the same lady returning, she +continued her usual trend of thought by the mildest possible further +development of a species of curiosity as to where she had been. + +Miss Clegg perceived the interested gaze directed towards her out of +the kitchen window and decided to go in next door for a little visit. +To that end she passed her own gate, entered Mrs. Lathrop's, proceeded +up the front walk, stacked her dripping umbrella against one of the +piazza posts, carefully disposed her rubbers beside the umbrella, and +then entered the house. + +She found Mrs. Lathrop seated in the kitchen. + +"Why," said that lady, "I thought you was gone on up to see--" + +"No," said the visitor, "I was to see her last week and I sha'n't go +again for one while. Mrs. Brown 'n' me has been friends 'n' good +friends for too many years to break off sudden, but still I never +'xpected 's she'd be one to try a new receipt on me 'n' never give me +my choice's to whether I'd risk it or not until a good fifteen minutes +after I'd swallowed the last bite. I can't feel anythin' but bitter +still when I think of yesterday 'n' last night. I was sittin' there 's +innocent 's a mule eatin' thistles, 'n' all of a sudden I felt to say, +'Mrs. Brown, did you put bakin' powder or yeast in that cake?' It was +then 's she told me 't she'd up 'n' made it with suthin' 's a peddler +throwed in at the door. 'Where's the label?' I says, puttin' my hand +to where I felt the most need o' knowin' what in creation to come I +had got in me. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, 'f she hadn't burned up the label; +so there was nothin' f'r me to do but go home 'n' come nigh to dyin' +of I did n't know what. I 've got a book, 'The Handy Family Friend,' +'s tells what you 'd ought to take after you 've took anythin', 'n' I +read it 'way through to see 'f there was any rule f'r when you don't +know what you 've took, but there wa'n't no directions, 'n' so I jus' +calmly spent the night hoppin' about like mad, 'n' I 'm free to +confess 't there'll be a coolness in my feelin's towards Mrs. Brown +henceforth. I ain't said nothin' direct to her herself, but I spoke my +full mind to Mrs. Macy, 'n' Mrs. Macy give me to understand 's she +should let Mrs. Brown know my sufferin's, 'n' I mentioned to Mr. +Kimball 's I felt some hurt over bein' pierced to the core with cake +'s nobody knowed what had raised it, 'n', although he laughed 'n' said +mebbe Cain raised it, still I feel he 's safe to tell every one in +town. I want 's every one sh'd know it. I consider 't when a woman +goes to see another woman she 's unsuspectin' o' any new species o' +cake-raisin', 'n' 'f there is any new species in the wind my view o' +the matter is 's it 'd ought to be tried on somebody else 'n' not on +me." + +Miss Clegg stopped and shook her head hard. + +"Where have you--" began Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Oh, that reminds me," said the caller with a sudden start. She paused +a second, as if to gather force for the proper delivery of her next +speech; a wondrous glow of unconscious but exalted triumph rose to her +visage. "I went," she announced, her voice high-keyed with confidence +as to what was about to fall upon the totally unprepared placidity of +the unsuspecting Mrs. Lathrop,--"I went to post a letter to Cousin +Marion!" + +Mrs. Lathrop's jaw dropped. A sudden and complete paralysis of all her +faculties seemed to be the immediate effect of her friend's astounding +communication. + +For a full half-minute there was silence in the kitchen while Susan +rocked and enjoyed the sight of the havoc wrought by her speech. + +But at last Mrs. Lathrop gathered some fragments out of the wreck of +her sensibilities and said feebly,-- + +"Why, Susan, I never hear as you had one single--" + +"Nor me, neither," said the caller,--and then the sluice-gates opened, +and the stream swept through and madly on again,--"nor me, neither, +Mrs. Lathrop. I never even dreamed o' any such goin's on, 'n' I c'n +assure you 's the shock 's come 's heavy on me 's on you. I went up +garret this mornin' 's innocent 's a babe whose mother 's yet unborn, +'n' there I found her." + +"In the garret!" cried Mrs. Lathrop. + +Miss Clegg drew a long breath. + +"In a trunk. 'N' jus' 's unexpected 's the comin' o' Judgment Day. +Mrs. Lathrop, you c'n believe me or not jus' 's you please, but I give +you my Gospel word of honor as when I turned down the flap o' a trunk +'n' see that old mousey letter stuck in it cornerways, I no more +thought o' findin' a cousin than I did o' findin' a moth, 'n' _you_ +know how scarce moths is with me; I ain't so much 's seen one 'xcept +on your side o' the house in twenty years, I do believe. 'N' I could +n't in conscience say 's I was pleased when I did see the letter, f'r +I thought's like 's not it was a bill, 'n' anyhow I wa'n't inclined to +be over-pleased at anythin' this mornin'--I persume you saw how the +minister come in on me?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Lathrop, "I see him. What--" + +"Wanted to name the baby after me, 'n' I call it a pretty time to come +namin' a baby when a woman has got one leg on a ladder 'n' her head +tied up for bats. I thought he was the tin-peddler from Meadville, 'n' +I run f'r my rag-bag, 'n' then there it was only the minister after +all! Well, I was n't pleased a _tall_, 'n' I did n't ask him in, +neither. I stood fair 'n' square in the doorway, 'n' 'f he was +'xpectin' to see me look happy over havin' a compliment paid me, 't +was one more time 's he did n't get what he 'xpected. That was what he +called it,--'payin' me a compliment,'--'n' I mus' say 's it struck me +'s pretty high-flown language f'r jus' simply wantin' to name a +thirteenth baby after the richest woman in the c'mmunity. Seems to me +thirteen was a good many to wait afore thinkin' o' me anyhow, 'n' I +ain't noways sure 's I want a thirteenth baby named after me anyway. I +never was foolish like some folks, 'n' you know _that_ 's well 's I +do, Mrs. Lathrop, but still you know, too, 's it's never nothin' but +safe to keep away fr'm the under side o' ladders 'n' the number +thirteen. I 've heard Gran'ma Mullins tell a dozen times 's how 'f she +'d never 'a' gone picnickin' on twice thirteen--that's twenty-six--o' +July she 'd never 'a' met her husband, 'n' might o' married Deacon +White. They was both after her, 'n' she picked out the wrong one, 'n' +first he went to the war 'n' then he went to the dogs, 'n' now there +she is in a four-room cottage 'n' Deacon White's wife orderin' a +patent ice-box out o' a catalogue 'n' him never sayin' a word. She c'd +'a' took a world o' comfort with his daughter, 'n' I don't believe she +takes none to speak o' with Hiram, 'n' anyway I was clean put out with +the minister afore I even see him, f'r I can't abide that way he 'n' +his wife's both got o' talkin' 'n' talkin' 'n' never gettin' aroun' to +sayin' what they set out to. I like folks 's is right quick 'n' sharp, +'n' these roamin', meanderin' kind o' everlastin' talkers ain't my +idea a _tall_. 'N' I 'm free to confess 's I did get some tempered +to-day standin' there listenin' to what did n't interest me no more 'n +a pussy-willow, 'n' me wild to be rootin' up garret all the time. + +"O' course he had to tell me all about the baby, 'n' how Felicia +Hemans is jus' come to the silly readin' age 'n' 's wild to name it +Brunhilde. Seems 's Felicia Hemans is out for Brunhilde 'n' the +minister's out f'r me. I never hear o' no Brunhilde, 'n' I up 'n' told +the minister so to his face. 'Who is she anyhow?' I says, flat 'n' +plain, for Lord knows 'f he'd found a rich relation I wanted my old +flannels for cleanin' cloths hereafter. But he 'xplained 's Felicia +Hemans got Brunhilde out o' a book--the Nibble suthin' 'r other. 'Oh, +well,' I says, 'if you c'n be suited with namin' your family after +rats 'n' mice I guess you c'n leave me out,' I says, 'n' I kind o' +backed off so 's to try 'n' set him a-goin', but he stood still, 'n' +o' course no true Christian c'n shut her door in her minister's +face--even 'f she _is_ stark crazy to get to cleanin' her garret. 'Why +don't you name her Minnie after yourself?' I says (Minister, you +know), but I c'd see 't he didn't take to that a _tall_. 'Oh, well,' I +says then, feelin' 't I must get rid o' him somehow, 'name her after +me 'f you want to 'n' I'll give her--''n' I was jus' goin' to say 'my +blessin',' 'n' such a look come over his face 'n'--well, Mrs. Lathrop, +maybe I 'm too tender-hearted f'r my own good, but I jus' had the +feelin' 't I c'd 's easy pull the legs off o' a live fly 's to +disapp'int that face, 'n' so I says 'a dollar' right off quick before +I really thought. 'N' what do you think?--what _do_ you think? 'F you +'ll believe me he did n't look overly pleased, 'n' at that I _did_ +warm up a little. You don't 'xpect much of a minister, 'n' I think as +a general rule 't we 're pretty patient with ours, but you _do_ 'xpect +gratitude, 'n' a dollar's a dollar, 'n' considerin' the garret into +the bargain, I felt my temper comin' pretty high, 'n' I jus' out with +what I 'd been thinkin' all along 'n' I spoke the truth flat 'n' plain +right to his face. 'I d'n' know,' I says, 'why I sh'd be 'xpected to +give your baby more 'n a dollar. She ain't _my_ baby, 'n' you know 's +well 's I do where the blame f'r _that_ lies,' 'n' then I banged the +door in his face. Maybe it was n't jus' the proper thing to do, but 'f +ever a woman had no need for a minister it was me this mornin'." + +Susan paused, and Mrs. Lathrop seized the chance to interpose a +question. + +"'N' about your cousin--" + +But Miss Clegg was already started again. + +"I do get so aggravated when I think about the minister," she went on. +"I was sayin' to Mrs. Macy yesterday 's it does seem 's 'f I have +harder work keepin' on smilin' terms with my own minister 'n' even a +Job might in reason look for. I would n't be no woman 'f I had n't +shown some feelin' over the way 't he went about town tellin' right +'n' left how nice them stockin's o' mine fit him after they shrunk too +small f'r me, 'n' yet I ain't a mite o' doubt but what, a'cordin' to +the Bible, I 'd ought to 'a' forgive him 'n' turned the other cheek +into the bargain. Mrs. Craig says 's Mr. Kimball ain't mincin' matters +none, but is jus' statin' all over 's it's all on a'count o' my havin' +bought the wool o' Shores; she says 't he says 't if I 'd bought it o' +him I 'd be wearin' all four pair this very day. She says 's Mrs. +Fisher says 's he told her 't, seein' things is 's they is, he's +lookin' to see them stockin's keep right on shrinkin' down through the +minister's family until they end up 's socks on the thirteenth baby. A +joke's a joke, 'n' I c'n see the p'int o' a good joke 's quick 's any +one, but I mus' say I fail to see any fun in such a remark. 'S far 's +my observation's 'xtended, there ain't nothin' ladylike in the +minister's wearin' my stockin's, nor yet in Mr. Kimball's entertainin' +the whole c'mmunity with 'em. A'cordin' to my manner o' thinkin', a +woman as 'll give away four pair o' brand-new hand-knit stockin's for +no better reason 'n 't the heels shrunk down under her instep, is +doin' a deed o' Christian charity instead o' layin' herself open to +all manner o' fun-makin'. 'N' I ain't the only one 's views the thing +so serious, either, for Mr. Shores feels jus' 's bad 's I do about it. +He come runnin' to catch me the other day, 'n' asked me 'f I had n't +mebbe used cold water for the first washin'. I did n't feel to thank +him none f'r his interest afore he opened his mouth, but I c'n assure +you, Mrs. Lathrop, 't after he'd spoke I jus' stood there +plum-petrified 'n' stock-starin' f'r 's much 's a minute afore I c'd +get voice to ask who give _him_ the authority to teach me how to wash +my own stockin's. 'N' then, when I _did_ speak, I made no bones 's to +sayin' jus' what I thought. I never was one to give my opinion o' +anythin' or anybody aroun' free, but I certainly did feel to be open +at Mr. Shores. I told him 's shrunk stockin's to my order o' thinkin' +was a species o' spilt milk 's knowed no turnin', 'n' I further told +him 't I 'd take it 's a great kindness 'f he 'n' the rest o' the town +would shut their mouths right up tight on my stockin's. I says to him, +I says, 'Mr. Shores, when your wife eloped I was one o' the few--the +_very_ few--'s blamed _her_, 'n' I beg 'n' pray 't the quality o' your +wool won't force me to change my mind. Your clerk 't she eloped with,' +I says, 'once give me a nickel three cent piece in place of a dime,' I +says, ''n' up to the first washin' o' them stockin's I never so much +'s breathed a suspicion of your mebbe dividin' that seven cents with +him. But I ain't so sure now,' I says, ''n' I ain't prepared to say +what I 'll think from now on,' 'n' then I walked off, leavin' him good +'n' meek, I c'n assure you; 'n' the come-out o' that little game is as +my trade, which ranged fr'm ten to fifty cents a week 'n' _always_ +cash, is lost to him forever hereafter." + +Mrs. Lathrop was fairly choking with impatience. + +"'N' your cousin--" she interjected quickly, as Susan halted for a +slight rest. + +"Yes," said that lady, with a certain chilling air of having up to now +suffered from inexcusable neglect on the part of her friend, "I was +thinkin' 's it was about time 't you begin to show _some_ interest in +what I come over to tell you--'n' me here for the best part o' a good +half-hour already. Well, 'n' my cousin! She come out o' a letter, Mrs. +Lathrop, a old torn letter 's you or any other ordinary person would +probably 'a' throwed away without even readin'. But I was never one to +do things slipshod, 'n' I read every scrap 's I 've got time to piece +together, so it was nothin' but natural 's I sh'd quit work 's soon 's +I see Cousin Marion's letter 'n' sit right down to read it. 'N' it's +good as I did too, for 'f I 'd been careless 'n' burned my rubbish +unread, Cousin Marion 'd certainly 'a' burnt with the other scraps, +'n' as a consequence I'd 'a' missed about the happiest minutes 's I +'ve knowed since father died. You c'n believe me or not, jus' 's you +please, Mrs. Lathrop, but I cried over that letter; 'n' if some was +the dust in my nose, the rest was real affection, for, Lord knows, +when you 're scratchin' out mice 'n' cobwebs you ain't lookin' to find +a relation none. But anyhow, there she was, 'n' if she ain't died in +the mean time--f'r the letter was wrote over fifty years ago--I may +know suthin' o' family life yet. It was the beautifullest letter 't I +ever read. You c'd n't imagine nothin' more beautiful. I'm afraid 's +mebbe mother 'n' me misjudged father, owin' to the everlastin' up 'n' +down stairs, 'n' mother used to say right out 't it was a neck to neck +tie 's to which he stuck closest to, his bed or his money. But he +wasn't always like that, 'n' this letter proves it, for Heaven knows +what he must 'a' give Cousin Marion to 'a' ever brought her to write +him such words 's them. Not to deceive you, Mrs. Lathrop, the letter +was that grateful that I was more 'n a little bothered over it. It is +n't very likely 's you sh'd be able to understan' my feelin's to their +full, 'n' yet you c'n mebbe guess 's it ain't altogether a agreeable +thing to suddenly find out 't your own native flesh 'n' blood father's +got distant relations callin' down daily blessin's on him f'r his +overwhelmin' generosity. That's what she said in the letter, 'n' I +can't deny 's the words sent a cold chill runnin' down my backbone 's +I read 'em. + +"The whole letter was writ in the same style, 'n' it didn't take long +f'r me to see right straight through it, 'n' hatch more 'n a suspicion +'t the reason 't I never hear o' Cousin Marion afore was 'cause she +was head over heels in love with father. It was real touchin' too to +think how near her letter came to bein' one o' mother's, 'n' in the +end I jus' sneezed till I cried, for, to my shame be it said, Mrs. +Lathrop, 't the dust was 's thick in my garret this day 's it is in +your parlor the year aroun'." + +Susan paused to shake her head and use her pocket-handkerchief over +her souvenirs in general. Mrs. Lathrop sat dumb and attentive. + +"Marion Prim was her name," the narrator continued presently, "'n' she +writ it from Knoxville fifty-one years ago come last October. Did +_you_ ever hear of her?" + +Mrs. Lathrop screwed her face up thoughtfully, but was forced to screw +it into a negation after all. + +"Seems funny 't father never spoke o' her after mother was so far past +bein' jealous 's to be buried. He c'd 'a' said anythin' about anybody +them years, 'n' 'f I had time to listen I'd 'a' been bound to hear, +but to my certain knowledge he never said one word o' family 'xcept to +remark over 'n' over 's he thanked the Lord Almighty 's he had n't got +none, which words I naturally took 's signifyin' 's he was speakin' +the truth. Still a man is a man, 'n' this letter proves 's you can't +even be sure o' one 's has been in bed under your own eye f'r twenty +years, f'r it not only shows 's he did have a relation, but it shows +suthin' else too; it shows me, 's has had four men all tryin' to marry +me inside o' the same week, 't suthin' pretty close to love-makin' 'd +passed between her 's wrote this letter 'n' him 's kept it carefully +hid away till long after he was dead. There's a shakiness about the +writin' 'n' a down-hilledness about the lines 's lets me right into +the secret o' their hearts, 'n' I'm willin' to venture a guess 't +Cousin Marion c'd get money out o' father with less pain 'n mother +could, under which circumstances I don't blame mother for closin' down +on the subjeck. + +"The more I consider that letter up 'n' down 'n' hind end to, Mrs. +Lathrop, the plainer I see 's Cousin Marion must 'a' been a sore 'n' +abidin' thorn inside o' father 'n' mother. Perhaps it was that as give +him the paralysis! The doctor said 's it was suthin' obscure, 'n' 'f +suthin' 's ain't found out till years after you 're dead ain't obscure +I don't know what is. Anyway I 've took my stand 'n' it was the only +sensible one to take. This 's the first chance I 've ever had in all +my life to get a nice change without payin' board, 'n' so I jus' sat +right down 'n' wrote to Cousin Marion 't 'f it was convenient to her I +'d come to Knoxville 'n' spend next Sunday. She 's bound to be pleased +'t bein' remembered after fifty years, 'n' I 've got father's nose, +'n' that 'll help some, o' course. She can't be worse 'n dead, 'n' 'f +she's dead 'n' don't answer I sha'n't never give the subjeck another +thought, f'r I naturally ain't got very fond o' her jus' from findin' +her musty old letter stuck in behind the flap of a trunk 's I 've been +achin' to hack to pieces these last twenty years. I never went up in +my garret without I skinned myself somewhere on that trunk, 'n' you +know how often I go up garret, Mrs. Lathrop, so it goes without sayin' +'s I 've been considerably skinned first 'n' last. But 'f she sh'd be +alive 'n' I sh'd get to go there, the Lord knows I certainly shall +rejoice to have some o' my own to talk to, f'r blood is thicker 'n +water, 'n' although I don't want to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, +still you can't in conscience deny 's you ain't no conversationalist. +Nobody is that I know hereabouts, neither. The minister talks some, +but I 'm always thinkin' how much more I want to tell him things 'n I +ever want to hear what he has to say, so I can't in truth feel 's his +talkin' gives me much pleasure. Mrs. Macy 's great on gaspin', but she +don't as a general thing get very far, 'n' so the long 'n' short o' +the whole thing is 't if Cousin Marion ain't a change f'r the better +she can't noways be a change f'r the worst, 'n' so I 've made up my +mind to sail right in 'n' risk her. + +"I 've thought 's it 'll be a nice idea to take her father's cane for +a present; it 'll surely come very handy to her,--'f she 's alive a +_tall_,--'n' since Mr. Kimball over-persuaded me into buyin' one o' +them patent carpet-beaters, it ain't no manner o' service to me. Not +'s I ain't sure 't I don't really prefer the cane to the patent, but I +'ve paid for the new thing 'n' I ain't goin' to go to work to make +myself feel 's I 've wasted my money. The carpet-beater ain 't up to +Mr. Kimball's talk by long odds, 'n' so far from turnin' into a +egg-beater in the wink of your eye like he promised, you 've got to +grip it fast between your knees 'n' get your back ag'in a flour-bin to +turn it into anythin' a _tall_. 'N' then when it does turn, so far +from bein' a joy it lets up so quick 't you find yourself most +anywhere. Mrs. Craig was gettin' her brace ag'in the hen-house, 'n' +when it let up she sat down so sudden 't she smashed the henhouse 'n' +a whole settin' o' duck-eggs not to speak of the hen between. Mrs. +Macy says 't seein' 's she has more eggs 'n carpets, she jus' beats +her carpets with the egg end 'n' don't fuss to change ever. Mrs. +Fisher says what puts her out is 't the ring 's you slide up to close +the whisks for killin' flies won't stay up, 'n the flies don't get +killed but jus' get hit so they buzz without stoppin' from then on. +Mrs. Jilkins says right out 's she considers the whole thing a +swindle, 'n' 'f Mr. Kimball was n't rentin' his store o' her brother +she sh'd tell him so to his face. She says the three-inch measure on +the handle 's too short to be o' any real service on a farm, 'n' her +opinion is 't Mr. Kimball keeps his sample dipped in kerosene or he +never could snap it in 'n' out so quick. Anyhow it all comes in the +end to the fact 't, havin' bought it, I 'll work it 'f I die f'r it, +'n' so Cousin Marion c'n have the cane, 'n' may she be everlastin'ly +happy usin' it. I did n't get my trunk down 'cause I 'll have Friday +to pack anyhow, 'n' any one c'n slide a trunk down a ladder any time, +but nobody can't never slide nothin' up nowhere. Besides, I sh'd look +like a fool puttin' back a trunk 't I 'd hauled out to visit a cousin +who like enough died afore I was born, 'n' I ain't no fool,--never was +'n' never will be." + +There was a short stop for a fresh supply of breath. + +"I wonder 'f--" began Mrs. Lathrop. + +"The difficulty o' all things in this world," Miss Clegg went on +promptly, "is 't if you have any brains a _tall_ you 're bound to have +so much work for 'em. Now, this findin' o' Cousin Marion no doubt +looks simple enough to you 'n' the world in general, 'n' yet the more +I turn her up 'n' down 'n' inside out the more new lights I get. When +you come to consider 't I only found the letter this mornin', 'n' that +it ain't supper-time yet, you c'n easy see 's my day's been more 'n +full o' brain-work. Comin' up the street this afternoon, the question +o' the possibility o' Cousin Marion's bein' poor come into my mind. I +c'n speak out freely to you, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' so I will remark 't I +c'n guarantee 's father never give her nothin' o' late years, 'n' 'f +she's poor it don't take no eagle eye to know jus' what'll happen when +she gets my letter. 'F the letter hadn't been posted 'n' the sack gone +to the train afore I thought o' this view o' the matter, I'm free to +confess 's I never would 'a' posted it a _tall_. For there's no use +denyin', Mrs. Lathrop, 't, 'f my visit to Cousin Marion sh'd lead to +her askin' to borrow 's much 's a quarter, I sh'll bitterly regret +ever havin' clawed her out from back o' that trunk-flap. There ain't +no possible good 's c'n ever come o' lendin' money to them's ain't +able to pay it back, 'n' I learned that lesson to my bitter cost once +'n' for all time when I had that little business with Sam Duruy. That +took all the likin' to lend out o' me, 'n' Heaven help me 'f I ever +forget it. I thought I was so safe, Mrs. Lathrop,--I looked in all +four o' his hoofs, 'n' swished my handkerchief in each o' his eyes, +'n' he was certainly lively, so I planked down my little five dollars +'n' Sam was to keep on drivin' the horse. Well, you know 's well 's I +do what happened, 'n' the skin brought seventy-five cents. Sam sued +the railroad, 'n' the railroad asked why he did n't read the 'Look out +for the Locomotive.' I told him to go into court 'n' swear 's he could +n't read, but he said Judge Fitch used to be his school-teacher 'n' +knowed 's he could. 'N' then I offered to go to court myself 'n' swear +on the Bible 's the whole town looked on him 's more 'n half a idiot, +'n' Mr. Duruy jus' sat right flat down on the whole thing. So they did +n't even pay his lawyer, 'n' it goes without sayin' 't o' course he +could n't pay me; 'n' then, do you know, Mrs. Lathrop, 'f he did n't +have the impudence this very afternoon to stop me down in the square +'n' ask me 'f I would n't lend him ten cents on a rooster! I was +pretty nigh to put out over that, I c'n assure you. I mus' 'a' stared +at him f'r 's much 's ten seconds afore I sensed 't he was really fool +enough to think 't mebbe I was fool enough too. 'N' then I let out at +him. 'Not while I have the breath o' life in my body,' I says,--'n' it +shook 's I said it,--'not 'f I know my own mind. What's to guarantee +me,' I says, ''s your rooster won't take it into his head to go +a-promenadin' on the railway track?' I says. He begin to tell 's how, +even dead, the rooster was worth more 'n ten cents. 'I d'n' know about +that,' I says, 'it don't strike me 's noways likely 't when he +suddenly observes the engine 'most on top o' him, he's goin' to take +the time 'n' trouble to lay his head square 'n' even across the rail, +'n' you know 's well 's I do 't no rooster killed cornerways ain't +never goin' to bring no nickel apiece for his corners. No, Mister Sam +Duruy,' I says, 'your lively horse's taught me a lesson,' I says, ''n' +hereafter I don't lend no money on so much 's a egg without I see a +good curb-bit bought 'n' put in its mouth first,' I says; 'n' then I +walked off, 'n' the end o' it all is 't if Cousin Marion's poor I +certainly ain't very wild to have her find out 's I'm rich. + +"But then, I ain't very anxious to have her rich either, I must say, +for it don't take no blind man to figger out 't if she 's rich the +money 'd ought to 'a' been mine. 'N' that 's a awful feelin', Mrs. +Lathrop,--the feelin' 's other folks 's rich on money 's 'd ought to +'a' been yours. I ain't sure 's I want to know Cousin Marion 'f such +'s the facts o' her case, 'n' 's between her bein' poor 'n' wantin' +money o' me, 'n' her bein' rich on money right out o' my pocket, I +feel like I mebbe clum that ladder this mornin' in a evil hour f'r my +future peace o' mind. + +"'N' then, too, 'f she 's rich I certainly can't go to see her without +I buy me a new bonnet. 'F she 's rich, o' course I want her to see +right off 's I 'm rich too, 'n' bein' 's we 're old friends 'n' alone +here together, I c'n truthfully state 's she could n't in reason +mistrust no such thing from my bonnet. It 's a good bonnet, 'n' it's +been a good bonnet year in 'n' year out 'n' in rain 'n' shine turn an' +turn about, but I never was give to deceivin' myself no more nor a +outsider, 'n' so I will frankly say 't it 's long past its first +shininess. Miss White 's freshened it up two times for me, 'n' I +always have new ribbons to tie it every other Easter, but still, in +the box or out o' the box, its day is past for lookin' brand-new, 'n' +I don't deny the truth 's a more foolish woman might feel some +inclined to do. So, such bein' the case, Cousin Marion 'n' a new +bonnet comes to one 'n' the same thing, 'n' I can't say 's +bonnet-buyin' 's a way o' spendin' money 's is over-agreeable to me. +However, 'f it is to be it is to be, 'n' I sha'n't cry over nothin'. I +'ll buy the bonnet, 'n' I guess 'f she talks to me about her money I +c'n come out right quick 'n' sharp 'n' talk about mine. 'N' I guess I +c'n talk her down--I 'll try good 'n' hard, I know _that_. 'N' 'f she +sh'd put me beyond all patience, I 'll jus' make no bones about it, +but get right up 'n' smash her flat with her own letter o' fifty years +ago. I don't believe nobody c'd put on airs in the face o' their own +name signed to bein' saved from want by the kind, graspin' hand o' my +dead 'n' gone father." + +Susan ceased speaking, and rose suddenly to her feet. + +"I must go," she said; "it's time I was seein' about supper, 'n' it's +been a hard day first 'n' last. It's been 'xcitin', 'n' I cleaned the +garret too, 'n' then my mind 's all upset 's to travelling 'n' I've +got to consider a lot afore I c'n decide 's to anythin'. 'N' I only +feel plum sure o' one thing, 'n' that is 's I don't want to buy no new +bonnet. Bonnets is a awful waste o' money, 'n' I've got nothin' inside +o' me 's cries out to extravagance. But speakin' o' waste reminds me +over again 's I don't want to throw no more time away on you, so, 's +I'm always frank 'n' open, I'll jus' say so 'n' go now." + +* * * * * + +The letter which Susan Clegg had mailed to her cousin "Marion Prim, +Knoxville," did actually reach the hands of the person for whom it was +intended, and the evening of the second day after brought an answer +which the two friends studied together in a mutual intellectual +darkness. + +"Says she's lived for fifty years on the motto, 'S'fficient unto the +day 's the evil thereof,' 'n' now my letter's come,"--it was thus that +Susan voiced her understanding of the matter,--"says I c'n come 'f I +want to, 'n' mebbe it'll be some consolation! I don't call that by no +means cordial, but I 'm bound to consider 't 'f Cousin Marion 's any +kin to father she could n't naturally be very open-hearted, 'n' I must +overlook her with a good grace 'n' a clear conscience. I 'll go +because I 've made up my mind to go, but I won't take no trunk nor yet +buy no new bonnet." + +Mrs. Lathrop offering no counter advice, Miss Clegg returned to the +shelter of her own roof, and to judge by the banging and squeaking +that ensued, burglars were barred out from even daring to dream of a +possible raid during the absence which was to be upon the following +day. About nine o'clock peace fell over all and lasted until the dawn +of the eventful Saturday. + +When Susan was all ready to start for the station, she called her +friend to the fence and shook hands with her so warmly that the tears +overflowed the awe in the other's eyes. + +"Good-bye, Mrs. Lathrop," she said with a solemnity that had nothing +to relieve its sombreness and much to deepen the impressiveness of the +moment. "Good-bye! I 'm goin' now, 'n' I sh'll be back this evenin', +'n' so help me God while I'm gone, for I have a goose-flesh kind o' a +sensation 't I'm goin' to get a surprise." + +Mrs. Lathrop clung to her in a heart-wrung silence. Both the friends +were deeply affected, feeling that this journey was a something quite +apart from Susan's ordinary every-day little expeditions to the city. +Finally Miss Clegg withdrew her hand, straightened out the resultant +wrinkles in her mitt, and stalked away. Mrs. Lathrop sighed sadly, +returned to her own rocker, and entered upon the course of a long day +of patient waiting. + +It was about three in the afternoon that, to her great surprise, she +saw Miss Clegg returning. There was something altogether new and +strange in the gait of the latter while she was at a distance, and as +she drew nearer Mrs. Lathrop's eyes and mouth opened together. The +nearer that Susan drew the more provocative of astonishment was her +general appearance. To sum up the whole state of the case in as few +words as possible, I will say that she seemed to have barely survived +some hitherto totally unknown species of catastrophe. Mrs. Lathrop, +much overcome, ran to the door and cried,-- + +"Come over! I've got the kettle--" + +"I was comin' anyhow," Susan called feebly back, and wearily dragging +herself through the gate, along the walk, and up the steps, sank down +finally in one of the kitchen chairs. + +Mrs. Lathrop hastened to fortify her with hot tea and gingerbread. She +ate and drank in silence for some time, only volunteering, as she took +the third cup,-- + +"I ain't had nothin' since I left home." + +"Didn't you find your--" Mrs. Lathrop began eagerly. + +"Cousin?" said the traveller, in a tone that suggested revelations as +yet unrevealed,--"oh, yes, Mrs. Lathrop, I found my cousin." + +Mrs. Lathrop felt herself to be silenced, and spoke no more. Miss +Clegg drank all the tea and ate all the gingerbread. Then, when there +was nothing else left to do, she declared herself satisfied, and +fixing her gaze mercilessly upon the quaking listener, discharged her +first shot. + +"I wish I'd never gone!" + +This statement was made with a vigor that supported its truth in full. +Mrs. Lathrop quivered slightly, and waited breathlessly to hear more. + +"I wish I'd never gone, 'n' for the future, Mrs. Lathrop, I'll thank +you to never so much 's breathe a relation anywhere near me, for I've +had enough family to-day to last me from here to Gabriel 'n' his +trumpet, 'n' 'f I ever forget this hour may I die in that one." + +Mrs. Lathrop gasped. + +Susan coughed and gripped her hands tightly together. + +"Mrs. Lathrop, the Bible says 's we may never know what a day 'll +bring forth, 'n' 'f I'd 'a' known that this day was gettin' ready to +hatch such a Cousin Marion 's I found, I certainly would 'a' spent it +some other way. When I think o' the cheerful lovin' spirit 's I pinned +my wave on in, 'n' then reflect on what I pinned it on to, I can't but +feel 't if I ain't a fool I 'd ought to be one, 'n' I can't say +nothin' stronger for the way I feel. They say 's the Devil 's the +father o' lies, but it's a slander. The Devil is a floatin' angel by +the side o' that letter 's I found. It was a lie, Mrs. Lathrop, a lie +from first to last, 'n' it makes my blood run cold to think o' all the +years that I lived right underneath it 'n' never 's much 's dreamed o' +the iniquity up in that old trunk over my head." + +Mrs. Lathrop gasped again. + +"Mrs. Lathrop, I never had it in me to conceal nothin' from you. We've +been good friends 'n' true through thick 'n' thin, through my father +'n' your son 'n' every other species o' Heaven-sent infliction, f'r +years 'n' years 'n' years. 'N' now I ain't goin' to shut you out o' +the inside truth o' this awful day. You see me set off this mornin' +bright 'n' beamin', 'n' you see me come home this night burnin' 'n' +bitter, 'n' it's nothin' but right's you sh'd be fully took in to the +betwixt 'n' between. It'll mebbe be a lesson to you some day if +anythin' sh'd come up 's led you to look to be extra happy all of a +sudden, 'n' you'll remember this hour 'n' jus' firmly go back into the +house 'n' shut the door 'n' say, 'Life's a delusion 'n' a snare, like +Susan Clegg's Cousin Marion.' It's better for you to learn the lesson +'s all is vanity now, than to wait 'n' have it fall on your head like +a unexpected pickle-jar, the way 's this day 's fell on mine." + +Mrs. Lathrop's eyes grew big. + +"Mrs. Lathrop, in the first place I started out all wrong. Knoxville +ain't on this line a _tall_. It's on the A. 'n' B., 'n' only the +junction is on this line. Mrs. Lathrop, don't you never trust yourself +to no junction in this world o' sin 'n' sorrow, whatever else you may +in your folly see fit to commit. My experience c'n jus' 's well be a +warnin' to you too, f'r I was put off three miles from where there +ain't no omnibus, 'n' I had to leg it over a road 's is laid out three +hills to the mile. I ain't one 's is give to idle words, but I will +remark 't by the time I'd clum the fourth hill I hadn't no kind o' +family feelin's left alive within me, 'n' when I did finally get to +Knoxville I was so nigh to puffed out 't I c'd hardly find breath to +ask where Cousin Marion _did_ live. It was a boy skippin' rope 's I +asked, 'n' he never quit skippin' for one second out o' politeness. +Seems he was doin' a thousand steady on a bet, 'n' I'm free to confess +'s I felt pretty foolish askin' questions 'n' his rope like to catch +on my nose every other word. I finally made out, though, 's Cousin +Marion lived out the other end o' town, 'n' so I walked on till I come +to the road. Mrs. Lathrop, it was another road o' hills, 'n' I must +say 's the sight made my blood run cold for the third time in one day. +F'r a minute I thought seriously o' jus' takin' a train away ag'in 'n' +lettin' Cousin Marion fiddle alone f'r another fifty years, f'r I give +you my word o' honor, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I was 'most dead, 'n' Lord only +knows what made me keep on, f'r what came after was enough to shake my +faith in the Lord forever 'f I really believed 's any one but Cousin +Marion had one word to say in the matter. But I was raised to finish +up all things 's is begun, 'n' I snapped my teeth tight together 'n' +set out over them extra hills with all the resignation 's I c'd scrape +up f'r the need o' the moment. I was hot inside 'n' hot outside, but +I'd made up my mind to see the thing through 'n' so I pegged right +along. + +"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, 'f I was on the witness stand with Bibles above +'n' below, I c'd n't but swear 's it was two miles 'f it was a cent. +'N' even then they was a long two miles. I was on my very last legs +when I got there, 'n' nothin' 't I see revived me none. Mrs. Lathrop, +the awfullest old tumble-down house 's ever you see--pigs in the yard, +'n' 'Prim' on the gate-post! 'N' me standin' pantin' for breath, 'n' +related to 'em all!" + +Mrs. Lathrop's eyes grew bigger and bigger. + +"There was a old man a-sittin' on a chair on the porch in one boot 'n' +one slipper 'n' a cane. He looked 't me 's if it 'd be nothin' but a +joy to him to eat me up alive 'n' jus' relish to gnaw the bones +afterwards. You c'n maybe realize, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I wasn't no ways +happy 's I walked a little piece up towards him 'n' said 's I 'd like +to see my cousin, Marion Prim. He give such a nod 's seemed 's if his +head 'd fly off, 'n' I took it 's she was somewhere near 'n' a-comin'. +So, 's I was all used up, I jus' started to sink right down on the +steps to wait for her. + +"Oh, my soul 'n' body, that minute!--The awful shock!--Oh, Mrs. +Lathrop! you never in all your life dreamed such a yell 's he give! I +like to 'a' went deaf! I jumped worse 'n 'f I 'd been shot stone-dead. +Wild whoopin' Indians was sleepin' babes beside him. 'Not on my +steps!' he shrieked, poundin' with his cane 'n' shakin' with his +fist,--'not on my steps,' he howled louder 'n all below,--'not while I +'m alive!--not while I c'n prevent!--not while I c'n help it!--no +Clegg sits afore me, not now 'n' not never!' You c'n imagine, Mrs. +Lathrop, 's I didn't get very far to sat down under them +circumstances. I trembled all over, 'n' I backed off quite a little +ways 'n' looked at him. He kept chokin' 'n' gaspin' 'n' purple 'n' +swallowin', 'n' after a while I got up courage to ask him where Cousin +Marion was. 'N' then--oh, Mrs. Lathrop!--'n' then--well, honest, I +thought's he was goin' to bust!--'n' then, 'I'm Cousin Marion!' he +yelled right in my face,--'I'm Cousin Marion, Susan Clegg!' 'n' at +that, Mrs. Lathrop, I went so faint in my knees 'n' so rumbly in my +ears 't you c'd 'a' clubbed me with a straw 'n' gagged me with a wisp +o' hay that minute. I jus' stood starin', 'n' you c'n believe me or +not just's you please, but I never was so nigh to fallen over +backwards in all my life before. I c'd feel cold drops like water on a +duck's back, 'n' my senses was that mixed 't 'f you'd told me 's my +heels was in my hair I wouldn't 'a' doubted you. I d'n' know 's I ever +was scared in all my life afore, but when he screamed them awful +words, my very insides got clammy. I c'd n't say a livin' word, I c'd +n't make a livin' move; I c'd only stand 'n' shake 'n' listen, 'n' him +keepin' on yellin' 'n' poundin' like mad. + +"'Susan Clegg,' he screamed, 'Susan Clegg,'--'n' he kep' poundin' +harder 'n' harder 'n' gettin' redder 'n' redder every minute,--'Susan +Clegg, I'm glad you've come; I've wanted you to come; I've wanted you +to come f'r a long time. I did n't know who it'd be, but I 've been +wantin' somebody to come 'n' been waitin' f'r 'em to come f'r fifty +years 'n' more too. I've been holdin in f'r fifty years! I've been +thinkin' what I wanted to say f'r fifty years! Now I c'n say it! Now I +c'n be happy sayin' it! I wish it was your father's ears a-shiverin' +there afore me, but yours 'll do.' + +"My heavens alive, Mrs. Lathrop, you'd ought to 'a' seen him! He went +from red to purple 'n' from purple to mos' black, 'n' his eyes stood +right out, 'n' he shook his cane right in my face 'n' screamed loud +enough to set the dead jumpin'. + +"'Susan Clegg, your father was a shark! Susan Clegg, your father was a +skinflint! Susan Clegg, your father was a miser! Susan Clegg, your +father was a thief!' 'n' all this with me where I c'dn't but hear, +Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' he must 'a' known it too. 'Susan Clegg, I was a +young man in difficulties,' he says, ''n' I wanted a hunderd dollars +bad,' he says, ''n' 'f I'd had it I c'd 'a' bought into a nice +business 'n' married a nice girl with a nice property 'n' made this +place blossom like a wilderness 'n' seen the fig-trees o' my fig-trees +sittin' in my shade. 'N' I went to your father, 'n' I told him all the +inmost recesses o' my heart o' hearts,' he says, ''n' 'xplained to him +how 'n' why 'n' wherefore the business c'dn't but pay, 'n' then took +him to see the girl 'n' p'inted out all her good p'ints, 'n' then +asked him to lend me the hunderd dollars, 'n' hired a livery horse 'n' +drove him home to think about it. 'N' what followed after, Susan +Clegg,'--oh, Mrs. Lathrop, I never see the like o' the way he suddenly +swelled 'n' blued right then!--''n' what come next? I waited the wait +o' the innocent 'n' trustin' for one long 'n' unremittin' week, 'n' +then, when I was nigh to mad with sittin' on red-hot needles by day +'n' by night without let or hindrance, what did he answer?--what did +he answer to him 's laid in the hollow o' his hand, confidin' fully +'n' freely in his seein' what a good investment it 'd be? What did he +answer, Susan Clegg? He answered 's he c'd n't do it, 'n' 's it was +n't no possible use whatever to ask him again! Susan Clegg, I smashed +a winder,' he says, 'right then 'n' there,' he says, ''n' I writ a +letter 'n' it must 'a' been that letter 's you found, f'r I never writ +him no other afore or after. 'N' then I went West to make my fortune +'n' I did n't make no fortune, but I got my hands on a hunderd dollars +'n' I come home lickety-split to buy that business 'n' marry that +girl. I went first to see about the business 's it was right 'n' +natural 't I sh'd, 'n' what did I find, Susan Clegg, what did I find?' +Mrs. Lathrop, I never see the like in all my days, born or unborn. I +thought he'd yell my head off. 'I found your father'd bought the +business, my business, 'n' I was left out in the freezin', icy cold! +Susan Clegg, I smashed a table,' he says, ''n' two chairs,' he says, +''n' I went to see the girl 'n' ask her to wait a little longer,--'n', +Fire 'n' Brimstone 'n' Saltpetre, 'f your father hadn't gone 'n' +married the girl,--my girl! + +"''N' there was all below to pay,' he says, ''n' I vowed bloody +murder,' he says, ''n' they had me up 'n' bound me over to keep the +peace, 'n' then they moved away. 'N' I sat down to wait f'r my +vengeance,' he says, ''n' I've waited fifty years,' he says. 'I've +spent fifty years grindin' my teeth 'n' whettin' the edge o' my fury, +'n' now--' + +"Mrs. Lathrop, I didn't wait to hear no more. I didn't feel like I had +strength to. I run. 'N', heavens, _how_ I run! I lit out like I was +paid for it, 'n' I bet I clum every last one o' them hills 's fast on +the up 's the down. When I got to the station there was a train jus' +pullin' out f'r I didn't know where, 'n' I hopped aboard like I was +shot. It took me to Meadville, 'n' I had to pay the 'xtra fare 'n' +wait two hours to get another back here, 'n' I ain't really half +through shakin' yet." + +Susan stopped, took out her handkerchief and carefully passed it over +her brow as one who strives to brush away tormenting visions. + +Mrs. Lathrop sat mute and motionless, completely overwhelmed by the +recital of her friend's tragic story. + +After a few minutes Miss Clegg put her handkerchief back in her pocket +and turned a sad and solemn, yet tender look upon her companion. + +"Lord knows I'm done with relations from this day on," she said slowly +but with great distinctness. "I feel like hereafter I'll be content +with jus' you, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' I can't say nothin' stronger f'r what +I've jus' lived through." + +Mrs. Lathrop's eyes filled with gratitude at this compliment. + +But she said nothing. + + + + +V + +THE MINISTER'S VACATION + + +Mrs. Lathrop had been unable to attend the usual Friday afternoon +Sewing Society on account of her pickling. She had completely +forgotten what day of the week it was until she had picked all of a +dozen cucumbers and it was then too late to stay the tide of events. +The pickling had to go forward, and one of the best listeners in the +Sewing Society was forced to remain away in consequence. + +"I guess you'll have to go a--" she called across the open space +between their kitchen doors when she saw Susan putting on her black +mitts in the window about two o'clock,--the hour at which they usually +sallied forth in company. + +"Alone," Susan called back--"well, I should say 't I am goin' alone. +'F you c'u'd see yourself this minute, Mrs. Lathrop; you'd easy +understand 't even 'f you wanted to go no one in their senses 'd be +able to go with you f'r fear o' bein' took for a lunatic." + +Mrs. Lathrop glanced dubiously down over herself. + +"I spilt--" she began apologetically. + +"I c'n see it from here," said Susan, "'n' 's long 's we're on the +subjeck I want to remark right now 't, with the wind settin' the way +it 's blowin' to-day, I don't want you to burn nothin' while I'm gone. +'F you'll excuse my bein' so open with you, Mrs. Lathrop, I'll say 't +a woman in your circumstances ought not to waste nothin' by burnin' it +anyhow, 'n' 'f she does do anythin' so foolish no woman in my +circumstances 'd ought to have her house all smelled up." + +"I ain't goin'--" began the neighbor. + +"That reminds me 't I am," rejoined she of the black mitts; and so +saying, she quitted the window and was presently seen departing down +her front walk,--a pleasing object in a bonnet of the jetted era and a +shawl of no date whatever. + +Mrs. Lathrop divided her afternoon between active service over the +vinegar kettle and long rests of delicious unconsciousness in the +kitchen rocker. Her temperament was not one which wore itself out in +vain regrets over what might have been, and then too she knew that +Susan was at the meeting and from Susan she would learn all that might +there transpire. About half-past five she began to glance out of the +window which looked furthest down the street, and some ten minutes +later her watching was rewarded by the sight of Miss Clegg and another +lady approaching slowly. An animated conversation appeared to be in +progress between the two, and at the gate of Mrs. Lathrop's dearest +friend they made a long halt while the latter appeared to be laying +down some form of law with uncommon vigor and pointing its points off +with her knitting, which she waved about in a manner unwontedly +reckless. + +Mrs. Lathrop--having not only spilt more during the afternoon, but +also been twice the victim of what is technically known as "boiling +over"--felt quite unable to make a third at the gate party, and so was +forced to masticate her impatience and hover in the window until Susan +turned at last and came up her walk. + +"Can you come--" then called the eager waiter. + +"Not till after I get my supper," the other replied. + +Mrs. Lathrop sighed, and forced herself to further patience. It was +all of seven when Miss Clegg finally came over. + +"I'll sit on the steps," she announced. "Bein' 's we're such friends, +Mrs. Lathrop, I may 's well say right here 'n' now 't I would n't sit +down in your kitchen this night for no money. I'd carry the spots till +I died most likely 'n' have no one but myself to blame f'r it. You may +not thank me f'r sayin' it to your face, but it isn't in me to deceive +so much 's a water-bug, 'n' 'f I live to be a hunderd I c'd never +forget seein' you make a chocolate cake once. I c'd make a chocolate +cake 'n' a king might eat off o' my cuffs 'n' collar when I was +through, but what surprised me about your chocolate cake, Mrs. +Lathrop, was 't you did n't get into the oven with it in the end, for +I'll take my Bible oath 's you had 's much on you 's on any pan." + +"We c'n sit on the--" said Mrs. Lathrop pleasantly. + +"I 'm sittin' there already," said the caller, "'n' whenever you get +ready to listen I 'll tell you about this afternoon, for it was the +most interestin' meetin' 't we've had since Mrs. Jewett's leg come off +to her chair 'n' she run the crochet-hook so far in--you +recollec'?--'n' the doctors didn't know which way to pull it out. +Young Dr. Brown was for pushin' it on through 'cause the hook would +catch 'f he drawed it out on the crochet principle, 'n' old Dr. Carter +said it wouldn't do to put it through 'cause it was a fancy Chinese +thing 't old Captain Jewett's father brought from China 'n' there was +a man's head on the other end with his mustache makin' two +crochet-hooks, one each side." + +"What did--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Don't you remember?--Mrs. Jewett come to 'n' told 'em 't the middle +was for needles 'n' 't all they had to do was to unscrew it 'n' take +it out opposite ways, 'n' then she fainted, 'n' then they did, 'n' no +one thought of there bein' needles in it, 'n' they fell out 'n' she +had shootin' pains from havin' 'em in her for ever so long. Mrs. Macy +was sayin' only the other day 't to her order o' thinkin' Mrs. Jewett +died o' the darnin'-needles. She says she was forever grabbin' herself +somewhere with a sudden yell, 'n' no matter what the doctors said it +was jus' them needles, 'n' no sensible person 's saw her actions could +doubt it. Mrs. Macy says it was a awful lesson to her against keepin' +loose needles in screw things,--she says 't her son sent her a egg +from the World's Fair with every kind of needle in it, but she wasn't +takin' no chances, 'n' she took them needles right out 'n' put buttons +in instead." + +"I remember she died," said Mrs. Lathrop thoughtfully, "but I--" + +"It don't matter," said Susan. "My, but it's hot! It's been awful hot +this week, 'n' this afternoon it was all but bilin' down there in that +little parlor o' Mrs. Craig's. I was f'r sittin' on the porch, but +Gran'ma Mullins rocked off a porch once 'n' she was f'r sittin' where +she couldn't rock off nothin'. I said she could sit on the grass, but +she was fussy about that too--said a poison-spider bit her foot once +'n' she had it come on reg'lar every year f'r seven years after. I +come nigh to feelin' put out, but Mrs. Sperrit spoke up just then 'n' +asked 'f we'd any of us noticed how terrible worn the minister's wife +was lookin' 'n' didn't we think 't he'd ought to have a vacation? It +was that 't made the meetin' so interesting f'r in all the years 't +we've had the minister no one ever thought o' givin' him a vacation +afore, 'n' when you think how long we've had him 'n' how steady we've +gone to church as a consequence, I must say 't I think 't it's more 'n +surprisin' 't we didn't give him a vacation long ago. I must say, +though, 't my first idea was 't it was a curious thing to give the +minister a vacation so as to rest his wife, although I d'n' know 's we +could do any thin' kinder for her 'n to get rid of him f'r a spell. +Then too, to my order o' thinkin', our minister ain't really ever in +need o' no rest, and 'f he needs a change my say would be 'Set him to +work.' I said all that to 'em all down there, 'n' Mrs. Sperrit went on +then 'n' said 't her idea was f'r 'em both to go, so 's we could all +sort o' take a breathin' space together. I agreed with her about the +breathin,' f'r I don't believe no other minister 'n ours ever had +thirteen children born in the same house, 'n' I'm free to remark 't if +a new minister did n't always sit so solid for new wall-paper 'n' the +cistern cleaned out, I'm pretty sure 't the last half-dozen childern +'n' his second wife would certainly have found themselves bein' born +elsewhere. 'N', such bein' the case, I don't blame no man f'r wantin' +a little free time, 'n' so I joined in, 'n' Mrs. Allen moved 't we all +unbutton our collars 'n' discuss the matter, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins took +off her cap 'n' we begun right then 'n' there. Mrs. Brown said 't if +they was a-goin' now was a very good time 'cause the baby was a year +old, 'n' I said 't I c'd agree with her there 'cause if we waited till +next summer the baby might be only a month old or maybe only a week +old--f'r I must say 't so far 's my observation 's extended there +never is no countin' on how old a minister's baby 's goin' be 't any +given time. Gran'ma Mullins interrupted me 'n' said 't if we'd excuse +her she'd go below her collar 'n' unbutton her top button 'cause her +cousin bought it ready-made 'n' all she could tell the clerk was 't +she was seventy-three years old 'n' so perhaps it was only natural 't +it should bind a little in the neck. 'N' so she did, 'n' then she +moved her head around till she was sure she was all free 'n' then she +said, ''N' now as to them childern?' It was kind of a shock, for no +one had thought about the childern 'n' Mrs. Craig said pretty +feeble-like 't it wouldn't be no rest to send the minister's wife off +with thirteen childern, 'n' I spoke up pretty sharp 'n' asked what +kind of a rest the town 'd get if them thirteen childern was left +behind. I c'd see 't I'd hit the nail on the head _then_, jus' by the +way 't they all waited to get a drink afore going any further." + +Miss Clegg stopped and drew a deep breath. + +Mrs. Lathrop looked anxious, not to say fearful. + +"It was Mrs. Sperrit as begun again," the narrator continued +presently. "Mrs. Sperrit said why not divide the children up among us +all 'n' each take one, 'n' she looked to be talkin' sense till they +started dividin', 'n' then it turned out 't naturally every one wanted +the big easy ones 'n' no one wanted Augustus. I was dreadful uneasy +myself for fear 't I'd be 'xpected to take Brunhilde Susan on account +o' her hind half bein' named for me, but I didn't have to worry long, +for Mrs. Allen said 't she'd take Brunhilde Susan 'cause Polly's +tended Brunhilde Susan so much 't she knows just what Brunhilde Susan +'ll stand 'n' Brunhilde Susan knows just what Polly 'll stand. So +Brunhilde Susan was fixed, but every one else was all upset 'n' +undecided, 'n' it was plain 't nothin' wouldn't work, so Mrs. Macy up +'n' proposed 't they put all but the baby in a sugar-bowl 'n' shake +'em up 'n' draw. + +"Well, we did, 'n' it was 'xcitin', I c'n tell you, 'n' I wish you'd +been there to see their faces. Mrs. Macy drew first, seein' 't it was +her plan, 'n' she was awful put out over gettin' Henry Ward Beecher. +Seems she was countin' on using her trundle-bed, 'n' she said right +flat out 't she _must_ use her trundle-bed, 'n' so she jus' up 'n' put +Henry Ward Beecher right straight back in the sugar-bowl. Mrs. Sweet +drew next, 'n' 'f _she_ didn't get Henry Ward Beecher too, 'n' she was +madder yet 'cause she was intendin' to have her child sleep with Emma, +'n' she said 't her child had jus' _got_ to sleep with Emma, so she up +'n' stuffed Henry Ward Beecher back into the sugar-bowl too. Then Mrs. +Brown wanted to draw, 'n' so they put on the cover 'n' shook 'em up +hard, 'n' I couldn't but be a little took with how anxious they was to +draw when there was only twelve childern 'n' sixteen women, so 't +stood to reason 't there was four as couldn't get no child to save +their necks. I didn't try to draw none myself--I hauled out a lot of +stitches 'n' sat back'n' said when they was all through I'd come 'n' +draw for you and me too, 'n' then I watched 'em all hurryin' Mrs. +Brown, 'n' 'f _she_ didn't get Henry Ward Beecher same 's all the +rest! But she was perfectly satisfied,--she said 't she was lonesome +now young Dr. Brown's gone 'n' married and 't Henry Ward Beecher c'd +have his room. So Henry Ward Beecher was out o' the sugar-bowl at +last, 'n' I must say 't it was a great relief to see him settled." + +"Who drew--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Mrs. Sweet drew next. 'N' she drew Augustus, 'n' when she see 't +she'd got Augustus she didn't mince matters none,--she jus' said she'd +never have no Augustus in her house, not now 'n' not never, 'n' she +put him right back, 'n' some one said 't it wasn't fair. But they +shook the bowl up good, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins 'd been tryin' so hard to +get a chance at it 't they let her come next, 'n' she drew, 'n'--my +Lord!--she let off a scream like she'd draw'd a snake 'n' it seemed 't +it was Bobby she'd got, 'n' she said, fair or not, she couldn't abide +no small boy since she god-mothered Sam Duruy, 'n' so we must excuse +her puttin' Bobby back into the sugar-bowl, and so back into the +sugar-bowl Bobby got put. Then every one begin sayin' 't it wasn't +fair, 'n' Mrs. Sperrit stood up 'n' said she knowed a good way. We'd +put sixteen numbers in the sugar-bowl 'n' all draw numbers 'n' then +choose from the childern in accordance with our numbers, No. 1 gettin' +first pick 'n' No. 2 second 'n' so on. So we did it, 'n' I drew with a +pretty heavy heart, I c'n assure you, Mrs. Lathrop, for Lord knows +what I'd 'a' done if--" + +"I c'd 'a' taken--" interposed the friend. + +"Yes, 'n' you'd 'a' had to too," rejoined the other. "I thought o' +that as I was feelin' 'round, prayin' Heaven to guide me; 'n' it did +too, for I got 14, 'n' after that the rest o' the meetin' was nothin' +but sheer circus for me. That was what you missed, Mrs. Lathrop, f'r I +don't believe there ever was or ever will be such a Sewin' Society +again. Every one quit sewin' in the first place, 'n' Mrs. Duruy, who +'d got No. 1, reflected some 'n' then said she 'd take Felicia Hemans +'cause Felicia c'd help her with her sewin'. Mrs. Sweet was No. 2, 'n' +she took Rachel Rebecca to sleep with Emma. Then come Gran'ma Mullins, +'n' she studied a long while 'n' then at last she decided on little +Jane 'cause little Jane sucks her thumb 'n' that's the sign of a good +child. Then Mrs. Sperrit came next, 'n' she said she'd take Bobby +'cause he couldn't do no mischief out on the farm. Gran'ma Mullins +shook her head 'n' said them laughs best as laughs last, but Mrs. +Sperrit stuck to Bobby 'n' didn't pay no attention to Gran'ma Mullins. +Well--then Mrs. Brown took Henry Ward Beecher, 'n' Mrs. Kimball took +Billy 'cause he's in the store anyhow, 'n' Mrs. Maxwell took 'Liza +Em'ly to rip, 'n' Mrs. Fisher took John Bunyan for weeds. 'N' then +Mrs. Macy just pounced on the last girl for her trundle-bed, 'n' Mrs. +Jilkins was pretty mad at there bein' no more girls after the last one +'n' she give a sort o' flounce 'n' said 'Josephus,' 'n' Miss White +give a sort o' groan 'n' said 'Fox' in a voice like death. 'N' _then_ +come _the_ time!--Mrs. Davison was No. 12, 'n' every one knew it, 'n' +every one 'd been lookin' at her from time to time 'n' she hadn't been +lookin' at no one, only jus' at her number, 'n' when the time come f'r +her to say who she'd got (for naturally she didn't have no choice) she +didn't say nothin' at all, only just begun to pick up all her work +things 'n' stuff 'em in that little black bead bag o' hers, 'n' there +was a meanin' way about her stuffin' 't said more 'n was +necessary.--But o' course some one had to speak, so Mrs. Sweet begun +to smile 'n' say, ''N' Mrs. Davison gets Augustus!' 'n' at that Mrs. +Davison come up out o' her chair like it was a live coal, 'n' shook +all over 'n' glared right in front of her, 'n' said, 'Ladies, this may +appear as a joke to you, but it's far from seemin' funny to the one as +gets Augustus. I decline Augustus right square 'n' sharp 'n' flat 'n' +now, 'n' if I ever hear another word on the subjeck I shall cease to +ever again play the organ in church on Sunday!'" + +Miss Clegg paused dramatically. + +Mrs. Lathrop opened her mouth in awe at the climax. + +"Well, you c'd 'a' heard the dust settle for a minute or two! No one +couldn't think o' nothin' to say, f'r the only thing to say was +suthin' 't no one in their senses would think o' sayin', but o' course +some one had to say it, 'n' Mrs. Craig got up at last 'n' with the +tears standin' in her eyes 'n' a kind o' sad look all around her nice +tidy house, she sort o' sighed out, 'We must have the organ Sundays, +'n' I'll take Augustus.' There was a air o' bein' sorry for her all +over, but every one was so glad it was her 'n' not them 't they +couldn't help bein' more relieved 'n anythin' else, 'n' then we all +remembered 't we was hot, 'n' hungry too, so we made short work o' +app'intin' Mrs. Allen to go 'n' tell the minister how everythin' was +arranged for his vacation, 'n' 't it'd be a favor to us all if he +could get away pretty prompt to-morrow so 's we could be all settled +down for Sunday. Mrs. Sperrit says she'll take the bird right along +with Bobby, 'n' Mrs. Allen says 't if they have Brunhilde Susan they +can just as well fuss with the cow too, so 's far as I c'n see +there'll be no church Sunday, 'n' I certainly am grateful, for all the +time 't I was in church last Sunday I was wishin' 't I was in the +crick instid, 'n' I don't consider such thoughts upliftin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop slapped at a mosquito. + +"They say it's better to be born lucky 'n rich," said Susan, getting +up to go, "'n' what you said jus' now, Mrs. Lathrop, proves 't it's +true in your case. For if I _had_ been obliged to take Brunhilde Susan +or any other of 'em, it'd surely 'a' been a awful care to you just +now, what with your picklin' 'n' your not bein' no great hand at +childern anyhow." + +Mrs. Lathrop assented with two slow nods. + +"Mrs. Brown 'n' me walked home together," said Susan, as she slowly +turned her steps in the direction of her own house. "Mrs. Brown thinks +she's got the flower o' the flock in gettin' Henry Ward Beecher. She +says he's so big he'll be no care a _tall_, except to fill his pitcher +once in a while." + +"It's Mrs. Craig as has--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Yes, I sh'd say so," assented Susan. + +And then they spoke no more. + +* * * * * + +The minister, on the receipt of his parishioners' ultimatum, tarried +not upon the order of his going, but went almost at once. Indeed he +and his wife packed with such alacrity that at ten o'clock upon the +following day (which was Saturday) they were both gone, and the +thirteen children, the bird, and the cow had all been distributed +according to the Sewing Society's programme. + +The day was intensely hot, and in spite of the deep interest which +both felt in the wide-spread situation, neither Susan nor Mrs. Lathrop +heard any news from the thirteen seats of war until late in the +afternoon. At that hour Mrs. Macy called on Miss Clegg, and after the +call the latter walked "as far as the square" with her friend. Mrs. +Lathrop saw them go out together from her kitchen window, and when +Susan failed to return, she possessed her soul with all the unlimited +resignation which was her strong point. + +Susan did not return until seven o'clock. + +"I ain't comin' over," she called from the back stoop, before Mrs. +Lathrop could get to the fence; "there ain't nothin' particular to +tell 'n' under them circumstances I ain't one to bother to tell it. +Every one 't I see was out runnin' about 'n' recountin' how much +better they're doin' than might 'a' been expected. Mrs. Craig's awful +pleased over Augustus, says it was all clean slander the talk about +him, for he's 's good 's gold, jus' lays on his back on the floor 'n' +says, 'Wash zhat? Is zhat a fly? Zhi a fly? Zhu a fly?' or 'Wash zhat? +Zhat dinner? Zhi dinner? Zhu dinner?' 'n' all you have to say is +'Yes--No--No--No' pretty prompt. She says she don't consider him no +care a _tall_ 'n' she's glad to have the chance to say so right +out.--Mrs. Fisher was into the store while Mrs. Craig was talkin', 'n' +she says she's 'mused to death over John Bunyan. Seems she was never +in favor o' Mr. Fisher's havin' a garden, 'n' now John Bunyan 's gone +'n' pulled up all the beets 'n' five rows of little radishes. She was +buyin' him a ball an' laughin' to tears over how mad Mr. Fisher was. +She says he took John Bunyan by the shoulders 'n' shook him hard 'n' +asked him 'f he didn't know a radish 'n' a beet when he saw one, 'n' +John Bunyan spoke right up 'n' said, 'Course he knowed a radish 'n' a +beet when he saw 'em, but how was any one to see a radish or a beet +till after he pulled it up first?' Oh my! but Mrs. Fisher says Mr. +Fisher was hot about it, 'n' it was all of a half hour afore he got +over his mad enough to be ready to teach John Bunyan anythin' else, +'n' then he wanted to show him the first principles of graftin', 'n' +so she put a big plate of apples where they was handy for the boy to +reach, 'n' come down town herself." + +Mrs. Lathrop had approached the fence step by step, and now leaned in +a confidence-inspiring attitude against its firm support. The sight +seemed to affect Miss Clegg without her being conscious of the fact, +and she abandoned her first position on the doorstep and advanced +also. + +"After all, we might 's well be comfortable while we visit," she +commented simply, when they found themselves adjusted as of old, "'n' +come to think it over I really did hear quite a piece o' news in town. +Mrs. Duruy says she's set Felicia Hemans to makin' Sam some shirts 'n' +Sam is runnin' the sewin'-machine for 'em. Now o' course 'f it comes +to such doin's the first day any one can figger on a week ahead, 'n' I +had a good mind to say 's much to Mrs. Duruy, but then I thought if I +had it in me to do any warnin' I'd best warn Felicia, 'n' as far 's my +experience goes a woman afore she marries a man always admires him +full 's much or maybe even more 'n' his own mother can, so it's breath +wasted to try 'n' tell either of 'em a plain truth about him. Now you +know, Mrs. Lathrop, 's I was never one to waste my breath, so when +Mrs. Duruy said 's she was thinkin' o' goin' over to Meadville to +visit her cousin, now 's she had somebody to keep her house for her, I +jus' remarked as I hoped she'd get her house back when she come back +'n' let it go at that. Mrs. Allen was in after mail, 'n' she said +Brunhilde Susan was in bed, 'n' the cow was all milked for the night, +'n' her mind was easy over 'em both; 'n' Gran'ma Mullins was to the +drug-store after some quinine to put on little Jane's thumb. She says +this week as she has little Jane she 'll jus' cure her o' +thumb-suckin' once an' f'r all time by keepin' it dipped in quinine. + +"I didn't see none o' the others, but I didn't hear o' their bein' in +difficulties, so I come home. Mrs. Macy says Roxana sits 'n' weeps +straight along, but she says she didn't have no choice as to her +drawin', for between her bein' No. 9 'n' only havin' a trundle-bed +Roxana was just forced right down her throat, so she ain't botherin' +over her a _tall_. She come out to make calls this afternoon, 'n' she +says she sh'll see to her own marketin' same 's ever, 'n' Roxana c'n +weep or not weep to suit herself." + +"I'm glad you--" said Mrs. Lathrop thoughtfully. + +"I am too," said Susan quickly, "I'm glad 'n' I sh'll always stay +glad. I just had that one time o' carin' for children, 'n' the Lord +dealt me a lion instid of a baby, 'n' I 'm free to confess 't I've +never seen no occasion to say other than Thy Will be Done. The +sparrows do build awful in the notches of that lion, 'n' the nest in +his mouth aggravates me so I d'n' know what to do some days, but still +when all's said 'n' done a sparrow's nest in the mouth of your +father's tombstone ain't any such trial as gettin' a child to bed +nights 'n' keepin' its hands clean would be. 'N' if I had adopted a +child, Mrs. Lathrop, I sh'd cert'nly 'a' kept it clean, f'r, if you'll +excuse me remarkin' it right in your face, I was raised to wash 'n' +dust 'n' be neat. That's why that nest in my lion's mouth with the +straws stickin' every way do try me so. Mr. Kimball 's forever askin' +me if the lion 's raisin' a beard against the winter, 'n' the other +day he said he was give to understand 't it was tippin' a little, 'n' +I was recommended to brace him up by givin' him raw eggs for his +breakfast. Well, maybe all Mr. Kimball says is very witty, but it's a +poor kind o' wit, I think. He makes good enough jokes about the rest +of the c'mmunity, but I may tell you in confidence, Mrs. Lathrop, 't I +ain't never heard one joke 't he's told on me 't I considered even +half-way amusin'." + +Mrs. Lathrop shook her head sadly. + +Then they went in. + +The Sunday which followed this particular Saturday was of a heat truly +tropical. All the blinds of the Clegg and Lathrop houses stayed +tightly closed all day, and it is only fair to surmise that those who +remained behind them were not sorry that the minister's absence +allowed them to do so with a clear conscience. + +But about half-past seven in the evening Susan's shutters began to +bang open with a succession of blast-like reports, and shortly after +she emerged from her kitchen door and started down town. Mrs. Lathrop, +who was of course cognizant of every movement on her neighbor's part, +saw her go and made haste to be ready against her home-coming. To that +end she set her front door hospitably open, drew two rockers out upon +the porch, laid a palm-leaf fan in one, and deposited herself in the +other. + +It was nearly an hour before Miss Clegg returned from town. She +appeared very warm, but pleased with herself for having gone. As she +sank down in the chair and began to agitate the fan, Mrs. Lathrop's +eyes fairly gleamed with anticipation. + +"I s'pose--" she began. + +"Well, no," said Susan, "seems they ain't, after all. The air down +town is more like a revival than anythin' else, everybody 's up +tellin' their experience an' callin' out on Heaven to save 'em. 'N' +the worst of all is Mrs. Brown!--she _never_ knew 't Henry Ward +Beecher walks in his sleep! No more did I nor nobody else, 'n' I must +say 't I do think 't the minister 'd ought to 'a' told some of us so's +we could 'a' been a little prepared, for there's many a night 's I've +left clothes out on the line 's I'd never risked 'f I'd been aware o' +the possibility o' Henry Ward Beecher bein' broad-cast. Mrs. Brown +says, though, 's it ain't his walkin' in his sleep as is troublin' +her, it's his eatin' in his walkin'. Mrs. Lathrop, you never hear the +like o' what she told me! It's beyond all belief! He eat the Sunday +layer-cake 'n' the Sunday-dinner pie 'n' the whole week's tin o' +doughnuts, 'n' then went back to bed 'n' never turned a hair. Why, she +says she never _did_--in all her life. She says when she see the jelly +streaks on the bed an' felt his sticky door-knob, she was all used up, +for Babes in the Woods was criminal beside the way he looked to be +sleepin'. 'N' he don't remember nothin' a _tall_ to-day, not one +livin' doughnut does that boy recolleck, 'n' she says 'f she didn't +know it to be so on a'count o' the empty tin she'd doubt herself an' +believe him by choice, he looks so truthful. But empty tins is empty +tins, 'n' no one can deny that fact. + +"I see Mrs. Craig too. Mrs. Craig's some altered as to her yesterday's +view in regard to Augustus. That cat 't she makes so much over 's +gone, 'n' she's most crazy as a consequence. It's him as she warms her +feet on winters, 'n' when I asked her how under the sun she come to +feel the need o' it to-day she didn't even smile. She says she asked +Augustus right off 's quick 's she missed it, 'n' all he said was, +'Wash zhat? Zhat a cat? Zhi a cat? Zhu a cat?' 'n' she see 't there +wasn't no information to be got out o' him. She says, though, that if +you bar the cat he's pretty good, only he's so tiresome. He follows +her all over, sayin', 'Wash zhat? Zhat a hair-pin? Zhi a hair-pin? Zhu +a hair-pin?' She says it ain't nothin' to really complain of, but it's +gettin' a little wearin', 'n' she was lookin' more worried 'n her talk +bore out, but Miss White come up 'n' begun about Fox, 'n' that kind o' +ended Augustus. Miss White says 'f the minister wanted to name a child +after Fox's Martyrs he was welcome, but she 'n' her family never +bargained on bein' the martyrs. She says 't Fox takes fits o' yellin' +'n' when he begins he don't never stop. Her mother's deaf, 'n' said to +let the child yell it out 'n' teach him a lesson, but Deacon White has +got his ears same as ever, 'n' he couldn't stand the noise, 'n' so he +hired Fox to stop by promisin' him a trumpet 's soon as the store is +open to-morrow mornin'. Miss White says her mother said buyin' +trumpets was a poor kind o' discipline, 'n' Mrs. Fisher come along +just then 'n' said her notion o' discipline was rewardin' the good +instead o' the bad, 'n' 't she was goin' to give John Bunyan a dish o' +cookies to keep in his washstand drawer, 'cause he went out in the +garden this mornin' while Mr. Fisher was down for the mail, 'n' he +tried his last night's lesson in graftin' on things in general there, +'n' he grafted corn 'n' potatoes 'n' asparagus all back 'n' forth 'n' +killed 'em all. She says Mr. Fisher was awful mad 'n' wanted to shake +John Bunyan, but she jus' up 'n' told Mr. Fisher 't she'd been tellin' +him 't there was a mighty big difference between theory 'n' practice +f'r these many years, 'n' 't now John Bunyan was sent by the hand o' +Providence to show him jus' what she meant. + +"I see Mrs. Macy too, 'n' she's happy for the whole town. Seems Roxana +was so lonesome for the other dozen 't she jus' sat 'n' rolled down +tears steady, 'n' this afternoon when Mrs. Sperrit drove in to see her +sister she jus' took Roxana home with her. She says Roxana 'll be +happy with Bobby on the farm, 'n' it's easy to be seen as Mrs. Maxwell +is envyin' Mrs. Macy, for she says 't it's as plain 's the nose on the +outside o' your face 't 'Liza Em'ly 's nothin' to rip." + +Miss Clegg ceased speech to rock and fan for a minute or two. + +"Did you see--" asked Mrs. Lathrop. + +"I see every one almost," replied the other. "I see Polly Allen +wheelin' Brunhilde Susan around the square. Polly said 't the heat was +hard on the cow 'n' hard on Brunhilde Susan. She says the cow's got to +have suthin' on 'n' Brunhilde Susan's got to have everythin' off or +they ain't neither of them peaceable to live with long. I ain't so +happy over Brunhilde Susan 's I would be if she had more sense. She +was cryin' 'Moo--moo' at every dog she see, 'n' I give her a nickel to +keep her quiet, 'n' then she up 'n' lost it. We hunted an' hunted 'n' +did everythin' in kingdom come to find it--for I naturally didn't feel +to come away without it--'n' finally Polly said 's she must 'a' +swallowed it, 'n' she asked her, 'n' she said 'Yes,' 'n' I was more 'n +disgusted. It was a full minute before I could remember to thank my +stars as it wasn't a half-dollar--'s it might easy 'a' been, for bein' +the namesake of a child kind o' obliges you to be nice to 'em. +Brunhilde Susan can't never expect to get nothin' out o' her front +half, for I was give to understand 't the Brunhilde 's Felicia Hemans +was so book-took with is long dead, 'Dragged at horses' tails,' she +had the face to tell me--the joint godmother!--''N' who by?' I +couldn't in decency but ask.--'By the horses,' says Felicia Hemans, +a-gigglin' fit to beat the band. Well, Mrs. Lathrop, I'm pretty +patient with the young in general, but I must say 's I can't but feel +'t when them shirts o' Sam Duruy's is done 'n' their consequences is +added up, it's a even thing which draws the least,--him or Felicia. +Mrs. Macy told me 't Mrs. Duruy has her things all washed 'n' ironed +to go to Meadville to-morrow, 'n' I reckon 't a woman 's is as blind +'s that 'll be jus' 's happy in Meadville as anywhere else." + +Susan paused and rose from her seat. + +"Are you a--" said Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Looks like it, don't it?" replied Miss Clegg. "'S a matter o' fact, +Mrs. Lathrop, I'm that hot 'n' tired 'd it 'd take a long sight more +'n you to keep me any longer, so I 'll say good-bye 'n' go." + +* * * * * + +On Monday the thermometer bounded higher than ever. It was wash-day +too, which rendered one half of the community infinitely hotter yet. +As the burden of the minister's vacation fell upon the same half that +the washing did, one might have looked for very little friendly +exchanging of personal trials on the evening that followed such a +trying day. Susan felt such to be the case and concluded not to try +and go down town. Mrs. Lathrop took two or three wilted clovers, and +sat on her steps and chewed submissively after tea,--too much overcome +even to waft a questioning glance across the interim of parched grass +which stretched between her kitchen stoop and that of her friend; but +the latter saw her sitting there and felt a keen, remorseful stab. + +"I guess I 'll go down in the square f'r jus' five minutes," she +called to the dejected figure, and forthwith sallied out to the +conflict. + +The five minutes stretched to an hour, and Mrs. Lathrop was frankly +asleep when her vigil was terminated by her neighbor's return. The +latter came up and sat down on the steps, heaving a mighty sigh as she +did so. + +"Well, I see Mrs. Brown," she began in a tone of reminiscent sympathy, +"'n' I can tell you 't Mrs. Brown is in a situation not to be lightly +sneezed over." + +"What did--" remarked Mrs. Lathrop, rubbing her eyes. + +"What did Henry Ward Beecher do? Well, he jus' up 'n' did the same 's +the night afore. Ate the Sons o' Veterans' pudding 's Mrs. Brown had +all ready for the Lodge meetin', 'n' all the baked beans 's was for +to-day's luncheon too. She says she never dreamed as no human bein' +could hold what that boy can. She says young Dr. Brown says 't he +wants to come 'n' observe him to-night 'f he don't have to go over to +Meadville to get two of his saws sharpened. Mrs. Brown says he says +he's goin' to write a paper for the Investigatin' Society, but I don't +see how that's goin' to help the Sons o' Veterans none. Doctors' +observations 'n' investigations 's all right 's far 's they go, but I +don' fancy as they can be made to take the place o' no eat up puddin' +inside o' no son of a veteran. 'N' anyhow, Henry Ward Beecher or no +Henry Ward Beecher, Mrs. Craig 's jus' about frantic over her cat. She +says there's cat's hair everywhere 'n' the cat ain't nowhere. She was +doin' out her churnin' 'n' she found some hairs in the butter. I asked +her 'f maybe Augustus hadn't fed the cat to the cow, 'n' she says they +thought o' that, but her husband says 't ain't possible, for there +ain't room for a cat to turn over in the place where a cow turns +everything over afore she swallows it. Mrs. Craig says, besides, 't +she asked Augustus, but he jus' said, 'Wash zhat?--Zhat a cow?--Zhi a +cow?--Zhu a cow?' 'n' she see plain 'n' forever where he got the name +o' bein' so bad, for she was dyin' to switch him 'n' couldn't in honor +say as she had any real reason to. But all the same she says she's as +sure as Fate 't him 'n' no one else 's at the bottom o' her cat--only +how in all creation are you to get it out o' him? She says there was +hairs in the washtub 'n' hairs in the bluein', 'n' when she gathered +the sweet peas afore supper she see a hair on a sweet-pea pod. While +we was talkin' suthin' tickled her 'n' she found a hair in her collar. + +"Gran'ma Mullins came along up from the crick while we was talkin', +'n' she had her tale o' woe same 's the rest. Seems little Jane 's +quit her thumb, owin' to the quinine, 'n' took to bitin' holes 'n' +chewin' 'n' suckin' everythin' that she can lay hands on. She's chewed +her pillow-slip 'n' bit her sheet 'n' sucked right down to the brass +on a number o' Gran'ma Mullins' solid silver things. They've tried +scoldin' 'n' slappin', but she jus' keeps her mouth on the rampage, +'n' they can't get her to go back to her thumb f'r love nor money. +Mrs. Brown said she'd be glad to trade Henry Ward Beecher for little +Jane, 'n' I strongly advised her to do it, f'r to my mind a chewin' +child 's more to be counted on than a eatin' sleep-walker, but we was +evidently all o' the same way o' thinkin, f'r Gran'ma Mullins shook +her head 'n' wouldn't change. + +"I see Felicia Hemans down buyin' suthin' with Sam along with a basket +to carry it home in. I asked 'f Mrs. Duruy was gone, 'n' they said +yes, 'n' Sam grinned 'n' Felicia giggled, same 's usual. I c'n see 't +the Allens is all put out 't Sam's bein' around with any one but +Polly, 'n' Mrs. Allen asked me 'f I really thought Mrs. Duruy 'd ought +to 'a' gone off like that. I said I thought it was a awful risk for +Felicia Hemans 'cause o' course she _might_ marry Sam in consequence. +Mrs. Allen didn't like it, 'n' she bounced Brunhilde Susan's +carriage-springs so hard 't she made Brunhilde Susan wake up. Mr. +Kimball was out in front o' his store, 'n' he hollered across to me 't +he was giv' to understand as Brunhilde Susan was learnin' to hang onto +money already. Every one laughed, 'n' I declare 't for the life o' me +I don't see how no one c'n make a joke over a baby's swallowin' a lent +nickel." + +"Who--" queried Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Well, Mrs. Fisher was one of 'em. She did sort of explain it away +afterwards, though. She said she was so happy she laughed at any +nothin' at all. Seems Mr. Fisher set John Bunyan to cuttin' the grass, +'n' the boy went 'n' sheared right over the bed o' petunias. Seems +them petunias was the apple o' Mr. Fisher's eye 'n' he wanted a dish +of 'em with every meal. Mrs. Fisher says 't to her mind a woman has +work enough gettin' the meals without havin' to get petunias too, 'n' +she was nothin' but glad to see what a clean shave John Bunyan made o' +the whole thing. She was down town buyin' him some marbles. She went +into Shores after 'em, an' she 'n' Miss White come out together. I +know suthin' had happened the minute I see Miss White's face, f'r +angels chantin' glory was nothin' to it. Do you know, Mrs. Lathrop, +that Fox never lived up to the trumpet bargain one hour, but jus' +yelled 'n' blew alternate, till the Deacon was nigh to deaf 'n' old +Mrs. White begun to hear, 'n' they was all 'most fit for the Insane +Asylum when Mrs. Sperrit come in to leave a skirt for new braid, 'n' +she jus' up 'n' took Fox home with her. She says 't he can make all +the noise he wants to out on the farm, 'n' the Whites is all but in +Paradise as a result." + +"I sh'd think--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop. + +"Well, I d'n' know," said Susan; "you may think so, but you didn't +look like it when I come. You looked to be asleep, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' +bein' 's to-day's been a hot Monday 'n' to-morrow 'll likely be a hot +Tuesday, I feel some inclined that way myself. So good-night." + +* * * * * + +Susan's prophecy as to what the next day would be came true. It was a +scorching Tuesday, and nothing but the feast of gossip which "the +square" held upon this particular week could ever have drawn a crowd +there on so sultry a night. + +"But every one was out," she told Mrs. Lathrop, as they met by the +fence along towards nine o'clock, "'n' oh my! you'd ought to 'a' been +there. Mrs. Craig's found her cat, 'n' that takes the lead, for she +come back of her own accord from a place where no one 'd ever 'a' +expected her to come back from." + +"Where did--" asked Mrs. Lathrop eagerly. + +"Come up in the well-bucket," replied Miss Clegg promptly,--"she come +up in the well-bucket this afternoon all but her tail, 'n' they think +Augustus must 'a' strained that throwin' her in by it 'n' so it soaked +off extra easy. Mrs. Craig went for him the minute she see the cat, +but, lor', you can't get nothin' out o' Augustus; he jus' said, 'Wash +zhat?--Zhat a cat?--Zhi a cat?--Zhu a cat?' 'n' Mrs. Craig was too mad +f'r words. She says 't they've been noticin' a curious taste in the +water, but not bein' in the habit o' drinkin' the house cat, they +never thought of its bein' him. She's troubled over findin' the cat +'n' troubled some more over not findin' the tail. She says Mr. Craig +says 't he wouldn't consider for one second cleanin' out a well for a +trifle like a cat's tail, 'n' yet, for her part, she ain't noways +inclined to keep on livin' on cat's hairs indefinitely. She says 't +Mr. Craig says 't she can easy fish the tail up with the well-bucket, +but fishin' for suthin' 's you can't see ain't so funny as a woman's +husband 's apt to make out. 'S far 's my observation 's 'xtended, a +man always gives his wife to understand that what'd be a bother or +mebbe impossible for him to do 'll be jus' a pleasant afternoon for +her. I took it on myself to tell her that very same thing. 'Let him +fish that tail himself for a day or two,' I says; 'about the six +hundred an' fortieth time 't he winds up that bucket 'n' finds himself +still short o' that tail I'll venture my guess 't he won't find the +joke 's fine 's he did at first.' But she was too used up to know when +she was havin' good common-sense talked to her; she jus' kep' wipin' +her eyes, 'n' then Mrs. Sperrit drove up 'n' the whole rigmarole had +to be gone over again for her. I mus' say that she behaved kind of +un-neighborly, f'r she laughed fit to kill herself, 'n' Mrs. Craig was +nigh to put out over such doin's,--'n' the cat not dead a week yet; +but when Mrs. Sperrit got through laughin' she made up f'r it all, for +she said if Mrs. Craig was willin' she'd take Augustus home with her. +Mrs. Craig couldn't believe she was in earnest at first, 'n' then she +wept again with sheer joy. 'N' what _do_ you think 't Mrs. Sperrit +did?--Took Augustus straight across to Mr. Shores 'n' bought a +dog-collar 'n' a chain for him 'n' buckled it on right then and there. +'I'll engage he don't throw no cats down no wells out on the farm,' +she says, 'n' then off she drove with the youngster sittin' up beside +her prim 's a poodle." + +"Did you hear--" asked Mrs. Lathrop, chewing pleasantly. + +"I see Mrs. Brown," Susan continued calmly,--"she was down in the +square. Seems 't young Dr. Brown didn't get to observe Henry Ward +Beecher like he expected. He 'n' Amelia went over to Meadville, 'n' +mebbe they'll go on to the city from there, f'r his practice is +spreadin' so 't he's got to buy a bigger borin'-machine, 'n' he wants +a lot more bastin' thread an' needles. But Henry Ward Beecher was up +'n' doin' as usual last night. He skum two pans o' milk 'n' didn't put +the covers back, so a June bug got in. Mrs. Brown says Mrs. Craig 's +welcome to drink her cat if she favors the idea, but she ain't +drinkin' no June bugs herself, so she had to give the complete pan to +the pigs. 'N' he eat more too!--he eat ajar o' watermelon pickles 'n' +all the calves-foot jelly 't was all ready f'r old Mrs. Grace. It's a +serious matter about the jelly, for Mrs. Grace 's most dead 'n' all +the calves in town is alive, 'n' so where any more jelly 's to be got +in time the Lord only knows. Mrs. Brown thinks some one 'd ought to +write to the minister; she says it ain't possible 's he's always eat +like this nights 'n' she wants to know how to put a stop to it. Mrs. +Allen thinks 't some one 'd ought to write to the minister too. She +says 't Sam 'n' Felicia was down on the bridge last night a-holdin' +hands. She says Polly saw 'em. + +"'N' Gran'ma Mullins is another as thinks 't some one 'd ought to +write to the minister. She was down town a-buyin' some honey to put on +little Jane's thumb. She's all but stark mad. She says mice 'n' moths +is goin' to be mere jokes to her hereafter. She says 'f the minister +don't come back soon little Jane 'll have her sucked out o' bed 'n' +board. She says little Jane 's like him in the history 't where he +chewed the grass never grew again. There seems to be considerable +anxiety 's to when the minister 'll get back. Nobody thought to ask +him where he was goin', 'n' as a consequence nobody knows where he's +gone. Nobody thought to ask him when he was comin' back, 'n' 's a +consequence no one knows when he's thinkin' o' comin' back. Mr. +Kimball says 't his view o' the matter is as the minister was tired o' +havin' thirteen children 'n' is gone off somewhere else to begin all +over. Fun or not, the idea 's sort of upset every one. They went down +to see where he bought his ticket for, but Johnny says he only took it +to the junction, 'n' my own experience is 't a junction may lead to +'most anythin'. Mrs. Macy says 's there's only one way to be sure +whether he's gone for good or not, 'n' that is to go up to the house +'n' see whether he took his ear-muffs along, for it stands to reason +'t any man who 'd pack his ear-muffs a week like this ain't intendin' +to ever return. Every one see the sense o' that, 'n' so Mrs. Macy 's +app'inted herself to go 'n' look the house over to-morrow mornin'. I +must say 't 'f she don't find them ear-muffs the c'mmunity 'll be +pretty blue to-morrow night. No one knew how fond they was of the +minister until they begin to find out what them thirteen childern come +to when you add 'em all up separately. I d'n' know's I ever was so +glad of anythin' in my life 's I am that I drew No. 14 out o' Mrs. +Craig's sugar-bowl. Fate 's a strange thing when you look it under 'n' +over 'n' hind end to, Mrs. Lathrop,--there was me drawin' No. 14 'n' +Mrs. Craig herself gettin' Augustus, 'n' all on account of a +sugar-bowl, 'n' that sugar-bowl hers 'n' not mine." + +Mrs. Lathrop applied her clover, but said nothing. + +"Well, I d'n' know as there's any good to be gained out o' our +standin' here chattin' any longer. We'd better be gettin' to bed 'n' +thankin' our merciful Father 't we hav'n't got none o' the minister's +children, 'n' that's a prayer 's not many c'n put up this night." + +Mrs. Lathrop threw her clover away and returned to her own domicile. + +* * * * * + +On Wednesday, between the intense heat and the equally intense +excitement engendered by Mr. Kimball's suggestion, the town was rife +with a hive-like tumult. Miss Clegg went down to return Mrs. Macy's +call soon after dinner, and when she got back it was all of six. Mrs. +Lathrop was so anxious to hear the latest news from the seat of war +that she had prepared a company tea by the dining-room window and +hailed Susan directly she was near enough to hail. + +"I want you to come to--" she cried. + +"Well, I believe I will," her friend answered cordially. "I believe +I'd really enjoy to pervided you ain't got nothin' with dried currants +in it. They say the heathen Chinese eat flies for currants, but I +never was no heathen Chinese." + +"I ain't got--" Mrs. Lathrop assured her. + +"Then I'll come 's soon 's I c'n get my bonnet off," Susan answered, +and proceeded to unlock her own domain and enter into the sacred +precincts thereof. + +Ten minutes later the friends sat on opposite sides of Mrs. Lathrop's +hospitality. + +"I s'pose 't a good deal--" began the older woman, as she poured out +the tea. + +"More'n any other day," said the younger; "it almost seems 's 'f more +'s happened than I c'n remember to tell over again. I see Mrs. Macy, +'n' it was lucky 't I went to see her, f'r she was _the_ one 's knowed +everythin' _this_ day, f'r sure. The first thing she told me was 't +the minister 's got his ear-muffs right along with him. She says the +ear-muffs is the only thing 't she didn't find, f'r she's willin' to +swear 's she opened more 'n a hunderd bundles. She said she was clean +wore out towards the last, 'n' discouraged too, 'n' she thought she'd +go over to Mrs. Duruy's 'n' ask Felicia Hemans if she know'd anythin'; +so she did, 'n' when she got there the house was all shut up, 'n' a +piece o' paper stuck in the front door between the knob 'n' the wall, +simply statin' 't Felicia Hemans 'n' Sam was gone to Meadville to get +married. All it said was 'Me 'n' Sam were married in Meadville afore +you can get this. Your everlasting daughter.' She see 't it was meant +for a little surprise for Mr. Duruy when he come home 'xpectin' to get +his dinner, 'n' she thought she'd ought to give it to him right off; +so she went back 'n' got her stick 'n' jus' went to town 's quick 's +ever she could 'n' walked straight in on him with it. He took on awful +'n' stamped around an' shook, his fist right in her face, an' swore at +her till she was frightened 'most to death, 'n' then it turned out 't +he'd thought as it was her 's had married Sam on a'count o' there +bein' no 'Felicia' signed to the letter. The other shock when he come +to understand brought on a appleplecktic fit, 'n', seein' 's young Dr. +Brown 's away, they had to send 'way to Meadville f'r old Dr. Carter, +'n' Mrs. Macy had to stay 'n' take care of him, with him light-headed +half the time 'n' the other half all out o' his mind 'n' sure she was +married to Sam. She said 't it didn't take much o' such doin's to get +her so aggravated 't she jus' told him flat 'n' plain 's she was +sixty-seven years old and that meant 's she knowed sixty-seven years +too much to marry his son. She said he begin to rave 'n' choke all +fresh 't that, 'n' her patience come clean to a end right then 'n' +there, 'n' she picked up the water-pitcher 'n' told him 'f he dared to +have another fit she'd half drown him. She said he got reasonable +pretty quick when he see she was in earnest, 'n' she had him sittin' +up by the window afore Dr. Carter got there. Mrs. Duruy 'n' Sam 'n' +Felicia Hemans all drove over with the doctor, 'n' Dr. Carter had +telegraphed young Dr. Brown to come 'n' observe Mr. Duruy's fit with +him, so Dr. Brown 'n' Amelia 's home too, 'n' all down around the +crick is real gay. O' course Mrs. Macy 'd done with the fit afore they +got there, but young Dr. Brown wants Dr. Carter to stay over night 'n' +observe Henry Ward Beecher, 'n' Dr. Carter says 't he thinks he will. +He says he ain't got no real important case on hand jus' now, only he +says it's a ill wind 's blows no man good 'n' he's lookin' for this +heat to lay some one out afore long. + +"Gran'ma Mullins come up to Mrs. Macy's while I was there, 'n' she's +pretty mad. Seems she hurried to Mr. Duruy's jus' 's soon 's she heard +of the doctors there, 'n' wanted 'em to come over to her house 'n' +observe little Jane's thumb, 'n' Dr. Carter jus' flatly up and said +little Jane's thumb was beneath the kingdom o' medicine. She was awful +put out about it, 'n' she vows 'n' declares 's she'll die afore she +ever asks another doctor to do anythin' f'r her. I guess that's true +enough too, f'r 'f the minister really is gone nothin' ain't never +goin' to cure her o' little Jane. Mrs. Macy give her some tea, but she +was too used up to drink it. She says little Jane 's gettin' worse 'n' +worse. She bit a piece out of a gold-band cup last night, 'n' she +gnawed all the jet cherries off o' Gran'ma Mullins' best bonnet while +Gran'ma Mullins was to Mrs. Duruy's." + +Miss Clegg paused to eat and drink somewhat. Mrs. Lathrop, who had +finished her own eating and drinking, sat breathless. + +"I see Mrs. Fisher on my way home. She 's happy as ever. She says +nothin' must do last night but Mr. Fisher must build a flyin'-machine +with John Bunyan to hold the nails when he hammered. Mrs. Fisher says +she quit holdin' nails afore she'd been married a year 'n' Mr. Fisher +'s jus' wild now 't he's got a new hand to hold his nails f'r him. She +says they were tinkerin' on the thing all last evenin' 'n' a good part +o' this mornin' 'n' two mattresses to beat 'n' a chair to mend 's +never counted for anythin'. Well--seems 't towards noon Mr. Fisher got +to where he could go down town to get the top part pumped up, 'n' +while he was down town what did John Bunyan do but up 'n' put wheels +on the bottom part? My! but Mrs. Fisher says 't Mr. Fisher was mad +when he got back 'n' see them wheels. He tied the pumped up part to +the hammer 't was layin' on the garden bench, 'n' then he shook John +Bunyan hard 'n' asked him what in thunder he meant by puttin' wheels +on a flyin'-machine, 'n' John Bunyan jus' up 'n' asked him to his face +how under the sun he was 'xpectin' to make the thing go 'f it didn't +have no wheels on it. Mrs. Fisher says she was in behind the kitchen +blinds 'n' she was fit to kill herself laughin' to see how mad Mr. +Fisher got,--he got so mad 't he backed up 'n' fell over the garden +bench 'n' busted the pumped up part o' the flyin'-machine all hollow. +Mrs. Fisher says it finished her to see a flyin'-machine with the top +part all holes 'n' the bottom part all wheels. She says she 's give +John Bunyan her father's cuff-button 'n' told him 'f he keeps on 's +well 's he 's begun 't she 'll give him a button f'r the other cuff +the day he's twenty-one. + +"Mrs. Brown was down town buyin' eggs. She says them Leghorns o' hers +can't begin to keep up with Henry Ward Beecher. She says, besides, 't +she hasn't no scraps to feed 'em since he's come, 'n' so the knife +cuts two ways. She's mighty glad that the observin' 's goin' to begin +to-night, f'r she says she's prayin' Heaven for relief but she ain't +got much faith left. Mr. Kimball was feelin' mighty funny, 'n' he +hollered to her 't she wa'n't the first to have her faith shook by +Henry Ward Beecher, but we was all too considerate for her feelin's to +laugh. I wouldn't laugh at a joke o' Mr. Kimball's anyhow." + +"I wish--" said Mrs. Lathrop mildly. + +"It's a curious thing," continued Susan,--"it's a mighty curious thing +how many folks is give to likin' to hear themselves talk. Mr. +Kimball's a sad example o' that kind o' man. I'd sometimes enjoy to +stop 'n' exchange a few friendly words with him, but, lor'! I'd never +get a chance. The minister is about all I c'n stand in the talkin' +line--'n' you, o' course, Mrs. Lathrop." + +* * * * * + +The evening after, as Susan was snapping out her dish-towels, she +spied her neighbor meandering back and forth among the clover +blossoms. Later she observed her standing--ruminative and ruminating, +so to speak--at the fence. There was always a potent suggestion in +Mrs. Lathrop's pose, as she leaned and waited, which vastly +accelerated Miss Clegg's after-dinner movements. In this case less +than two minutes intervened between the waiting of Mrs. Lathrop and +the answering of her younger friend. + +"Was you to--" the older woman asked, as her eyes were brightened by +the approach of her medium of communication with the world at large. + +"Oh, yes," replied that lady, "I was to town, 'n' the whole town 's +light-headed 'n' runnin' hither 'n' yon like they was ants bein' +stepped on. The town's gone plum crazy over the minister bein' gone +altogether. I do believe the only happy woman in it last night was +Gran'ma Mullins, 'n' 'f you want to see happiness, Mrs. Lathrop, you'd +ought to see Gran'ma Mullins this day. Seems 't Mrs. Sperrit was +drivin' in early last evenin' 'n' she stopped at Gran'ma Mullins to +get one o' the crick stones out o' her horse's shoe, 'n' Gran'ma +Mullins was weepin' on the piazza while little Jane chewed up her +spectacle-case, 'n after she got the stone out Mrs. Sperrit jus' up +'n' took little Jane home with her. She said 't little Jane could chew +all she liked out on the farm, 'n' Gran'ma Mullins said 't she all but +fell on her knees at her feet. She was down town this afternoon buyin' +two dozen o' cotton an' one dozen o' glue, 'n' she says 't she sh'll +spend the rest o' her allotted time in peace 'n' mendin'. + +"But Gran'ma Mullins' joy is more 'n balanced by Mrs. Brown, for Mrs. +Brown is clean discouraged. I see her sittin' on a barrel in the +grocery store, 'n' it was a molasses barrel 'n' some 'd run out, but +she hadn't no heart to care. She says 't Henry Ward Beecher never +budged last night, 'n' so far from that bein' a relief, it led to +worse 'n ever, for old Dr. Carter 'n' young Dr. Brown got so hungry +observin' 't they went downstairs, 'n' young Dr. Brown knowed where +everything was, 'n' as a result they eat up stuff 't Henry Ward +Beecher never 'd even dreamed existed. They opened jars o' fancy +pickles 'n' a jug o' rare old rum 'n' played Ned in general. 'N' +afterwards they went to bed in the guest-room where Mrs. Brown never +lets any one sleep, 'n' they got right in on top o' her Hottentot +pillow-shams 'n' old Dr. Carter tore a sham with his toothpick. 'N', +added to all that, Amelia 's furious 'cause she read in a book 't +teaches how to stay married 't a husband's first night out is the +first rift in the lute, 'n' she was down town buyin' a dictionary so +'s to be sure what a lute is afore she accuses young Dr. Brown. 'N' +there's a man over in Meadville down with a sun-stroke, 'n' they want +Dr. Carter to hurry, 'n' they can't seem to make him realize nothin'. +He jus' sits there in Mrs. Brown's parlor 'n' shakes his head 'n' +smiles 'n' says, 'Oh, that rum, that rum!' over 'n' over. 'N' Mrs. +Brown says 't if it wasn't plain from the expression of his face as he +means it as a compliment she certainly would be real mad, for he must +'a' downed two quarts. It 's all jus' awful, 'n' I would 'a' waited +'n' walked home with her, only Mrs. Allen come along 'n' I wanted to +go with her instead. Mrs. Allen needs some sympathy too, for Polly 's +all broke up over Sam 'n' Felicia Hemans. Mrs. Allen don't hesitate to +say right out't to her order o' thinkin' Sam 'd 'a' showed more sense +'f he'd married Mrs. Macy 'cause Mrs. Macy has got a little property +'n' it looks doubtful at present if Felicia 's got so much as a +father. Mrs. Allen says they was all so used up 't when Mrs. Sperrit +was in to-day she jus' traded Brunhilde Susan against the makin' o' +Mr. Sperrit's summer shirts, 'n' then went right 'n' bought the cloth +'n' took the baby. Mrs. Allen says 's Mrs. Sperrit says 't Brunhilde +Susan c'n learn if dogs moo out on the farm, 'n' f'r her part she'd +rather be responsible f'r any man's baby 'n for one husband's +collar-bands. So Brunhilde Susan 's settled, 'n' Mrs. Allen 's awful +sorry 't she didn't send the cow along with her too, for she says 't +it's harder 'n you'd think to keep a cow content nights in a +chicken-house. But she didn't think in time, so she lost the chance, +'n' as a result she was down town buyin' thread with the minister's +cow on her shoulders." + +Miss Clegg paused for breath. Mrs. Lathrop chewed passively. + +"I must say, though, 't it 's generally admitted 't we've seen the +last o' the minister. To think how he looked the mornin' he left,--in +his wilted collar 'n' that coat 't Deacon White was married in,--'n' +all the time his ear-muffs hid away somewhere about him! I wouldn't +'a' believed it--not on your honor, Mrs. Lathrop. Hind-sight 's always +better 'n fore-sight, 'n' we c'n all see now 't we did a mighty +foolish thing givin' him such a easy chance to get out of it. I can't +see, though, how he's ever goin' to get another place without sendin' +to us f'r a good character, 'n' I'm free to confess 't I don't believe +'t the father of Augustus 'll ever get any praise from the Craigs, nor +yet will the father o' little Jane from Gran'ma Mullins. The Craigs is +awful mournful to think 't they ain't got no kittens from their cat, +but owin' to the fact 't he wasn't no kitten kind o' cat he naturally +never had none. Mr. Kimball says mebbe the hairs from his tail 'll +turn into suthin' in the well like the hairs in horse's tails do in +waterin'-troughs. But 'f horse's hairs make snakes, I sh'd naturally +suppose 't cat's hairs would make mud-turtles, 'n' it ain't no +mud-turtle 't Mrs. Craig wants. She wants suthin' to warm her feet on +winters, 'n' she told me with tears in her eyes 't he never scratched +when he was rocked on, 'n' she used to rock on him so often 't by +spring he was all wore off in spots 'n' most wore through in some +places. + +"Mrs. Jilkins was up from Cherry Pond to-day f'r the first time since +she took Josephus home with her las' Saturday mornin'. She was awful +surprised to hear all the bother 't all the rest have been havin'. She +says 't she ain't had no bother a _tall_. She says 't she whipped +Josephus nine times the day 't she took him home with her, 'n' since +then she's taught him to read 'n' write 'n' sew patchwork 'n' beat up +batter. She says 'f she'd 'a' had Henry Ward Beecher he wouldn't 'a' +roamed but once, nor would little Jane 'a' give but one suck, nor Fox +but one yell, nor would Augustus 'a' throwed but one cat down _her_ +well. Mrs. Craig was standin' right there, 'n' she spoke up pretty +sharp at that 'n' said 't he hadn't throwed but one cat in her well +'n' she wanted that distinctly understood. Mrs. Jilkins jus' laughed, +but then some one up 'n' told her about the minister bein' gone f'r +good, 'n' she very quickly changed her tune. + +"That blow 's goin' to fall heaviest on Mrs. Sperrit, though, for +she's got the five littlest ones 's well 's Bobby, 'n' I miss my guess +'f she don't have another to-morrow, for Mrs. Brown says 't she's +goin' to send Henry Ward Beecher out there of an errand jus' so 's to +see if he'll sleep after a ten-mile walk, 'n' every one knows 't she's +jus' doin' it in the hope 't Mrs. Sperrit 'll keep him." + +"Let's go out--" Mrs. Lathrop suggested. + +"It'll be cooler outside," Susan acquiesced; so they quitted the table +and went out on the porch. + +"Mrs. Brown ain't a bit reconciled about her rare old rum," she went +on when they were seated; "she's bad enough used up over the +preserves, but the rum she can't seem to get reconciled to. She says +'t a saltspoonful was a sure cure f'r anythin', 'n' Dr. Carter was +perfectly sound in mind 'n' body 'n' got away with two quarts." + +There was a silence broken only by a frog's far croak. + +"I ain't a doubt but this is the worst hot spell the c'mmunity 's ever +had to deal with," the younger woman remarked after a while, "'n' the +result is 't I'd never recommend no other town to choose such a time +to give their minister a fair field 'n' no favor. I c'n only say one +thing, Mrs. Lathrop, 'n' that is 't I've begun to feel 't I've +misjudged the minister. I never would 'a' give him credit for anythin' +like this. 'N' while I think he'd ought not to 'a' done it, still I +must say 't I can't but admire--if he had it in him to try--how well +he's carried it off. + +"'N' to think 't, after all, it was our idea 's give him the chance!" + +* * * * * + +That Friday afternoon--just one week from the forever to be remembered +meeting of the Sewing Society--Mrs. Lathrop, sleeping the sleep of the +stout and elderly in her kitchen rocker, was suddenly aroused to a +swaying sense of the world about her by the sound of her name, the +same being pronounced in her neighbor's voice, the key of that voice +being pitched uncommonly high. + +"Mrs. Lathrop!--Mrs. Lathrop!--oh-h-h, Mrs. _Lathrop_!" + +Mrs. Lathrop got to the window as fast as her somewhat benumbed +members would allow. + +Susan was standing on her own side of the fence, her eyes glowing with +excitement. + +"The minister's come back!" + +Mrs. Lathrop simply fell out of the door and down the back steps. As +she hastened towards the fence, her usual custom led her to hastily +snatch a handful of her favorite blend, and then-- + +"When--" she gasped. + +"This afternoon, right after lunch. You never hear the like in all +your life! Where do you suppose he was all this week? Just nowhere at +all! Out on the farm! Yes, Mrs. Lathrop," as that worthy clung to the +fence for support in her overwhelming astonishment,--"yes, Mrs. +Lathrop, he 'n' his wife were out there on the farm all the time. +Seems 't that night when Mrs. Allen come in 'n' told 'em 't they'd got +to go on a vacation so early the nex' mornin', they was all upset. +They didn't have no money nor no clothes nor no place to go to, 'n' +the minister's wife begun to cry jus' 's soon 's Mrs. Allen was gone. +Seems she was settin' there cryin' when Mrs. Sperrit drove in, in the +cool o' the evenin', to pay her pew-rent in pigs-feet, 'n' what did +Mrs. Sperrit do but jus' up 'n' ask 'em both to come out to the farm. +Told 'em they wouldn't have no board to pay out on the farm 'n' 't +they could stay 's long 's they liked. It seemed like it was all they +could do, so they arranged it 'n' it all worked fine. Seems they took +the train to the junction, 'n' Mr. Sperrit met 'em there 'n' drove 'em +straight across country home, 'n' they 've been there ever since, 'n' +maybe they'd been there yet, only Mrs. Sperrit is like a lot o' other +people in this world,--she's forever goin' to extremes, 'n' she +couldn't be content with jus' the minister 'n' his wife 'n' Bobby, so +she had to keep bringin' home more 'n' more o' the childern, until +they was so thick out there 't to-day, when Henry Ward Beecher +arrived, the minister went to Mr. Sperrit 'n' asked him if he thought +anybody 'd mind 'f he 'n' his wife come in town 'n' finished their +vacation in their own house. I guess mebbe the Sperrits was some wore +out themselves, f'r they jus' told him 't no one could possibly +object, 'n' then they had the carryall 'n' drove 'em both in town +right after dinner. + +"I was down in the square buyin' flypaper, 'n' I heard the commotion +'n' run out, 'n'--well, Mrs. Lathrop, you c'n believe me or not jus' +'s you please--but it was a sight to draw tears to any one's eyes. +Folks waved anythin' 't they could grab, 'n' all the boys yelled 'n' +cheered. The minister was real touched--he quoted, ''N' there went up +a great multitude'--but he never got no further, f'r Deacon White +jumped up in the band-stand 'n' proposed 'No church Sunday, but a +donation party Saturday night. Who bids?' 'n' every one shrieked, +'Aye--Aye.'" + +Mrs. Lathrop's eyes kindled slowly but surely. + +"I wish--" she said, biting firmly into a large red one. + +"It's too late now," said Susan, not unkindly, "it's all over now--all +'xcept the donation party, 'n' I don't see how you c'n do much there +'nless I bring over the butter 'n' mix it for you. But you mustn't +interrupt me, Mrs. Lathrop, f'r if you do I never shall get through. + +"So the donation party was decided, 'n' Mrs. Brown's good cookin' +heart come out strong 'n' she pledged three pies right then n' there. +I put myself down f'r a pan o' biscuit, 'n' Mr. Kimball said he +believed 's the Aliens would outdo every one 'n' give a whole cow, +without no urgin' neither. Mrs. Allen laughed a little, 'n' then Mrs. +Macy come up so out o' breath 't it was all o' five minutes afore she +could get out a word. Seemed when she _did_ speak, 't she wasn't +tryin' to give nothin'--she only wanted to know about the minister's +ear-muffs, 'n' it appears 't he never took 'em a _tall_. Seems 't +Brunhilde Susan cut teeth on 'em till they was only fit to be used f'r +kettle-holders." + +Susan paused for a second. Mrs. Lathrop chewed and waited. In a minute +the narrative flowed on. + +"When every one else was through, Mrs. Sperrit said 't if she could +take 'Liza Em'ly home with her to help look after the little ones +she'd be willin' to keep 'em a fortnight more 'n' let the +minister--'n' his wife--have a real good rest in their own house. Mrs. +Maxwell spoke right up 'n' said she c'd have 'Liza Em'ly 'n' welcome, +'n' Mrs. Sweet said she c'd have Rachel Rebecca too. But Mrs. Fisher +crowded round in front 'n' said she nor no one couldn't have John +Bunyan not now 'n' not never, f'r he'd weeded 'n' mowed 'n' grafted +'n' busted his way right into her heart 'n' she was intendin' to keep +him right along 'f the minister'd give his consent. + +"She said 't Mr. Fisher felt jus' 's she did too, 'cause he'd never +been so happy 's he's been since he's had John Bunyan to teach the +fancy principles o' plain things to. Mr. Fisher come up jus' 's she +got through, 'n' he said whatever she'd said he'd stand to, for +although John Bunyan was nothin' but a darn fool now, he had the +makin' of a man in him, 'n' he--Mr. Fisher--was jus' the one to bring +him out. + +"The crowd was gettin' so big 't folks began to climb up on things to +see over, 'n' the horse was some restless, so Mr. Kimball got up on +the edge o' the waterin'-trough an' said, 'Three cheers for the +minister, 'n' may he never know how glad the town is to see him back,' +'n' then every one cheered, 'n' Mr. Kimball begin to shake, 'n' jus' +'s the minister drove off he missed his hold 'n' fell into the +waterin'-trough, 'n' I didn't feel no kind o' interest in lookin' on +at his fishin' out, so I come away." + +"I hope--" began Mrs. Lathrop. + +"I do too," rejoined her friend, "but there ain't no danger. It was +the edge bein' so slippery 't let him fall in, 'n' I don't wish to +seem revengeful, but I mus' say, Mrs. Lathrop, that if anythin' could +'a' made a nice end to the minister's vacation, it was the seein' Mr. +Kimball get soaked, f'r he ain't had no kind o' sufferin' with it all +'n' has just everlastingly enjoyed kitin' around the outside 'n' +seein' other folks in trouble. 'N' I've no sympathy with such a nature +when it does fall into a waterin'-trough, 'n' so I come home." + +Miss Clegg ceased speaking. + +Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover. + + + + +_An International Love Comedy_ + +A WOMAN'S WILL + +By Anne Warner + +Author of "Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop." + + +It is a relief to take up a volume so absolutely free from +stressfulness. The love-making is passionate, the humor of much of +the conversation is thoroughly delightful. The book is as refreshing +a bit of fiction as one often finds; there is not a dull page in +it.--_Providence Journal_. + +It is bright, charming, and intense as it describes the wooing of a +young American widow on the European Continent by a German musical +genius.--_San Francisco Chronicle_. + +A deliciously funny book.--_Chicago Tribune_. + +There is a laugh on nearly every page.--_New York Times_. + +Most decidedly an unusual story. The dialogue is nothing if not +original, and the characters are very unique. There is something +striking on every page of the book.--_Newark Advertiser_. + +A more vivacious light novel could not be found.--_Chicago +Record-Herald_. + +Illustrated by I.H. Caliga. 360 pages. 12mo. Decorated cloth, $1.50. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON _At all Booksellers'_ + + + +_An Ingenious and Engrossing Romance_ + +THE PRINCESS THORA + +By HARRIS BURLAND + +_Author of "Dacobra." Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50_ + + +A remarkably absorbing romance, conceived and planned with fine +imagination, yet carried out with all the vivid actuality and +plausibility of the most prosaic "detective" story. The nearest +counterpart of this engrossing and very unusual narrative is perhaps +to be found in the work that first made Rider Haggard famous, though +the story owes literally nothing to anything that has gone before, so +startlingly novel is its theme and so boldly convincing is its +execution. + + + +_A Romance of Early Michigan_ + +THE WOLVERINE + +By ALBERT L. LAWRENCE + +_Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50_ + + +A spirited story of love and politics, with its scenes laid in Detroit +just before Michigan became a state, and when disputes over the Ohio +boundary line nearly led to open warfare. Perry North, a young +surveyor of Puritan ideas, is sent to Detroit when he falls in love +with Marie Beaucoeur, a charming French girl, of the Catholic faith. +The English and French characters are strongly contrasted, the +incidents are novel, and the story makes a continuous impression of +actuality. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON + +_At all Booksellers'_ + + + +_Richard Le Gallienne's New Book_ + +PAINTED SHADOWS + +By the Author of "The Love-Letters of the King," etc. + +12mo. $1.50 + + +Mr. Le Gallienne's new book displays in a remarkable degree his fine +imagination, charming style, and the high quality of his verse. "The +Youth of Lady Constantia," "The Wandering Home," "The Shadow of the +Rose," "Beauty's Portmanteau," and "Old Silver" are equal to his best +work, and the story which bears the title "Poet take Thy Lute" will +appeal especially to those who love what is best and most beautiful in +literature. + + + +_The Heroine with the Marvellous Voice_ + +SWEET PEGGY + +By LINNIE SARAH HARRIS + +_With frontispiece. 12mo. $1.50_ + + +A summer idyll, with love, music, and nature for its themes, and the +mountains and lakes for its scenes. The heroine, Peggy, is charming, +fresh, and unconventional, with a genuine love for song. The country +neighbors with their peculiarities give touches of both humor and +pathos to this appealing story. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON + +_At all Booksellers'_ + + + +_Far outside the common run of fiction.--Dial, Chicago_ + +THE WOOD-CARVER OF 'LYMPUS + +By M.E. WALLER + +Author of "A Daughter of the Rich," etc. + +With frontispiece by Chase Emerson. 12mo. 311 pages. $1.50 + + +A strong tale of human loves and hopes set in a background of the +granite mountain-tops of remote New England.--_Brooklyn Eagle_. + +Hugh Armstrong, the hero, is one of the pronouncedly high class +character delineations of a quarter century.--_Boston Courier_. + +It is a book which does one good to read and which is not readily +forgotten; for in it are mingled inextricably the elements of humor +and pathos and also a strain of generous feeling which uplifts and +humanizes.--Harry Thruston Peck, Editor of _The Bookman_. + +A few books are published every year that really minister to the tired +hearts of this hurried age. They are like little pilgrimages away from +the world across the Delectable Mountains of Good.... This year it is +"The Wood-Carver of 'Lympus."... It is all told with a primitive +sweetness that is refreshing in these days when every writer +cultivates the clever style.--_Independent_, New York. + +The book is as manly as "Ralph Connors," and written with a more +satisfying art.--Amos E. Wells, in _Christian Endeavor World_. + +LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON + +_At all Booksellers'_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop +by Anne Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSAN CLEGG AND HER FRIEND *** + +***** This file should be named 15899.txt or 15899.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/8/9/15899/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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