BLOOM FIELD, PA., NOVEMBER 12, 1878.
MRS. BRANDT'S BOARDER
A TOUCHING STORY.
HE CAME up the mountain road at
nightfall, urging his leRn mustang
forward wearily, and coughing now and
then a heavy, hollow cough that told Its
own story.
There were only two houses on the
mesa, stretching shaggy and sombre
with grease-wood from the base of the
mountain to the valley below. Two un
palntcd red-wood dwellings, with their
clumps of trolling pepper trees and tat
tered bananas, mere specks of civiliza
tion against a stern back ground of
mountain side. The traveler halted be
fore one of them, bowing awkwardly as
the master of the house came out.
" Mr. Brandt, I reckon."
Joel Brandt looked keenly Into the
stranger's face. Not a bnd face, certain
ly ; sallow and drawn with suffering;
one of those hopelessly pathetic faces
barely saved from the grotesque by a
pair of dull wistful eyes.
Not that Joel Brandt saw anything
grotesque or pathetic about the man.
" Another sickly-looking strangerout
slde, Barbara, wants to try the air up
here. Can you keep him V Or maybe
the Foxes'll give him a berth."
Mrs. Brandt shook her head In house
wifely meditation.
" No, Mrs. Fox can't; that's certain.
She has an asthma and two bronchltises
there now. What is the matter with
him, Joel V"
The stranger's harsh, resonant cough
answered.
" Keep him ? To be sure. You might
know IM keep him, Joel. The night
air's no place for a man with a cough
like that. Bring him into the kitchen
right away."
The new comer spread his bony hands
over Mrs. Brandt's cheery Are, and the
soft, dull eyes followed her movements
wistfully.
The fire feels kind o' honey, ma'am ;
Culit'umy ain't much of a pluce for fires,
it 'pea iv.
" Been long on the const, stranger V"
Joel squared himself interrogatively.
" 'Bout a week. I'm from Indianny.
Brice 's my name Posey Brice, the boys
tu the glass mill called me. I was Mowed
up in a glass mill once." The speaker
turned to show an ugly scar on his neck.
" Didn't know where I wuz for weeks
thought I hadn't lit. When I come to
there wuz Loisy polteriti' over me; but
I ain't been' rugged sence."
" Married ?"
The man 's answer broke through the
patient homeliness of his face at once.
He fumbled in his pocket silently, like
one who had no common disclosure to
make.
" What d"ye think o' tbem,stranger V"
Joel took the little black case In his
hands reverently. A woman's face
not grand nor fair even some bits of
tawdry finery making its plainness
plainer and beside it a round-eyed boy
plumped Into a high chair, and two lit
tle feet sturdily out in Joel's face.
" Mrs. Brandt looked over her hus
band's bhoulder with kindly curiosity.
"The boy favors you amazingly about
the mouth ; but he's got his mother's
eyes, and they are f-barp, knowing eyes,
too. He's a bright one, I'll be bound.
Yours, I reckon."
" Yes, that's Loisy an' the boy,"
righting the conscious pride in his voice
like one who tried to wear honors
meekly.
He took the well-worn case again, gaz
ing into the two faces an instant with
helpless yearning, and returned it to Its
place. The very way he handled It was
a caress, fastening the little brass hook
with scrupulous care.
" I'll be sendin' fur 'em when I get
red o' this pesterin' cough."
A very quiet, unobtrusive guest Mrs.
Brandt found the man Brice, talking
iittlesave in a sudden gush of confi
dence and always of his wife and
child ; choosing a quiet corner of the
kitchen in the chill California nights,
where he watched his hostess' deft
movements with wistful admiration.
" Try huntin,' Brice ; the doctors
mostly says It's healthy."
And Brice tried hunting, us Joel ad
vertised. Taking the gun from its
crotch over the door, after breakfast,and
wandering for hours in the yellow wine
like air of the mesa, bo came in at noon
and nightfall empty-handed, yet no one
derided his failure. There was some
thing about the man that smothered
derision.
"A sort o' thunderin' patience that
knocks a fellow," Bert Fox put In.
Mrs. Braudt had always an encour
aging word for the hunter.
CI reuse-wood's bad for huntin'. Joel
says it don't pay to look for quail in the
brush when he does fetch 'em down."
"Like enough. 1 dunno, ma'am.
Beckon I've had a good many shots at
the little critters, but they alius turn
their heads so kind o' innocent like.
A man as has been blowed up once
ldsself ain't much at separatin' fami
lies. But I s'pose It ain't the shootln'
that's healthy, niebbe."
And so the hunting came to an end
without bloodshed. Whether the doc
tors were right or whether It was the
mingled resin and honey of the sage and
chapparel, no one cared to ask. Certain
it Is that the "pesterin' cough" yielded a
little, and the bent form grew a trifle
more erect.
"I think likely it's the lookln' up,
ma'nm. Mountains seems to straighten
a fellow some way. 'Pears to me some
body writ oncet uv liftln' his eyes to the
hills for help. Mebbe not, though. I
ain't much at recollectln' verses.
Loisy 's a powerful hand that way."
Perhaps the man was right. It was
the looking up.
He followed Joel from the table one
morning. Ef there's odd Jobs you could
gl'me; I'd be slow, mebbe, but seems
like most anything 'ud be better 'n Bit
tin' round."
Joel scratched his head reflectively.
The big, brawny-handed fellow felt
no disposition to smile at his weaker
brother.
"Fox and I was sayln'yestcrday.wo'd
like to put another man on the ditch ;
it'll be easy work for a week, till we
strike rock again. Then there is the
grease-wood. It Is always on hand.
You might take It slow, grubbin' when
you was able. I guess we'll find you
jobs enough, man."
The scared, colorless face brighteued
up.
"Thank, ye neighbor. Ef you'll be
as kind, there's another little matter. I
will hev a trifle over when I've paid
your woman for her trouble. I wuz
thinkin' like enough you'd let me run
up a shanty on your place here. Loisy
wouldn't mind about style just a roof
to bring 'em to. It's for her and the
boy, j'ou know," watching Joel's face
eagerly.
"Yes," said Brandt, " we'll make it
all right. Just take things kind o' easy.
I'll be goln' in with wood next week,
and I'll fetch you a load of lumber. We
will make a day of it after 'while, and
put up your house in a jiffy."
And so Brice went to work on the
ditch gently at first, Rpared from the
heaviest work by strong arms and rough
kindliness. And so, ere long, another
rude dwelling went up on the mesa, the
smoke from its fireside curling slowly
toward the pine-plumed mountain
tops.
The building fund, scanty enough at
be8t, was unexpectedly swelled by a sud
den and obstinate attack of forgetful
ness which seized good Mrs. Brandt.
" No, Brice, you haven't made me a
epark o' trouble, not a spark. I'm sure
you've paid your way twice over bring
in' in wood, and grinding coffee and the
like. Many a man'd asked wages for
the half you've done, so I'm gettin' off
easy to call it square." And the good
lady Btood her ground unfllchingly.
"You've been powerful good tome,
ma'am. We'll be watchin' our chance
to make it up to you Loisy and me.
I'll be sending for Loisy directly
now."
" Yes, yes, man, and there'll be the
bits o' furniture and things to get.
Spread your money thin, and Mrs. Fox
and I'll come in and put you to lights
when your looking for her."
He brought the money to Joel at last,
a motley collection of silver prleces.
" Ef ye'll be so kind as to send In to
her neighbor Mrs. Loisy Brice, Platts
ville, Indianny I've writ the letter tel
lin' her how to come. That's enough
fur the ticket and a trifle to spare. The
boy's a master hand at scuffin' out
shoes and things. You'll not make any
mistake sending It, will you 1"'
" No, no, Brlce, it'll go straight as a
rocket. Let me see, now. This lcttcr'll
be a week, then, 'lowin' 'em a week to
start"
" Loisy won't be a week startin',
neighbor.
"Never mind, man. 'Lowin' 'em a
week to get off, that's two weeks ; then
them emigrant trains is slow, say thir
teen days on the road that's another
fourteen four weeks ; this is the fifth,
ain't it V Twenty-eight and file's thirty
three; that'll be the third of next month,
say. Now mind what I tell you, Brice
don't look for 'em a minute before
the third not a minute."
" 'Pears like a long spell to wait.neigh
bor." " I know it, man ; but it will seem a
thunderin' sight longer after you begin
to look for 'em."
"I reckon you'r right. Bay four weeks
from to-day, then. Like enough you'll
be goln' in."
" Yes, we'll hitch up and meet 'em at
the train you and me. Thewomen'll
have things kind o' snug again we get
home. Four weeks'll soon slide along,
man."
Joel went into (he house, smiling
softly.
" I bad to be almost savage with the
fellow, Barbara. The anxious seat's no
place for a chap like him ; lt'd wear him
to a toothpick in a week."
" But she might get here before that,
you know, Joel.''
" I'll fix that with the men at the de
pot. If she comes sooner we'll have
her out here In a hurry. Wish to good
ness she would."
The southern winter blossomed roy
ally. Bees held high carnival In the
nodding spikes of the white sage, and
now and then a breath of perfume from
the orange groves In the valley came up
to mingle with the wild mountain odors.
Brlce worked every moment with fever
ish earnestness, and the pile of gnarled
roots on the clearing grew steadily
larger. With all her loveliness, nature
failed to woo him. What was the ex
quisite languor of those days to him, but
so many hours of patient wailing V The
dull, hungry eyes saw nothing of the
lavish beauty around them, looking
through it all with restless yearning to
where an emigrant train, with its dust
and dirt and noisome breath crawled
over miles of a alkali, or hung from diz
zy heights.
"To-morrow's the 3rd, neighbor. I
reckon she'll be 'long now direkly."
"That's a fact. What a rattler time
is." The days had not been long to
Joel. " We'll go in to-morrow, and if
they don't come, you can stay and
watch the trains awhile. She won't
know you, Brlce; you picked up amaz
ingly." " I think likely Loisy '11 know me if
she comes."
But she-did not come. Joel returned
the following night alone, having left
Brlce at cheap lodgings near the station.
Numberless passers-by must have notic
ed the patient watcher at the incoming
trains the homely pathos of his face
deepening day by day. The dull eyes
growing a shade duller, and the awk
ard form a trifle more Btooped with each
succeeding disappointment. It was two
weeks before he appeared on the mesa,
walking wearily like a man under a
load.
" I reckon there's something wrong,
ma'am. I come out to see if your man
'ud write me a letter. I hadn't been
long In Plattsville, but I worked a spell
for a man named Yamell ; like enough
he'd look it up a little. I ain't much at
writin', an' I'd want it all writ out care
fully like, you know." The man's
voice had the old uncomplaining mo
notony. Joel wrote the letter at once, making
the most minute inquiry regarding Mrs.
Brice, and giving every possible direc
tion concerning her residence. Then
Brice fell buck Into his old groove,work
ing feverishly, in spite of Mrs. Brandt's
kindly warning.
"I can't stop, ma'am; the setting
round 'ud kill me."
The answer came at last, a business
like epistle, addressed to Joel. Mrs.
Brice had left Plattsville about the time
designated. Several of her neighbors re
membered that a stranger, a well dressed
man, had been at the house for nearly a
week before her departure, and the two
had gone away together, taking the
western train. The writer regretted his
Inability to give further Information,
and closed with kindly inquiries con
cerning his former employee's health,
and earnest commendation of him to
Mr. Brandt.
Joel read the letter aloud, something
some sturdy uprightness of his own no
doubt blinding him to its significance.
" Will you read It again, neighbor, for
I'm not over quick V"
The man's voice was a revelation full
of an unutterable hurt, like the cry of
some dumb, wounded thing.
Joel road It again, choking with indig
nation at every word.
" Thank ye, neighbor. I'll trouble
you to write a line thankin' him ; that's
all."
He got up heavily, staggering a little
as he crossed the lloor,and went out into
the yellow sunlight. There was the
long, sun-kissed slope, the huge pile of
twisted roots, the rude shanty with its
clambering vines. The humming of the
bees In the sage went on drowsily. Life,
infinitely shrunken, was still life. A
more cultured grief might have swooned
or cried out. This man knew no such
refuge ; even the relief of indignation
was denied him. None of the thousand
wild impulses that come to men smitten
like him flitted ucross his clouded brain.
He only knew to take up his burden
humbly' and go on. It he had been
wiser would he have known more t
No one spoke of the blow that had
fallen upon him. The sympathy that
met him came in the warmer clasp of
hard hands aud the softening of rough
voices, none the worse certainly for its
quietness. Alone with her husband,
however.good Mrs. Brandt's wrath bub
bled incessantly.
" It's a crying, burning, blistering
shame, Joel, that's what it is ! I sup
pose it's the Lord's doings, but I can't
see through it."
"If the Lord's up to that kind of busi
ness, Barbara, I don't see no further use
for the devil," was the dry response.
Joel's religion was as free from any the
ological timidity as a child's, and quite
as simple.
These plain, honest folks uever once
dreamed of Intruding upon their neigh
bor'g grief with poor suggestions of re
quital. Away In the city across the
mountains men babbled of remedies at
law. But this man's hurt was beyond
the jurisdiction of any court. Day by
day the hollow cough grew more fre
quent and the awkward step slower.
Nobody asked him to quit his work now.
Even Mrs. Brandt shrank from the pa
tient misery of his fuce when Idle, lie
came Into the kitchen one evening,
choosing the old quiet corner, and fol
lowing her with his eyes silently.
" Is there anything lacking, Brlce V"
The woman came and stood beside
him, the great wave of pity In her heart
welling up to her voice and eyes.
" Nothln' ma'am, thank ye,I've been
thlnkln'," he went on speaking more
rapidly than was his wont, " an' I dun
no. You've known uv people gettin'
wrong In their minds, I s'poBe. They
wus mostly smart, knowlu' chaps,
wu7.n't they ?" the low monotonous
voice growing almost sharp with earn
estness. " I reckon you never knowed
of any one not over bright gittln' out of
his head?"
" I wouldn't think o' them things,
Brlce. Just go on, and do the best, and
If there's any good, or any right, or any
justice, you'll come out ahead ; that's
about all we know, but it's enough . if
we stick to It."
" I reckon you're right, ma'am. 'Pears
sometimes tho' as if anything ud be bet
ter than the thinking."
Happily, it all came to nn end one
afternoon. Brlce was at work on the
ditch again, preferring the cheerful com
panionship of Joel and Bert Fox to his
own thoughts, and Mrs. Brandt was
alone In her kitchen. Two shadows fell
across the worn threshold, and a weak,
questioning voice brought the good
woman to her door instantly.
" Good day to you, ma'am. Is there
a man named Brlce livin' nigh here
anywhere V"
It was a woman's voice, a woman
with some bits of tawdry ornament
about her, aud a round-eyed boy cling
ing to her skirts.
Mrs. Brandt brought them into the
house, urging the stranger to rest a bit
and get her breath.
" Thank you, ma'am; I'd like to be
movin' on. Do you know If he's well.
We're his wife and boy."
The woman told her story presently,
when Mrs. Brandt had induced her to
wait until the men came home told it
with no unnecessary words, and her
listener made no comment.
" My brother come a week afore we
was leavin' au' he helped us off and
came as fur as Omaha. He'd done well
out in Nebrasky, aud he give me right
smart o' money when we left. I took III
on the road I dlsremember jest where
an' they left me at a towu with a
woman named Dixon. She took care o'
me. I was out o' my head a long time
an' when I come to, I told 'em to write
to Brlce, an' they writ, an' I reckon
they took the name uv the place from
the ticket. I was weak like fur a long
spell, aud they kept a writin and no
word come, an' then I recollected about
the town, it was Los Angelos on the
ticket ; and then I couldn't think of the
place I'd sent the letters to before, and
tho thiukln' worried me, and the doc
tor said I must not try. So I jest wait
ed, an' when I got to Los Angelos I
kep' a asking for a man named Brandt,
'pears to me there's a Brandt way over
beyond the Mission. An' then it came
to me all at once that the place I'd writ
to was San Gabriel Mission. An' I went
there and they showed me your house.
Then a man give us a lift on his team
part o' the way, and we walked the rest.
It didn't look very fur, but they say that
mountains in deceivin'. There's some
thin' kind o' grand about them. I
reckon, it makes everything 'pear sort
o' small."
Mrs. Brandt told Joel about it that
evening.
" I just took the two of 'era up to the
shanty and opened the door, and you'd
cried to see how pleased she was with
everything. And I told her to kindle a
fire and I'd fetch up a bite of supper.
And when I'd carried it up and left it, I
just came back and stood on the step till
1 saw Brlce coniln' home. He was
walking slow as if his foet was a dead
weight, when he took hold o' the door
he stopped a minute, looking over the
valley kind of wistful and hopeless. I
guess she heard him come, for she open
ed the door, and I turned around and
come In, saying to myself:
" Barbara Brandt, you seen your see.
If Gods wants to look at that, he may, I
suppose. He has a right to ; nobody else
has, thut's certain."
Never Retnrn.
It is said that odb out of every four real
invalids who go to Denver, Col., to recover
health, never return to tbe East or South
except as a corpse. Tbe undertakers, next
to the hotel keeper, have tho most profita
ble business. . This excessive mortality
may be prevented aud pationta saved and
cured under the care of friends mid loved
ones at home, if they will but ui-e Hop
Bitters in time. This we know. Bee
other column. 40
J. M. Girvin.
J. It. GlRVlK.
J. M. GIRVIN & SON.,
FLOUR, GRAIN, SEED & PRODUCE
Commission Merchants,
No. Ci.SonthCay, St.,
BALTIMORE, MD.
We will pay strict attention to the ale of all
kind of Country Produce aud remit the amount
promptly. 451vr,
J. M. GIKVIN fe BON.
E
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ASSIGNEE'S ACCOUNT.
The following Assignees accounts have
been filed in the Prothouotary'sof Perry coun
ty, and will be presented to the Court for con
firmation on WEDNESDAY, the 80th day of
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1. The account of Dr. D. B. Mllllken. Assignee
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