The Story of a Country Town

case the night before, she presided at the table without sitting down. I ate alone, and in silence, as it was e

those who knew where the safety valve was which blew me off; for I supposed Mrs. Biggs and Mrs. Deming to be very aristocratic people, who could not tolerate a country-bred boy. Therefore I did not feel in very

ow are you now?" he inqu

nd said I would hitch up w

u I would manage to get home just at dark, for then you'll have nothing to do durin

truth in this, and I than

ripe experience in the service of Biggs. I thought he would talk you

articular stress to what he had said concerning his

me of the towns a long way off, probably. At ten or eleven o'clock he will breakfast, and then I shall hitch up and drive him over the place, during which time he will point out and suggest enough work to keep a dozen men busy for months; and after assuring me it ought all to be done

ut as if there were some people so contemptible that he could not possibly mention them without showing his temper, he jerked

his sister

her; the little old woman they

every one around her. I understood now that Agnes was frightened when I first came for fear I should see her mother, and not for fear her mother would see me, as I had imagined; and I felt so much better that I had a mind to wa

young colts express it, by kicking his legs out in various directions, and

han to have left her alone. It's a wonder she didn't hit yo

ng a cork; then thumping his jaws he made a sound of liquor coming out of a bottle. This pantomime I interpreted to mean that if he were better off he would celebrate the event with something expe

idential. "They say she never smiled in her life, and I believe it. She grumbles, and grow

ished, to indu

great tract of land bought on credit, and she paid for it with the money she brought along, and built the house you slept in last

I had been deni

ng hers. When Agnes is away I often cook my own meals, and I am the only one besides Agnes that pays her any attention. Except to keep a family of children around her, I think Biggs never notices her; and when he is at home he occupies a room away from the noise and confusion. But she is patient, and never complains, although there is no hope; for the old woman will outlive us all. She lives on growling and grumbling, for she is afraid to eat for fear of poison, a

difficulty, and thumped on his jaws to represent t

at relief to her to go home with you

I an

r. She complains during the few weeks that the poor girl is at home because Agnes is not away earning money for her strong-box, into which goes every dollar of it. If Agnes has any money, Biggs gives it to her; for she has to account for eve

?" I asked, anxious to know as m

is store if he would start one. They were honest men who made the agreement, and lived up to it a long while; but in time they found out that he was charging them a great deal more for his goods than the dangerous men he had warned them against in town. I was in the place when they came in to hang him; and one man walked up to the rope-reel, and wanted to know how much rope would be necessary. But Biggs made them a speech from a vinegar barrel, and so worked upon their feelings that they went away co

more, so I put the horses to the wagon alone; but after I had driven through the gate and into the road he came out as if t

as killed by

I expressed some sort of re

hand; "my last name is Casebolt. M

, we drove away, no one appearing at the doors or windows to bid her good-bye. My mother had told me to invite Mrs. Deming to visit her, but out of regard for Agnes I resolved to

and sisters a

nd putting the whip to the horses

ed and swollen; but I pretended not to notice it, and

you, but I have not been myself for several days. Big Adam talks a great deal, and I saw you down in

e preparing to run away. I knew she was distressed that I knew how unhappy she was at home, and was trying to lay the blame on herself, as she did in everything; therefore I watched the dangerous horse very intently for

o talk on the subject, "and I have been happier there than here; although it is very ungrateful in me,

ght about the matter a long time after that, and looked at me narrowly,-although I pretended not to know it,-and seemed to conclude at last that I had made good use o

said, at last, wiping her eyes, and dismissing the unplea

It was a handsome face, and looked very much as I had imagined, exce

so brave and good that I should have striven to be like him, for everybody loved him. But he is dead, and I cannot be c

uncle; and I sat there feeling like a fool while she was giving vent

ys think of the sea as forever rolling and tossing his poor body about, refusing it rest and peace. Often in the wicked waves I see his white face turned imploringly to me, and

ea gives up its Dead," and without th

d him to sleep almost every night since he was born. 'It will never prove treacherous,' he said. 'My ship may, but never the sea. The "Agnes" is not like the stout girl in whose honor she was named; she is getting old, and should she founder w

into her eyes again, she

our good, or how much I love you. Your presence at our house has made us a different family. My mother is more content, and my father less gloomy; and surely Jo and I know more since you came. I love you b

a return of her old cheerfulness. "I should li

should concentrate the love you distribute in Fairview on one man, I should li

of any of them. When I get to be an old woman, and you a young man, I shall show my love for you by selecting you a wife; and if I am unable to find you a very good one, you shall rem

sed me," I said, "altho

ms round me, she kissed me as innocently as if I had been a child

t girl that ever

Hill, it is always at night. His mother is a rough woman who smokes and drinks, and his brothers and sisters are very bad people. I don't know where they all live, though I frequently hear of them, but never anything to their credit. It is said that his mother's house,

iew church looked very pretty from the high point over which the road led us. I had never thought so before, but the country surrounding i

ad not had opportunity of noticing before, that a great many new fields were bei

" Agnes said as we were nearing the hous

thinking but a moment before of addi

e our secrets, and this is our first o

tell him about her mother, but comforted myself with

were away somewhere, and we spent the afternoon like three happy children, suddenly free from some exacting restraint. Agnes and I made so much of my mother, that I remember her as being happier