wM iAlYllll ff 1 rail 1 III i : ; i I i : f ; Hi ST 1 MfX.iy a AAA. a raw I TERMS t Per Ycdr, 75 Cents for 6 Months; 40 Cts.for 3 months. AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. JiV .4 JD VANCE, Vol. VIII. Now Bloomfleld, T?n.9 Tuesday, A-px-il 21, 1874. TVo. lO ir fj L.. iiwf 6 1 1 J I I! II 1 k 4 I I II 1 If 1 II I I II Ik IKS IS i II 1 II HIS r i fjjfomnfirltr jpnws. 18 PUBLISHED KVKIIT TUESDAY MOKNINO, BT FRANK MORTIMER & CO., At New Bloomfleld, Terry Co., Ta. BelnR provided with Steam Powpr, and large Cylinder and Job-Presses, we are prepared to do nil kinds of Job-Printing 111 good style and at Low Prices. ADVERTISING IIATE8I Trantient 8 Cents per lino for one Insertion 13 ' " twolnsertions 15 " "three insertions Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. VFor lonper yearly adv'ts terms will be given upon application. BEARING THE SHORE. An old nan sits In a worn arm-chair, White as snow is his thin, soft hair, Furrowed his check by time and cate, And back and forth It sways. There's a far-away from his dim, dim eye Which tells of thoughts of the long gone by, For he sits once more 'ncath a cloudless sky, And In childhood merrily plays. He rests his cheek on the head of his cane, And, happily smiling, dreams over again Of that komo, the brook, the meadow, the lane Dreams all with a vision clear. Then childhood yields unto manhood's place, And lie looks once more In his bright, bright face, And down In the starry eyes he can trace A love remembered and dear. Then he wakes and sighs j " It seems but a dream That comes to mo now like a golden gleam Or the shimmering glow of the sun's lust beam, But 'tli pleasaut to think It o'er j That youth was so sweet, but now its past, Those days of love were too precious to last, But over yonder their pleasures are cast, And I am nearingthat shore." He is gliding on In bis little boat) O'er the calm, still water they peacefully float, But echo full soft brings a well known note From the land he has left behind. But time will row back for him no more, And he gazes away to that other shore, And knows when the voyage of life shall be o'er That bis dream beyond he will find. The seeds of youth which In youth we sow, Adown through the aisles of the future will glow And shed on age a beautiful glow, As they come in memory's gleam. . Loved faces will come to dimming sight ' Sweet words will echo in day dreams bright, And circle old age with their balos of light, As they mingle In beautiful dreams. THE SQUIRE'S SON-IN-LAW. TF YOU don't work lively, Hester, JL you won't make your ten knots to day." Hester stopped short in her work, and the buzzing of the big wheel ceased. There wu a mass ot soft rolls, and the brown reel by her side, with the results of her morning labors in blue stocking-yarn She held the wheel firm in one hand, and in the other a long Blender thread attached to the spindle. "Well, mother," said she, quietly turn. ing her face toward the window, "I sup pose the sun will rise and set just tho same if I don't spin my ten knots a-day." "I s'pose it will," said Mrs. Preston, She was a spare old lady, and Bitting with her back bent to the shape of the rocking- chair hooped over. Her sharp elbows struck out, and her rather large aud coarse shoes projected beyond the skirt of her gown. "You know your father likes to see things moving indoors and out," she went on, holding her knitting needles suspended. " He hates lazy folks like Can ada thistles." "And I hate to be driven as if I was a pack-horse," retorted Hester, almost bit terly. . " I tell you, mother, 1 won't wear my life out digging and drudging as you have yours." " La, Hester, how you do talk. I never thought I was brought into the world for nothing but to cook three meals of vict uals a day, and to 'tend to the dairy work. Now, you make a fuss because you have little chore of stocking-yarn to spin ; but it ain't so many years since I made all the cloth for the family wear, and did every stitch of my own sewing at night. Why, that year your father was seut up to the Legislature I made him a set of twelve fine ehirts. He was perty pertick erler iu them days; and I did all the stitching after the .rest of the folks had gone to bed, with my foot on the cradle. Sylvester was a baby then, and a dreadful hectoring child. Every day I wove a full stent on linscy wolsey, for it was almost impossible to hire help ; and I got up reg ular at five in the morning and milked four cows before I went about breakfast." What is tho use of having a soul if gou've got to slave in that way?" said Hester, as she gave a little sharp jork, and broke her thread. " You might as well be a machine and done with it." "I don't expect you'll do as I have done," responded tho old lady with a sigh. "Folks shirk now-a-days to beat all. Your father, when he was younger, was a dreadful driving man. Folks must keep doing as long as they could stand ; and none of his boys now can begin to do a day's work equal to his'n. I don't s'pose you mean to follow your sister Naucy, either, for she has had a pretty hard row ; but I tell you what, Hester, you'll have to run oil more than ten knots of stocking yarn a day if you marry Joel Solfridgo, for he hain't got a mite of ambition. Ho makes me think of my old speckled hen setting out there on chany eggs. I should not be a mite surprised to hear Joel begin to cackle ; and 1 don't see where he gets his Bhiftlessness from, for there's tho Jedgo, his brother, a reg'lor money catcher, smooth, and plausible,, and i'.y, but witli his eye always out for business. I s'pose Hester, you've 'bout made up your mind to take Joel, for you don't seem to favor any other young man, and he's been com ing here stiddy for the last year. Your father says it costs him four quarts of oats, and two or three good square meals every week, and he talks about sending a bill for board and horse feed into the Jedge. You know he will never give his consent, and I tell you again, Hester, if you mean to marry Joel Solfridge, you and work had bettor not fall out." " Mother," said Hester, with a troubled face, leaving her wheel, and going over by the health, "you do Joel injustice. It is father's opposition that makes him neglect his business, and takes the spirit out of him. If he could marry mo he would be come another man." "Hester," said the old lady, emphasiz ing her words with her kuitting-needles, " what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh. You can't make the whistle out of a pig's tail." " There's good stuff in Jool," cried Hos ter, her color rising, and eyes flashing. "If the whole world was against him I'd stand true. Folks may say what they have a mind to, but give Joel a chance, and he will show that ho can support a family, and be a man among men." " Hity, tity !" retorted the old lady, in credulously. " Hain't the Jedge boosted him, aud kep' a boosting of him, and now he's sot him up in the drug business, and every few days be locks tho Bhop and comes over here a courting, and Bassett gets all his custom. I tell you, Hester, when I was your age I wouldn't have looked at a young man that fooled around when he ought to have been to work. Love is a good thing in its place, when it's got a house and garden spot free of in cumbrance, and plenty of firewood, and a full meal chist and flour bairel attached to it, but it never was meant to go alone." Hester hung her head. Her mother had the good hard sense on her side, and she bad only the faith of love to offset it. She did not say what she thought, that the chance Joel needed was herself ; but she loaned against the chair, and touched her mother's gray bead, and her voice was pleading and eager. "0, mother," said she, "dou'tyougo against mo. I shall never come back beg- ging to the old door, but when I leave home I want to have all thiugs pleasant, and not give the neighbors a chauoe to talk. Mother" and suddenly the girl threw her arms around the wrinkled nock "you can think bow It was when you were young : how your heart beat, and your cheek flushed for just one man. You wanted to go to die world's end with him, and not with another. If you saw his faults, you could forgive them, for your heart-strings were someway twisted and tied with his, and could not be undone. In those days, mother, you didu't think so much about the potato-bin and flour bar rel." . "La, child, you go on to beat all," re turned the old lady, drawing the book of her band across her eyes. " The Bible says a mau must leave father and mother and cleave unto bis wife, and I s'pose it's the same with a woman ; Jut I tell you Hester, it's mighty handy to have worldly goods to cleave on to besides. I always agree with your father on all p'ints. He expects it of me ; and if be should say black was white, laws, I should say so, too, but I think jest as I've a mind tu inside. I always said no man should tyranize over me. A woman can squint round a corner handier than a man can, and she can find ways of gotting her will, and I guess I've ruled the roost as much as the Old Square has after all's said and done ; but he don't know, and I wouldn' have him find it out for the world. I don't say I shall enker ridge Joel, but if you only make up your mind there's no use argufying, for you're a reg'lor born Preston, and they all hold on like a dog to a root. I shall try to ease off things ; that's all I can promise, but 1 must confess, Jool is a pleasant creetur, and you can't help liking him if you should try." Hester kissed the old lady's wrinkled cheek rather more impulsively than was noccssary, and then, in a half-coaxing shamed-faced sort of way, she said : " Mother, I expect Jool over this after noon, and I thought if you didn't mind I'd vut a little handful of fire in the sitting- room stove." " No, you'd better not," said Mrs. Pres ton, decidedly. " Your father won't like to have any underhand courting going on. It will only rilo him the more. He and I did all our courting business up by the kitchen fire. Mother thought it was eco nomical. Every Sunday night he came like clock-work (we used to keep Saturday night in them days,) and there he sot and cored apples, and I strung um, and wo killed two birds with one stone as neat as any thing you ever saw. Joel had better be treated in an every-day sort of fashion. Iu your father's present state of mind it won't do to waste candle-light and fire wood on him. And, Hester, you had bet ter stir up some fritters for supper. The Square is fond of fritters. I hain't lived with him all these years without finding out that a good meal of victuals makes con siderable difference with bis feelings." Hester know her mother was wise in her day and generation an experienced wo man ; so she set her wheel away and went up to her chamber a little, cold, neat room with slooping wall. Joel came driving to the gate. The air was nipping, and spiteful gusts of wind whirled along the valley. He fastened his horse to the fence, and blanketed him carefully. The' boys, Hester's brothers, bad gone with lumber to the village mill, and would not be back until late, if at all, that night. The Squire was in the barn, tinkering away at his sap buckets. The cold weather bad kept back the sugar sea son, but a thaw might be looked for now at any moment. The old man was short and stocky, with an englo face, and Iron gray hair. All his motions were brisk, and his words exploded something after the fashion of fire-crackers. Now a grim sort of smile puckered the old face, as he thought that long-tailed gray of Herrick's, the livery-stable keeper, might stand there in the cold till doom's day for all him. Thon rub-a-dub-dub on the sap buckets. Hester met Joel at ibe door demurely enough. He was good-looking, tall, and slender, and unconsciously elegant and re fined in appearance. The young man drew up to 'the fire with his overcoat on, and Mrs. Preston engaged him in talk about the weather and the neighbors. The kitchen was large and light, with a floor unstained, and braided maU, and comfort able chairs, and a great clock ticking in the corner. There were pots of petunias and " ben and chickens" in the window. The bit of greenery made pretty back ground for Hester, who, seated in a low chair, took out her company work, some old-fashioned lace she was knitting, which uncoiled and foamed over hei blaok silk apron. She was auxious as she glanced out at Joel's horse, shivering under bis blanket, when the cold did not sting him unto positive uneasiness. Tho young man still sat with his overcoat on, Angering bis hat and ruu filer, while Mi's. Preston talked away about Sally Minim's cough, and how the Selkirk children lfad all come down with the measles. Hester saw how un comfortable Joel was, not knowing wheth er to stay or go, so sho ran out with a shawl over her head, set the long-tailed gray free from the shafts as quietly as pos sible, aud led him into the barn. She knew all the ins aud outs of horse tackle, aud could harness and unharness as handily as a man. It was not long, thorefore, before the gray was munching oats iu state, The old Squire saw Hester do this high handed thing under his very nose, so to speak, and the strokes ou the sap buckets grew more savage than ever. AVhen the girl went back into the house she was much relieved by bearing her mothor say : " I guess the Squire has put up your horse, Joel, and you had better stay to ' supper, and spend the night with us." Hester had spread the tea-table, not with tho best napory and dishes from tho keeping-room cupboard, for her mother had hinted that it would bo impolitic to make any change on Joel's account ; but every thing was clean, wholesome, and appetiz ing. There was the platter of sliced meat, the snowy bread, and golden butter, and the dish of clear honey for the fritters. Tho old man came in, and gave a sort of snort when he detected Joel sitting snugly ensconscd in a warm corner by the fire. Ho drew his chair directly to the supper table, without reference to anybody pres ent, and his shaggy gray eyebrows met in a twisted frown always a most decided Btorm signal. With something which em anated from bis throat between a grunt and growl, he pushed the various dishes toward the unwelcome lover. It is a mild statement to say that Joel was literally on pins and neodles. Hoster's face was very red, but she maintained herself bravely by tho frying kettle, and in a fow minutes slipped a fritter, brown, puffy, hot, with little sprangles and crisp bits clinging to its edges, on to the old gentleman's plate. His face relaxed slightly, and a sort of juiciness crept into the dry wrinkles about his mouth. Presently two more delectablo brown puffs took the place of the one that bad alrealy vanished, and the molified look stole up to the knobby old nose, and higher still to the keen gray eyes, and softly unit ed the twisted knot of the eyebrows. " Wal, Joel, how's the Jedge?" in a pa cific growl. Joel almost sprang off his seat, the ques tion was so sudden and startling. " O, the Judge j be is well," stammered the young man, turning several shades red in quick succession. " Making money hand over fist, I'll war rant." " Yes, he is doing pretty well," replied Joel, so painfully confused that be dropped a lump of salt into'his tea in place of su gar. " Them lawyors have got long heads, and sharp claws," said the Squire. " The best way 1b to give 'em a wide berth. There's an old saying I used to hear when I was a boy ; toll the truth and shame the devil ; but I guess the devil don't often get shamed that way by the lawyers. There's one thiug I will say for the Jedge, though ; he's the likeliest of the lot, and he freezes right snug to his business ; but that ain't a family trait, Is it?" "What, honosty?" returned Joel ; "0, yes, I never knew a dishonest Selfridge." " Humph," grunted the old Squire, "did you ever know a shiftless Selfridge? But there ain't no use asking questions. Every thing has got a new-fangled uamo. What are lazy folks called now-a-days, Hester? You have taught school and ought to be acquainted with foshionablo names." "I'm sure I don't know," said Hester, bending her bead down over the fire. " Now' I recollect. They're called gen tlemen of leisure. If the Jedge can afford to keep bis relations without work, why it's a mighty fine thing for them, and I don't know as it's any business, of mine," and with a metallio sound in the chest, which might have been either a laugh or a chronio cough, the old man arose from the table) set bis bat determinedly upon bis head, andwent away out of the house to do bis evening cnores. The lamp was lit, the fire well trimmed and bright. Hester brought forth a large pan of rosy-cheeked apples (Baldwins) to pare for the last batch of mince pies. The keen knife glanced and shone, and pretty red rings slid down from her comely hands. Mrs. Preston was at work on a long gray sock, a sock anybody might know belonged to the Squire if they bad seen it in China. , Joel bad taken from his pocket the Joints of bis flute, and was screwing them tightly together, and as the old man opened the door he beard bis dame sy : .' ;.,. , "Come, now, Joel, give us General Greene's. March, or Yankee Doodle.- .There's the Squire coming iu, and he's foud of music, too." , , ,. ., J " You oan't eat it or drink it," growled the Squire, as he took bis own particular arm-chair, and drew it up to the fire, and, pulliug off Lis heavy boots, held bis stock 1 iug-clad feet to the genial blaze. "But your ears oan drink it," respond ed the old lady, not knowing she had made a pretty speech. Joel played one old air after another, and the walls echoed the strains pleasantly which seemed trying to bring the differ ent heart-beats there under the roof-tree into consonance and harmony. When the muBic ended, the old man, who bad been pondering with his chin sunk in bis stock, drew back a little, and laid bis hand rath er heavily upon the table, and said, break ing out suddenly : " I s'pose the up-shot of the business is, young man, you want to marry my girl. You've kep running here pretty nigh a year and a half, and tho matter must end some time or other. Tain't my fashion to daub much with untempered mortar, and I tell you plainly what I've got against you is your want of stiddiness and propen sity to fool away your time, and live on other folks. I don't propose to support no son-in-law with my hard earnings. Everybody around mo must use his own hands and feet, and put in as much as he takes out. Now that's the long and the short of it, and I'm prepared,to hear your views." Joel, thus summoned, looked as if he would much rather run away, but be stood his ground and spoke with his eyes cast down, and his face slightly pale, while the Squire's shrewd, keen countenance was turned attentively toward him. "I do want to marry your daughter," he began, " and I should have asked for your consent long ago, but I knew you were prejudiced against me, and opposed to taking me into your family. It don't seem quite fair to condemn a man before be has had a trial. Hester shall not re pent if she marries me." ' " Fine promises never raised a hill of potatoes, said the father sarcastically. "I know good clean timber when I see it, and I know a crooked stick. I tell you, young man, you've got to put by your fine airs and buckle down to hard work before you can earn a living for a family. ' I'm agin shiftlessuess, tooth and nail, and always was. But, Hester, what have you got to say ?" HcBter bad held the apple she was par ing suspended in her hand. Tho color varied in her cheeks, and now a tide of crimson swept over them. Her voice fal tered, and almost broke at first, but it gathered strength aud she went on, so clear and distinct, that it seemed as though tho old clock in the corner even stopped to listen. ," Father," said she, "I hope you won't oppose us till the last. I have tried to please you, and be a good daughter, but there comes a time when a girl must listen to her own heart. , I have faith in Joel, aud so I am willing to go with him any where in the . world. Whatever is against him now will all come right. We will make our way together, and what he has to bear and suffer will I bear and suf fer with him. You never shall hear any complaints, father, from me. If our cup board is empty j it won t keep you awake nights ; but don't ask mo to give him up. I am too much like you, father, I hold on till death." "There it is," said the old man, in a heat, " you are obstinate, and wilful, and headstrong, and mean to have your own way if the sky falls. You'd a little rather get the consent of the bid man that's clothed ye, and schooled ye, and kep' ye ever since you was born ; but if you can't get it, no matter ; take the bit between your teeth, and ride right over the' feel ings, and idoes, and wishes of them that brought you into the world, and then see whero youll be." Hester covered her face with her bands, and the hot toars began to make their way through her fingers. The old man got up, and sternly took bis boots in oue hand and a long tallow candle in the other, and marched away to bed without another word. ' Mrs. Preston, who bad been mixing emptylugsin the buttory, with the door on the crack, came out, brushing the dust of flour from her apron. . "La, children, "said she, " the old Squire is more dangerous when he don't say no thing, and sots in a browo study.' It looks to me as if the wind was changing a few p'ints.' It has been blowing northeast about long enough, and I shouldn't won der if it got round south'ard. You ' see, I come from down the coast way, and there ain't much about a weather-cock and the old Squire's disposition that I don't un derstand." The next morning was cold and windy, but the vernal sun seut a feeling of glad- V
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers