Lincoln County leader., May 13, 1904, Image 3

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THE COUNTRY ROAD.
From the busy fields of farmer-folk
It starts on Its winding way,
Goes over the hill, and across the brook.
Where the minnows love to play;
Then, past the mill with its water wheel.
And the pond that shows the sky;
'And up to the bridge by the village store,
And the church with Its spire so high.
Ton would never think that the country road.
From the hill te the store, could be
Bo long to a boy with an errand to do
And another boy to see.
You can never dream how short it Is
From the farm to the frozen pond.
Nor how very much further it always la
To the school house just beyond.
i
Oh, the country road! at the farther end
It runs up hill and down,
Away from the woods and the rippling brook
To the toiling, rushing town.
But, best of all, when you're tired and sick
Of the noisy haunts of men,
If you follow it back, It will lead you homa
To the woods and fields again.
-St Nicholas.
routn branch l-arm
rpHEl Taney s had lived on the
II South Branch Farm since colony
times, and no Taney had ever
cheated a man of a cent They lent
no money, and they borrowed none;
they never sat at any man's table, or
asked a guest to theirs.
The Taney pew a front one was
filled every Sunday, come rain or
shine. : Mrs. Taney, a middle-aged
woman, with her gray hair 'in a tight
tittle knot behind, and wearing the
tame rusty black gown and bonnet
for . a dozen years, was always, like
the others present But sometimes
the was asleep. For this was the
one hour In the week when she could
tit down on a cushion, and fold her
hands. ' The air was warm; the music
oft a&d sweet; no wonder she slept
Sometimes the words that were read
stirred her soul; it seemed as if her
childhood woke, as if the tears must
come to her long dry eyes. But they
never did. By the time she had walk
ed home with her son William, the
strange story of Bethlehem, or heav
enly glory to come, had faded into a
doubtful dream, and all that was real
was the South Branch farm, the price
of pork, or the fall In potatoes. After
church, dinner must be ready, (piping
hot too, on account of the boarder), in
half an hour; then she had the sheep
to look after, and the poultry to feed;
then supper; then milking. The Ta
oeys had never kept any "help." Mrs.
Taney had brought up six children,
been sole cook, seamstress, tailor and
dairy maid; yet her husband, old Ben,
always had said:
"Sarah s not a capable woman. No
Taney blood in her."
Ben had been dead five years; but
his wife went on, carrying a growing
load, on the back which lacked bone.
William was a harder task-maker than
his father had been; the very oxen
felt the lash oftener, and their corn
fell off one-half. He sat in the kitch
en now, with a book before him, while
his mother and youngest sister, Letty,
were cooking supper.
"Take that butter off of the table,"
he said suddenly. "Molasses will do.
What are you cooking meat for? It's
not necessary. Put it back in the
cellar." .
"Yes. William," replied the mother,
submissively. "Only I thought the
boarder "
"We can't afford to feed him like a
osd. You'll have to exercise econo
my, mother, I can't always be here
to look after things. How can I ever
pay for the meadow lots, if the money
Is thrown about In this way?"
Mrs. Taney forgot to eat her bread
Dr drink her milk. The meadow lots!
It was to buy these lots that her hus
band had made their lives bare, and
hard, and wretched, from their wedding-day.
The good, wholesome prod
uce of the farm, which should have
fed the children, had gone to market
while they ate the refuse; the money,
which should have educated them, had
been put in the bank to buy these lots.
When her baby wbb ill, no doctor was
brought and the child died; the money
tared went to the lots; the mother had
begged for a head-stone for the grave.
There was Letty, growing to be a
woman, half-clothed, without a spar
kle of fun or pleasure to lighten her
young life; while poorer girls dressed
and went out and had company, and
enjoyed, as the young should, days
fJ'.ed with comfort and happiness. Br
pry penny thus saved, William laid by
for "the lota." Yes! those twelve
acres had come to be the absolute
God for these people. Not a happy
Ufe, nor God. nor heaven.
After supper his mother followed
tslaj out
"William," aha said, desperately,
tow many years will It be before you
ean buy the lots?"
"Tears! The lots P la unfeigned
amazement "I how on earth can
you understand business?"
It was the first time she had ever
spoken In this way.
"I don't know. But I am afraid I
will not live to see it It is so
long "
She went back to the kitchen. The
dishes stood untouched upon the ta
ble, and little Letty was seated upon
the steps, a basket of red peaches be.
side her, which the boarder brought
down from his room.
He was a young man, a teacher in
a Virginia country school, who had
come up to these hills geologizing In
his summer vacation.
"I brought them from the McBride
farm, Mrs. Taney," he said. "They
are a very common kind in the Shen
andoah valley," handing them to her.
Mrs. Taney's thin features grew
warm.
"I remember a tree at home Just
like these," she said, " by the old mill.
My old nurse used to hold me up to
pull them for myself."
"Your little girl tells me you came
from Fauquier County. It Is a fine
county."
"It Is the most beautiful In the
world," said Mrs. Taney.
She stopped and went In hastily.
She felt the tears choking her. She
could hear Mr. Burke tell the child
that his school was In Fauquier, and
that he often passed her grandfather's
house. It was for sale now with a
dozen acres about it; would sell very
cheaply, no doubt Land had depre
ciated since the war. "A quiet com
fortable little homestead, too," he said,
"as any in the State."
Mrs. Taney paused in her work.
"Oh, if I could only show it to Let
ty," she said to herself. "The dear
old farm. The sunny porches, the
Bourbon roRes, and the great oaks
centuries old. She never had spoken
of her old home to her other children,
but to Letty she had talked of It often
when they were alone. Letty was
like herself, the others were all Ta
neys." She came to the door.
"Do you know, Mr. Burke, If there
Is an old negro on the place a gar
dener?" "Uncle Tod? Oh, everybody knows
the old man. And his stories about
the Clevclands, de family, as be calls
them."
"We were the Clevelands. And old
Tod Is really living yet?" she laughed
for the first time in a year.
When Letty had gone In, Mr. Burke
pneed up and down the porch. He
was a manly, large-natured young
man, and his heart ached with pity
for the poor, pinched lives of this child
arsd her mother. All he could do to
show them kindness was to lend books
to Letty, which she devoured eagerly,
for she was fond of reading, In fact
she had obstinately persisted in stay
ing at' the free school until she had
educated herself.
William Taney waited until the
young man had gone, and then he
went Into the pantry, where Lis moth
er was straining the last crook of milk.
Something In his manner made her set
it down, trembling.
"You have bad news to tell," she
said.
No," with an uneasy, stricken
laugh. "Most folks call it good. Fact
is, mother, I've made up my mind to
marry "
"Oh, William," her old checks color
ing. "I made up my mind three months
ago. And the girl's courted, and the
wedding's to be to-morrow. There
now. No need for you to look In that
way. I'm generally pretty close
mouthed about my own business, you
might know that And I didn't choose
to hare the matter cackled over at
home. The girl's Miss Sophy Craw
ford." His mother came toward him. He
was her son after all, and this was
the turning-point of his life. She put
her arms about him and kissed him.
"God bless you, my boy," she said.
He stood Immovable as a log.
"Don't let us have any fuss," he
said. "You'd better sit down. You're
shaking all over. Well, that's all.
There'll be no wedding hubbub here.
I don't hold to spending money in
feeding a lot of guzzling fools. The
Crawfords have a regular blowout In
the morning. But you don't want to
go, I reckon?" uneasily.
"I should like to see you married,"
timidly.
"Oh, nonsense. There's no sickly
sentiment about me. I'll have Sophy
home by supper time. You'll have to
see to things here."
He lighted his candle and turned to
go.
"By the way she was here a month
ago."
"Yes." Mrs. Taney remembered dis
tinctly the gross-featured, black-eyed
young woman,' who had swaggered
through the farm-house in her cheap
silk and gilt jewelry.
"She came to look at her new home
well she rather took a fancy to the
sou ill chamber. You'd better nx it up
for her."
"My room, William?"
"Yes. It's all the same to you. Of
course you can go up to Letty's."
Letty, who had been at work in
side, came out and threw her arms,
sobbing, about her mother. She knew
that it had been her mother's room
for thirty years. All Mrs. Taney's
children had been born in it the baby
died there. .
William stopped and came back,
saying:
"Now, look here. It's Just as well
to speak plainly at once. I'll have no
opposition from you, Letty, nor from
from any other woman. I'm the
head of this house. My wife shall be
mistress of it She brings me a snug
bit of money and I'll not have her nor
her family Insulted In It"
"My son."
But he stalked off to bed.
There was no time the next day,
for Mrs. Taney or Letty to even think
of the coming trouble.
While they were hanging out
clothes that afternoon, Mrs. Taney
heard a tap, three times repeated, on
the orchard fence. Letty's face color
ed. She dropped the clothes and ran
behind the apple-tree. As she came
back her mother saw her thrust a
note Into her pocket Mrs. Taney
grew suddenly sick at heart Letty
with a secret Letty carrying on a
clandestine love affair?
While Mrs. Taney stood doubting
whether to ask the child for her con
fidence, Letty had disappeared. A few
moments later, the girl went down
the road in her clean dress and sun
bonnet. Mr. Burke, coming over the fields
that afternoon, with his hatchet and
bag of specimens, was amazed to see
Letty standing on the road in earnest
conversation with a man. "A coarse,
red-Jawed, beery feliow," was his an
gry verdict The fellow talked long
and earnestly. Then he took Letty's
hand and pressed It fervently. Burke
turned his back on them, and struck
across the hills. The gill's mother
should hear of this at once, he said to
himself, decidedly. Then he slacken
ed his pace. What was it to him
Why should he vex himself about this
girl Or meddle In her love affairs?
He went slowly back to the hills. But
the uiood rushed with a strange beat
through his veins.
In an hour Letty was back at work
wltu redoubled vigor, to make up for
loRt time. Her mother scanned her
innocent, meek face with a breathless
terror.
Surely there was no guilt there. She
would not doubt bcr; she would not
ask a question.
"I have dressed the table with flow
ers," the mother snld, "and made a
cake a real bride's cake. I hope
William won't be angry. But this Is
so different from weddings in Vir
ginia. Oh, Letty, if you and I could
only go to the old house and sleep for
one night In the room which was mine
when I was a child. I think Just that
thing would give me years of life."
"There they come," cried Letty, as
the big Crawford carriage was seen
dashing up th road. She grew very
pale and shrank buck. The girl had
always been afraid of her brother
William; and his wife, she suspected,
would be as hard a ruler and a more
vulgar one.
But Mrs. Taney led her to the porch.
"You must welcome them, Letty,"
she said.
The bride watched them- from the
carriage window with keen, Jealous
eyes. Her father had given her a hint
as to her future course.
"You've made a good match, Sophy,"
he said. "BUI Taney's got as long a
purse as any man in the country, and
the farm's comfortable. But the old
woman and ber da'ater will be a draw
back. They'll try to rule over' you
roughshod, likely. Just take your
stand at once. Let 'em see you will
be mistress In your own home."
Trust me for that pappy," said
Miss Sophy.
The whole Crawford family had ac
companied her to see how she would
hold her ground.
When poor Mrs. Taney stepped for
ward, therefore, her thin face red
dening, and her hands held out the
bride received her welcome with a
careless nod.
"I hope you will be happy in your
new home, my dear," Bald the gentle
lady.
"Oh, no doubt ma'am! I generally
hold my own pretty well. Come in,
pappy. Come, iaue. I want you to see
my house before It is dark. Here's
the living room. Bill must fit that up
into a parlor double quick, too. D'ye
hear that Mr. Taney?" laughing
loudly. "You needn't trouble yourself,
ma'am, to show the way. Come along,
all of you."
William stopped, and looked with
suuden pity at his mother, and then
followed his wife, who went talking
loudly, up the stairs. r; ''
Mrs. Taney and Letty pjaced the
supper on the table. The bride came
In, the noisiest of thenoisy party. She
went hastily to the head of the table
saying, " .
"This is my place, I believej
William gravely motioned his moth
er to a seat among the strangers. His
wife bore herself as though she had
been mistress for years, and found
fault freely when the humor seized
her. The bread was dry as chaff, the
ham was bitter with salt she said.
"That's your idea of cooking, moth
er Taney, eh? I'll give you a hint or
two; to-morrow. We young people
have progressed, you know."
"Not tiiat I mean to take the work
out of their hands," she said to her
sister, aside. "No, no! If we feed
'em they've got to earn their bread."
Letty overheard the whisper, and
her scared "face grew a shade paler.
"Very nice old sliver, William," said
the bride, directly, weighing the
spoons on her finger, and then read
ing the mark.
"Cleveland, eh? You must have
that altered, please, to our Initials. I
can't use spoons with strange names
on 'em."
William glanced uneasily at . his
mother. But the latter did not speak.
"Very well, my dear, it shall be as
you please," he said.
One morning Letty came into the
room, when William stood Joking with
his wife before going to the field. They
looked at her with astonishment, for
the girl was always silent and shy.
"Brother, I want to speak to you,"
she said, catching her breath.
"Well, go on," said Sophy, Impa
tiently. "What are you afraid of?"
Letty spoke directly to William, ig
noring her. "The potatoes and apples
must be picked over, and the cellars
are damp. Could one of the hands do
It?"
' "Good gracious! Do you want har
vesting to stop?" cried Sophy. "You
and mother Taney can do it at your
leisure. Do you suppose your brother
pays men such ruinous wages to .wait
on a lot of women?"
"You have always done it" said
William.
"Mother is not well, William."
"Well, manage It as you like. I
can't be bothered with the kitchen
work," he burst out
Letty left the room hastily. .
"That's right, William. The truth
Is. you're too open-handed. You can't
afford a parcel of able-bodied women
in idleness, If you ever mean to buy
the meadow lots."
"That's a fact!"
The mention of the meadow lots
keyed his courage.
When he came back that afternoon
he found Sophy, resplendent in a p.nk
tlowered muslin entertaining half a
dozen girls In the parlor. He Btopped
to Joke and romp with them. The
next moment the door opened, and
Letty stood, like a ghost on the
threshold.
"Come to mother!" she said.
"What Is the matter?"
"You have killed her, I think," she
said quietly.
The poor old woman had sunk down
on the floor of the cellar and lay as
If dead.
William trembled as he lifted her.
The doctor of the village happened to
pass at lite moment
"No, she Is not dead," he said, after
examining her. "Great exhaustion. It
will be a long Illness. She must have
rest and careful nursing."
Letty stopped forward.
"She will have, both. Mr. Burke,
will you carry her to Mrs. Wright's
across the road? She has promised to
give me a room."
The crowd about her were so' stun
ned at the child's action that they did
nothing to oppose it .
Mr. Burke promptly lifted the thin
figure in his arms, and laid her in the
bed In Mrs. Wright's shaded spare
room, before William had recovered
his senses.
"Don't you see how disgraceful this
looks?" Sophy cried, shaking him.
"Your mother turned out What will
folks say?"
He hurried after Letty, scolding and
ordering them back. But Letty did not
answer him.
"Mrs. Wright will charge boarding.
D'ye hear?"
"I shall pay her," said Letty Quietly.
Mrs. Taney's Illness lasted for
weeks. William's wife smoothed the
matter over to the community as best
she could. "The Wright house was
more quiet than hers. She was will
ing to pay the boarding to Insure com
fort to dear mother Taney," et cetera.
Secretly she rejoiced to escape the
trouble of the sick woman.
When Mrs. Taney was able to come
down to the porch of the cool farm
house for the first time, she sent for
William and his wife. The doctor
was there, and Mr. Burke and Judge
W right and little Letty and a man
whom Mr. Burke at once recognized
as "the fellow," and so he turned hia
back on Mm contemptuously.
"You've got quite a color, Mother
Taney," said Sophy. "You'll soon.be
able to come over. Help with the can
ning, eh?"
"Mrs. Taney," said the doctor,
"needs a long season of rest before
health is restored. I have recommend
ed a change of air1 a Journey "
William exchanged alarmed glances
with his wife.
"Why, you must take us for mil
lionaires, doc," she cried. "Change of
air? Journey? That sort of prescrip
tion suits city, fine ladles. But farm
ers' wives, who have to earn their liv
ing, can't take time for such folder
ols." The doctor would have answered,
but Letty put her hand on his arm.
There was a faint pink on her cheeks,
and her blue eyes sparkled like steel.
"Fortunately, my mother," she said
gently, "Is not in such a strait I
have arranged for her to take the
journey. We are going to-morrow to
Virginia. I have bought her old home,
and we shall live there. She will
have a long change of air."
William turned ghastly pale.
"Bought? What money had you?"
"Her own share of the estate," said
Judge Wright calmly. "Letty is of
age. She seems to have always been
under the impression that she and her
mother were dependent upon you. She
came to ask me about it two months
ago; and I, as her guardian and execu
tor, had nothing more to do than to
hand her over her share, which was,
you know, In bonds. She has chosen
to invest it in Virginia land. Mr.
Hlpps made the purchase for her,"
nodding to the beery lawyer, who nod
ded gravely back again.
Mr. Burke moved suddenly over to
his side, with a beaming recognition.
"How do you propose to live on this
farm?" said William.
"My mother will withdraw her por
tion of the estate," said Letty.- "She
Is entitled to a third, you know."
"Withdraw? Thirds? Why, I've
use for it If she does that I have
done with the meadow lots!"
His voice was like that of an en
raged dog. (
"You seem, William," said Judge
Wright "strangely to have forgotten
the position of your mother and sis
ter. You have drawn the interest of
your mother's money. It must all, of
course, be refunded. Little Letty has
a clear head. She will manage very
well. By the way, she has suggested
to me that your wife should send over
the Cleveland silver, and all other
household property belonging to your
mother before marriage."
When William and his wife went
out of the gate, he seemed to have
shrunk Into a smaller and older man.
The last words heard from him were
"lots." "It's all your fault" in a
fierce bitterness.
When they had all gone, Letty put
her head down on her mother's lap.
"Now, mother," she said, "for the
roses and the old oaks, and rest and
home! We shall find poor black Tod
there, waiting; and all your
friends "
There was an uneasy cough behind
them. It was Mr. Burke, waiting to
say good-by.
"I shall be a neighbor, too, Miss
Letty."
"Yes, I remember," blushing very
much.
He held her hand a moment.
"You you are not sorry that I shall
be there too?"
But Letty only blushed more ab
surdly, and could not answer. Peter
son's Magazine.
Chinese Humor.
The Chinese minister was asked the
other day if there were any Chinese
humorists, says the New York World.
"Oh, yes," he replied, "plenty of
them. There are some very good Jokes
In Chinese literature."
"Tell one," said the visitor.
"Well," said the minister, "this Is a
famous Chinese story. There was once
a traveler stopped at the house of a
friend for some refreshment He asked
for a cup of tea. It so happened that
the friend had no tea in the house,
but said he would send his son" to bor
row some from a neighbor. The wife
put a pot of water on the fire to boil.
The son did not return and It became
necessary to add some cold water to
that boiling In the pot This was done
several times. The son did not return
with the tea and finally the wife said.
Inasmuch as the tea does not seem to
be forthcoming, perhaps you had bet
ter offer your guest a bath.' "
It's always a cold day for an office
holder whea he gets fired.