THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON. OREGON, 1HI RSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1898.
and he stopped him and learned serv an t.
“ Look at your hands!’’
she said.
how sick his m other was.
—.
**
Then he felt in duty bound to call
“ They are not very black, I know
D a u g h te r-In -L a w .
on her. He w ent, ami the old lady But they are used to doing house­
was greatly surprised and, as he j work, m adam , I assure you. Will
could see, som ew hat pleased to see i you try m e?”
“Oh, come now, N ancy! if I was
him.
“ Y ou cam e from the city ,” said
you I wouldn’t take on! Maybe it’ll
But not once did she ask for or M other H aw kins, w ithout answer­
all turn out right,” said the sociable
allude to his wife.
ing the question.
“ Do you live
neighbor, who had dropped in to
“ Mother, you ought to have a th ere ?”
take a dish of tea, as Mother Haw-
“ Yes, m adam .”
girl,” said W ill.
kins wiped her eyes with her apron.
“ W ell, goodness, so I ought;”
“ Then what do you know about
“ W al, rnebhe ’twill!” sighed the
groaned the old lady. “ I told Jo h n farm w ork?”
good lady.
to get Lucy Jones for a few days, if
“ E v ery th in g ,” the stranger an­
to talk to me.”
“ But it don’t seem so now. Sit
Mrs. .Jones knew the stubborn he could. But she a in ’t no m anner sw ered,confidently. “ I was brought
up, .Mis’ Jones; the cream biscuit’ll old lady well enough to believe o’ ’count if she comes; and where to up on a farm and have only lived
spile with w aitin.’ Poor Will! he that. So she sai 1 no more. But get anybody the mercy k n o w s— I in the city three years.”
was so fond o’ them biscuits! Pll after she got home she said .0 het- don’t. I ’ve tried everyw here.”
“ But them line clothes!” sighed
bet she can’t make 'em! ¡'ain’t his own fam ily:
“ I think perhaps I could send M other H aw kins.
m arry in ’ I mind so m uch,’’she went
“ I have plain calico ones in mv
“ If I had as likely a son as W ill you out one,” said W ill. “ Good
on, as she poured the frag ran t tea H aw k i„„ I wou|d n ’t goback o n ’im girls can sometimes be found in satchel,” said this odd girl.
into the th in , old china cups. “ If fur no gal • that
■ ever drawed
-
. breath;
. .
town.”
“ W hat wages do you w ant?”
he’d a-m arried a decent country gal, a n ’ PH het a penny Nancy H aw ­
“ W ell, for p ity ’s sake, do it then.
“ W hatever you usually p ay .”
an let her come here to live long o’ kins lives to wish she h a d n ’t.’’
I ’ll pay her well, if she’s worth her
“ I generally give two dollars and
me, I w ouldn’t a-eared. But no!
a h alf.”
Meantime in his cozy home in sa lt.”
he m ust go taggin’ after one o’ them the H
w j)| b a |, beel) g]oomiiy
“ I’ll try ,” said W illiam . “ I m aj
“ Very well, th at will suit me.”
finified city gala. N othin’ e l s e ’u’d r(,a(n „g his old m other’s last curt not succeed, but if I can find one
“ W hat would you do first if you
do him! Mis’ Jones,do have another j , tp|.
I ’ll send her out on the noon train. stayed?”
lum p o’ sugar in your tea?”
I „ Don>t ,e, u worry y0Uj w i |, „ I f you don’t like her you needn't
“ The first thing, I would make
“ No. Mis’ Haw kins, the tea is Haid big bride> 60()thinglv.
keep her, you know.”
you a cup of tea and a bit of toast.
jest right now.”
he|f) ¡( L i,y>>, wag ,)ig
“ Oh, I ’ll be glad to get anybody,” Then I would change my dress, go
“ W al, take a slice more o’ this
|y ,<8he wag g|
guch a groaned the sick old lady, tossing down stairs and get to work.”
br’.led ham , then. I t’s our own gO(,(j lnother
me th a t it h u rts me restlessly.
“ F or p ity ’s sake, do it, then!”
home-cured pork.”
• t() haye her
gQ wrong and obgti.
Jo h n came hack just then, s a y - • said M other H aw kins, as with a
“ T hank ye, I don’t care ef I do
ing th a t Lucy Jones was away on a sigh of intense relief she dropped
nate.”
take a bite more. I don’t eat much
“ Go out and see her and talk it visit and c<>uld not be hired; so back upon her pillows.
in general; but your vittles is so
W ill, who m ust leave at once to
The stranger left the room, and
over,” suggested Lily,
good they kind o’ g.veone an appe-1 ..N everr , an6wered W ill, firmly. catch the up train , promised agaiu in a short time she was back again
tite .”
with the tea and toast tem ptingly
“ Unless business takes me, I shall to do his best to find a girl.
“ W al, yes,” said M other H aw ­ never enter my old home, unless
“ I reckon I ’d orter asked after arranged on a waiter, and as nice as
kins, with another sigh. “ Will
you go too.
If my m other cannot h er ,” said the sick woman to h e r­ h an d s could make them .
alw ays ’lowed I was a fair cook.
After they were disposed of, she
receive my wife she cannot receive self after he was gone, and she had
And he was th at fond o’ good e a tin ’I
me. I t is no use talking to me not even asked him to come hack. brought fresh w ater ami towels,
And I ’low he’ll git none o’ it now.”
“ But I couldn’t get the consent of bathed M other H aw k in s’s hot face
about it.”
“ Mebbe he will, Mis’ H aw kins.
and hands, and brushed her hair
There was a touch of the old la- i my own m ind to do it, nohow.”
I ’ve knowed some o’ them cit y folks
Jo h n scraped up w hat he could neatly back under her cap.
d y ’s stubborn spirit in the son, you
what was fust-rate cooks, a n ’ liked
for dinner, and about 1 o’clock he
“ There, th a t is better, isn’t it? ”
see.
the country, too.”
Mother H aw kins was a stout, cam e upstairs and said, “ There’s a she asked.
“ Oh, yes! they all like to come
fleshy old lady; but she did all her lady down stairs to see you, m um .”
“ Yes, indeed,” sighed the sick
out for a week or so while berries is
“ A lady? Good gracious! a n ’ me woman.
except for a few weeks in sum m er,
ripe. But you fetch em out a n ’ set . . . .
, ,
“ W h at's your name, c h ild ? ”
,
.
, . , e .
.
. when haying and harv« sting came in this fix. W ho is it, Jo h n ? ”
em to cookin’ for harvest hands
J
“ I h a in ’t no idea who, m um .”
“ M ary S herm an.”
on.
when it’s right hot, a n ’ you’d see!”
“ Well, fetch her up, since it’s got
“ Well, M ary, if you do as well
T his season, right in the m idst of
“ W ill’s wife m av not be one o’
haying, Mary Jane, the hired girl, to be; there’s no help for it. I hope for the rest as you have for me, I
th a t kind, Nancy.
, . ..
. , ,
,
....
, • , tt e
11
, 1 Rd* ° u t of the haymow-, where she ’ta in ’t no com pany come to stay,for sh all think it was the L ord’s massy
“ Bet she is! He found her ’tend- . . .
.
.
„
sent you here.”
had been hunting for eggs, and I co uldn’t keep her if ’tis.”
in ’ a boardin, school. An’ jest think
Jo h n departed, presently re tu rn ­
broke her arm , and of course she
“ I shall try to be useful, hut it
of it! they do say it is a Infidel
had to go home. Not another girl ing with a tall, handsom e lady, will take me a few days to learn
school into the bargain.
Oh, I
black cash- about things in the house.”
could be got for love or money, and dressed in a stylish
V
know w hat kind of a giddy, harum -
so M other Haw kins had to do all mere.
“ Mebbe I ’ll be down by that
scarum thing she m ust he. A n’ I
herself.
“ Good d ay ,” said Mrs. H aw ­ tim e,” sighed M other H aw kins, as
a in ’t goin’ to have an y th in g to do
1 he two hired men could get the kins, seeing she did not know the she settled herself for a nap.
with ’em —th a t’s flat!
An’ I told
u r„
«
.
.. e
. wood and do the m ilking and lady.
But she was not down in a dav
\\ ill so when he writ for me to ,
.
B
“ Good afternoon,’’ said the lady, or two. It was four weeks before
churning. But Mrs. H aw kins had
come an ’ see ’em m arried.”
to sweat over the stove, and the pleasantly, advancing toward the she could be helped down to the
“ La, Mis’ Hawkins! d id n ’t you
“ I suppose you are Mrs. sitting-room . But everything had
w eather growing hotter every day. bed.
go?”
And one m orning Mother H aw kins H aw kins?”
gone on as orderly under M ary’s
“ No, I d id n ’t. Here, have an o th ­
“ Yes, I be.” And the sick wo­ h an d s as if M other H aw kins had
could not get up. The hired men
er spoonful o’ this honey, Mis’ Jones
got the best breakfast they could, m an wondered w hat was coming been m istress herself. A nd no sis­
- —do.
I t ’s made o’ w hite clover,
and then Mrs. H aw kins sent one of next.
ter or m other ever had more u n tir­
a n ’ as clear as can he. There! No,
“ I hear you are in need of a g irl,” ing care th an she gave to the sick
them for the doctor, bidding him to
I d id n ’t go, a n ’ I writ to W ill he stop on the way home and see if said the stranger.
woman, who felt th a t indeed she
needn't fetch her here, neither.”
“ Lord knows I am !” groaned Mo­ had found a treasure, and couldjnot
Lucy Jones w ouldn’t come and stay
“ Now, Mis’ Haw kins, you d id n ’t, until she could find a girl.
ther H aw kins.
bear to th in k of the tim e when M a­
really?”
“
W
ell,
your
son,
Mr.
H
aw
kins,
<
Now it so happened th a t import-
ry m ust go away.
“ Yes, I did,” said the old lady, a n t business brought W ill Haw- sent me out from the city to see if
W illiam had w ritten twice to
I
would
suit
you.”
dogged ly.
“ I know a hull lot o’ kins out to Downport th at very
know how his m other was, but he
them university graduates — a- m orning.
H e did not intend to
“ A ou!” M other H aw kins sat up had not been down again.
sw itchin’ a n ’ a-draggin their long- visit his m other; but he saw John in bed, in surprise at this elegant
I he day th a t M other H aw kins
tailed gowns, a n ’ a-hangin, their J coining out of the doctor’s office, woman asking for the place of a went to the table for the first time
M
h a ir when their heads ought to he
hanged, a n ’ a-hum pin’ them selves
up with hustles, to look like a cam ­
el, a n ’ the Lord knows w hat all,fur
I don’t. But I set my face agin
ern. Will is a-tn ak in ’ money there,
ftn> there he’ll stay till she spends
¡fc a y
Then be»u WHnt to come
bilck to hi„ ,44 m am m y. But he
ca|J»l do
j j f. l«-ft his m other an'
tO()k Up wj(h her, a n ’ now’ he may
.pgt fetjck t<) her, a n > make tbe be8t
Q, hjH bad bargain!
’T ain ’t any use
irg