A Hoosier Chronicle

shed his errands in town, and begged to be excu

for a longer drive than I should expect you to s

m. The novelty of the drive, however, quickly won her to the best of spirits. Mrs. Owen appeared ready for this adventure with her tall figure wrapped in a linen "duster." Her hat was a practical affair of straw, unadorned save

alt court. "Um,-that's just what I thought. That new blacksmith knows his business.

n this way under a high blue sky, beside a woman whose ways and interests were so unusual. The spirited team held Mrs. Owen's attention, but she never allowed the conversation to flag. Several times as they crossed car lines it seemed to Sylvia that

s. She referred to other tracks at Lexington and Louisville as though they were, of course, something that everybody knew about. The sun was hot, but Mrs. Owen did not seem to mind the heat a particle. The superintendent looked the sorrels over carefully; they had taken no end of ribbons at fairs and horse shows. Here was a team, Mrs. Owen announced, that she was not afraid to show in Madison Square Garden against any competitors in

his team; but he hasn't bid up high enough yet. It tickles me to think that some of those rich fellows down in New York will pay me a good price when I send 'em down there to the sho

g of horse races she had not imagined that there could be such a thrill in speeding along a stretch of good road behind a pa

some," observed Mrs. Owen with satisfa

de such a character possible; but none had ever questioned her kindness of heart. And in spite of her frank, direct way of speech she was not deficient in tact. Sally Owen had an active curiosity, but it was of the healthy sort that wastes no time on trifling matters. She was curious about Sylvia, for Sylvia was a little different from the young girls she knew. Quite nat

o to school, Sy

real school,-but grandfather tea

re now abo

been talking to grandfathe

here. I know some of 'em. Let's see. What they say against colleges for women is that the girls who go there learn to

a laugh; and having opened the subject sh

ers. I belong to a generation of women who know how to sew rag carpets and make quilts and stir soft soap in an iron kettle and darn socks; and I can still cure a ham better than any Chicago facto

via; "then after that

f teachers; they're always having nerv

replied Sylvia. "I thin

I couldn't see what she was interested in much but

been to one," S

theatre since I saw Jefferson in the 'Rivals' the last time he came round. There used to be a stock company at the Metropolitan about war-time that beat any

point of contact, Mrs. Owen expressed her pity for any child that did not enjoy a round of sassafras tea every spring. Sassafras in the spring, and a few dos

n it, and show me pictures of the bugs they take with the microscope, I don't snort just because my grandfather didn't know about those things and lived to be eighty-two and then died fr

e's very nice and ever so

before literary clubs. Mrs. Bassett runs a woman's club in Fraserville and she's one of the lights in the Federation. They got me up to Fraserville to speak to their club a few years ago. It's one of these solemn clubs women have; awful literary and never get nearer home than Doc

s. Owen was looking at her fixedly, with mirth kindling in her shrewd old eyes. Sylvia had no idea what

about silos. I told 'em I'd come back and read my little p

s into town at a comfortable trot. They traversed the new residential a

a cook so far away from Washington Street. I let go of ten acres right here in the eighties; we used to think the town would stop at

oticed that Mrs. Owen did not always pronounce words in the same way, but such variations are marked among our Southwestern people, particularly where, as in Mrs. Owen's case, they have lived on both sides of the Ohio River. Sometimes she said "hoss," unmistakably; and here,

Don' you think I'm blind and can't tell when you boys dig a broom into a varnished buggy! Next time I catch yo'

ia thought she heard suppressed guffawing in

day and try the Irish"; but Mrs. Sally Owen had often made this thre

lvia was struck with pity for him. He insisted, however, that he was perfectly well

u been having?" he asked as

I've learned a lot to-day-a great man

rse

s. Owen knows all about them. And that team we drove behind is wonderful;

better put on your white dress,-you brought one

ng up behind them with the linen duster flung over her arm. "If you have

k out the gown, exclaiming, "Well, well" (Sylvia didn't know why), and wen

country to the retiring age, had just come home to live in the capital of his native state. He was short and thick and talked in a deep, growling voice exactly as admirals should. The suns and winds of many seas had bur

e. "I remember your mother very well. Andy, I recall distinctly that you and your wife were at Old Point in about th

I remember that winter at Old Point. I was waiting for my husband there. You look li

the words of these strangers thrilled her strangely and caused the tears to shine suddenly in her eyes. I

n with a long, curious stride. He had shaken hands with Professor Kelton, and Mrs. Owen in

s Sylvia Garrison

sometime earlier, the pastor of the First Congregational Church, but after a sojourn in other fields had retired to live among his old parishioners in the city which had loved him best. It had been said of him in the days of his pastorate that he drew the largest congregations and the smallest collections of any preacher

on here till my Indian sends me a postal that the fishing is right on the Nipigon. Nothing like getting off the

y and when he laughed the glasses jingled. Every one was in the best of spirits and Sylvia was relieved to find that her grandfather was enjoying himself immensely. The admiral's jokes harked back to old times, when he and Kelton were at the Naval Academy, or to their adventures in the war. It was odd to hear Mrs. Owen and the admiral calling her gr

tory. I suppose you know a good deal

've never s

nd. I wanted to see Burns's country and the house at Chelsea

day that you'd served in the Army. I wish I'd had a chapla

at Ware with a t

vered," he remarked to Sylvia

Army did you serve in?

lry," replied the minister qu

a fighting man?"

r. Four years of it. Didn't begin fighting the Devil till

s evident that he did not care to discuss his military experiences; in a

elieve the people of Indiana will submit to it. The bosses need big cities to prey on and we aren't big enough for them to work in and hide in. We all live in the open and we're

ett?" asked the admiral. "I hope

give him the best licks I can. He's a Democrat, but I'm not; neither am I a Republican. They're all just as crooked as a dog's hind leg. I gave up when they beat Tilden out of the pr

" grumbled the admira

ed Ware. "You can hardly call him a

remember, Mrs. Owen, I visited your niece the last time I was home

ent man, too; you might even call him a student. I've been sorry that he didn't keep

. He's a state senator, but there's not much in that. He must see bigger game in the future. I don't know him

remarked. "I've never voted in my life, but I guess I'll try

s who tries to vote for the best man. Nat

rst," Mrs. Owen averred. "I should ask him

alk about the Woman's Reformatory,-or whatever it is you're trustee of,-he crawls under the table. He says they were going to cut down the Reformatory's ap

at appropriation I'd go into their counties and spend every cent I've got

us to know the r

you the money, Mrs

llars! I had to hold 'em down. Then Morton Bassett pulled it through

" the minister was saying. "Thatcher has a fortune to use if he ever w

Mrs. Martin. "What would he want with an office a

particularly if he had a score to clean

mean by that?" a

hat they didn't get on so well,-if Bassett tried to drop him as they say he has sometimes dropped men when he didn't have

orse," interposed Mrs. Owe

, I guess, in knowing just how to bait the hook, or where to drop the fly, and how to play your fish. And Basse

at abuse him never mention those t

ous character that had ever appeared in the public life of the state. The minister had spoken well of him; the others did not know him, or spoke cautiously; and Mrs. Owen herself seemed

of a Sioux chief whose austere countenance was very like the minister's. Ware did not fit into any of her preconceived ideas of the clerical office. Dr. Wandless, the retired president of Madison College, was a minister, and any one would have known it, for the fact was proclaimed by his dress and manner; he might, in the most casual meeting on the campus, have raised his hands in benediction without doing a

t the good folks who came into the wilderness and made Indiana a commonwealth. I

I was born in

own? My father's farm was only an hour's march from Brown's place. I used to see the old man, and it wasn't my fault I wasn't mixed up in some of his scrap

od many people that didn't

mself and of the war; but in a momen

' I like that. When I'm off camping the best fun of it is lying by running water at night and looking at the stars. Odd, though, I never knew the names of many

d Sylvia. "He still lectu

the farthest tip of that maple? It

Sylvia, "is

constellations

er knowledge of the subject to a man who had just confessed his ignorance. Sh

tree, as you said, and above it is Ursa Minor, and winding in and out between it and the Big

amenities of conversation with this gentleman w

knee with his ha

ays wanted to get acquainted with. Now go back to Cygnus, the S

forth across the starry lanes, describing in the most artless fashion her own method of remembering the names and positions of the constellations. As their range of

Josephus just moved the sprink

ell the Indian boys on the Nipigon about this," he said to Sylvia as they returned to th

likely most that I've told you is wron

w a species of ellipsoid of which the Ohio River was the axis, sketching his line to include the Missouri of Mark Twain, the Illinois of Lincoln, the Indiana of Eggleston and Riley, and the Kentucky that so generously endowed these younger commonwealths. North of the Ohio the anecdotal genius diminished, he declared, as one moved toward the Great Lakes into a region where there had been an infusion of population from New England and the Middle States. He suggested that the early pioneers, having few books and no newspapers, had cultivated the art of story-telling for

ocked the ashes from his cigar and threw out

d, I guess. Sometimes you can hear a bough break under the weight of snow, with a report like a cannon. The only thing finer than winter is spring. I don't mean lilac time; but before that, the very earliest hint of the break-up. Used to seem that there was something wild in me that wanted to be on the march before there was a bud in sight. I'm a Northern animal some way; born in December; always feel better in winter. I used to watch for the northward fl

ence lay upon the world as soft as moonlight itself. The picture drawn by the minister had been vivid enough; for a moment her own memory of a similar winter landscape seemed equally clear; but she realized with impatience that it faded quickly and became dim and illusory, like a scene in an ill-lighte

elton when they were alone. "It's near