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EIGHT “The Story of Waitstill Baxter" - - r : ' I)'% (I j " ; ■ 1^ ■■ -* 'wffiSri" :/ Copyrlahf. 1913. by :;HATE DOUGLAS WIGGtN Kate Douglas W u'fi» P* ■>• Author of “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" PROLOGUE. Strength and intere»t of qu: lives in the New England i three-quarters of a century a< : provide the framework of “Th Story of Waitstill Baxter. " Th is the skeleton. The flesh an blood of human beings, livin and loving and moving in a wort . of their own that is a miniatur picture ctf the greater world ou side, are also there. The star is a cross section of life as sec and described by a woman wh has been well called "America' greatest living woman novelist. Amid the hilts of New Englant are many men and women It'. Waitstill and Patience BuxU and their father, Ivory Boynioi and his afflicted mother am fanny Cephas Cole, who woo hopefully, but with small chanc of success. They find their wa into books bat seldom, for i takes a master hand to desenb faithfully the doings of reu people. And that is the reasot why "The Story of Waits! u Baxter" has won highest praii, from oniics who know a gooi book when they ace one. (Continued From Yesterday.) "If it turn* ‘Hu iu in* I'hncbe Day. thought Cephas dolefully, "two room la plenty good enough, an' I aliau'i block up the door that lea da from tin main part, neither. ns I thought likely I should. If so t* It's got to he Phoebe not l’stty, 1 shan't care whether moth or troops out 'it' In or not " Aml Oplia dealt out rice and tea and coffee will so languid an utr and made such fre quent mistakes In weighing the sugut that he drew upou himself many a aharp rebuke from the deacon. "Of course J'd club him over th< head with s salt Hah twice ■ day imi der ord'nsry circumstances." Ooplm confided to his father, with a vallmi air that he never wore In Deacon Ilm ter 1 # presence, "but I've got a reason known to nobody tmt myself, for want In' to stan' well with the old man sot a apcll longer If ever 1 quit want In to atari' well with him lie'll Ret lll comeuppance short and sudden!” "Bpeakln' o' atnmltn' well with folks Phil Perry's kind o’ tnaktu' up to Pa tlence Mailer, ain't he. Cephas?” aakec tlncle Hart guardedly “Mehbe you wouldn’t notice tt, havin' no parttc'lai tnt'rest, hut your mother's kind o' go the Idee Into her head lately, an' she turrihle farsighted " “I goes* ft’s sos Cephas responded gloomily. “It's nip an' tuck 'tween him an' Mark Wilson. That girl draw ’em as molasses docs files She doe It ’tbout liftin' a finger, too, no niore'n the molasses does She Just sets stll' an' Isl An' all ilic time she's nothin hut a flighty little rcdheadisl spltliri that don't know s good husband n hot she sees one The feller that gits hei iwlll live to regret It. that’s my opin ion I” And Cephas thought to himself "Good Lord, don’t 1 wish 1 was re gtettiu’ it this very minute!" “I a'pose a girl like Phoohe Day'll be consid'ahle less trouble to II v< with?” Veutured Unde Mart, ”1 never cou d take any fancy to that tow hair o' hern! I like the color wel 1 enough when Pm i<ee!lng It off a con cob, but I don’t like It on a girl - head." objected Cephas hypercritlcally "An" her eyes halu't got enough hi" In 'em to he blue They're Jest Id, sklmtnHk An' she keeps her tuoui! ot>cn a little tuitc ail the tune, Jest .. If there w t n't no good draft through an' she wis a tryin' to git air An 'twas pie tl t liegun calliu' her 'Keeh , Phoels- in » iioot. an' the scholars! never fora it il. They'd throw It up i Die the whole Murin' time If 1 should go to work an' keep company with her!” "Metbe they've forgot by this time.' Uncle Dart res|Kiudtst hojiefuliy “though M'a an awful resk when vot think o' Companion Pike! Samuel. In waa ImpOrt-d and Samuel he continue, to be. Dll he married the Wtdder MU by from Waterboro Bein' as how there wa’n’t nothin' tmrtic'ly attractlvi •bout him- though tip was as nice s feller as ever lived- somebody askc' her why she married him. an' she sat her cat bed Jest died an' the wanted a companion The boys never let go o that stent Samuel Pike be ceased t< he thirty year ago, an' Companion Pile lie’s remained up to this Instant min ute!" “He ain't lived up to his tiaim much," remarked Cephas, "lie's P home for tils meals, I til I guess hi wife never sees him between times." “If tlic cat lied lived mehbe she'd a hern hotter co.np'ny. on the whole.' chuckled t in lc Burt. "Companion wm tillers kind o' dreamy an' absent mind ed from a Iso I remember askin' Ilia Svhnt his wife's Christian name wa (she bein' it stram.or to Hlverl oroi. an he said lie didn't know! Said he cnllc her Mis' Blxby afore lie married lie an’ Mis' Pike afterwards!" “Well, there's something tnrrihh queer 'limit this marry In' business,' nnd Cephas drew a sigh from the beet of hls boots ."it seems 's if a milt hadn't no natchernl drnwln' towards r girl with a good fnrtn 'o' stock that wns willin' to have him! Seems jest as If It set film ng'ln' her somehow And yet. If you've got to sing out o’ tin aatne book with a girl your whole life time, It does seem 's If you'd ought P have a kind of a fancy for her at. tin start, anyhow!" "You may fee! dtf'rent as Mine goe on. Cephas, an' come to see feeble would say Phoebe ns ynqr motile i-, \ 1 ] mp? t m : ■ vUi] no: I I ■l, \\ ’■ ■ |,V JH/9 "He ain't livin' up to hie neme much,’ remarked Cephas. do»>s. 'The best fire don't flare up tin soonest.' you know." tint old Uudc Bart saw that his son's heart wa heavy and forebore to press the suh Ject. Annatiel Franklin had returned to Boston after a month's visit nud to hei surprise had returned as disengaged u ahe came. Mark Wilson, thoroughly iHiri-d by her vacuities of inlnd, longtsl now for more Intercourse with Patty Baxter, l’alty, so guy anil unexpected so lively to talk with, so piquing to the fancy, so skittish and difficult to man age, ao temptingly pretty, with a beau ty all her own. nnd never two days alike. There were uiunv Hons tn the way. and these only added to the zest of pursuit. With all the other girls of the village opporlunities multiplied, hut he could scarcely get teu minute alone with Putty. The deacou’s orders were absolute Iu regard to young men Hls daughters were never to drive or walk alone with them, never to go to dances or "routs" of any sort and nov er receive them at the house, this last mandate being quite unnecessary, as m> youth in its right mind would have gone n com no under the deacon's for bidding gaze And still there were sudden, delicious chances to he sei.'cd now nnd then if oue hail hls eyes open and hi- «ts about him There wn the walk to or (rum the singing school, wheu s -outliuental couple could drop a few feet at least behind the rest uml exchange a word or two Iu coinpara tire privacy; there were the church "circles'’ ai d prayer meetings and tin Intervals Is-tween Sunday service when Mark could detach Patty a mo uient from tho group on the tncetii house steps More valuable than a! these, a complete schedule of Patty - various movements here nud then-, to get her with a profound study of Den con Baxters hnhtts. which were •> dlnarily as punctual as they were d - agreeable, permitted Mark many stole Interviews, as sweet ss they wor bfltf. Thcr*i#vs s ntujf a seeoud kts However. In these casual ineetlugs ami partings The first, in springtime, had found Patty a child, surprised, uupre pared. She was a woman now. for It does not take years to achieve that miracle; months will do It or days in even hours Her summer's experience with Cephas Cole had wonderfully broadened her powers, giving her an assurance sadly lacking before, as well as a knowledge of detail, a certain fin Ished skill In the management of a lover, which she could nhly use on any one who happened to come along And at th" moment any one who happened to come along served the purpose ud mirnbly. Philip Perry ns well as Mar quls Wilson. Young Perry's Inteiest In Patty, as we have seen, began with his a Menu tion from Ellen Wilson, the first ob ject of his affections, and It wns not at the outset at all of a sentimental nature. Philip was a pillar of the Church, and Ellen had proved so eri tirely lacking In the religious sense, so self satisfied as tocher standing with the heavenly powers, that Philip dared not expose himself longer to her so elety lest lie find himself "unequally yoked together with an Unbeliever.' thus defying the scriptural admonition as to marriage. Patty, though somewhat lacking in the qualities that go to the making of trustworthy saints, was not. like Ellen wholly given over to the Ueshpots and would prove a valuable convert. Philip thought, one who would reflect greai credit npon him If he succeeded in in during her to subscribe to the stern creed of the day. Philip was a very strenuous ami slightly gloomy believer, dwelling eon aiderably on the wrath of God and the doctrine of eternal punishment. There was an old "pennyroyal” hymn much In use which describes the general tenor of hls meditation - My thoughts on awful subjects roll— Damnation and the dead. What horrors seize the guilty soul Upon a dying bed! (No wonder that Jacob Cochrane's lively songs, cheerful, hopeful, tuili tsnt nnd bracing, fell with a pleasing sound upon the ear of the believer of that e|SK h i The love of God had. Indeed, entered Philip’s soul, but in some mysterious way had been ossi fieri after It got. there He Imd iu tensely black hair, dark skin nnd a liver that dlsjioNod him constitution ally to an ardent belief in the neces Rlty of hell for most of hls neighbors and the hope of spending his own glorious immortality in a small, prop erly restricted and prudently man aged beat elk lie was eloquent at prayer meeting, and Patty's only ob jection to him there was In hls dlsposl tion to allude to himself as a “rebel worm," with frequent references to hls “vile body." Otherwise and when not engaged In theological discussion Patty liked Philip very much. lli own father, although an orthodox member of the fold In good nnd regu lar standing, had "doctored" Phil con acientlously for his liver from hls youth up. hoping In time to Incite in him a sunnier view of life, for the doc tor was somewhat skilled in adapting hls remedies to spiritual maladies. Jed Morrill had always said that when old Mrs Buxton, the champion convert of Jacob Cochrane, was at her worst keeping her whole family awake nights by her hysterical fears for their fu ture —I)r. Perry had given her u twelfth of a grain of tartar emetic five times a day until she had entire mental relief, and her anxiety con cerning the salvatiou of her husband and children was set completely at rest The good doctor noted with secret pleasure hls sou's growing fondness for the society of tils prime favorite. Miss Patience Baxter “He'll ta-gln by trying to save her soul,” he thought "Phil always begins that way, hut when Patty gets him in hand he'll remember the existence of tits heart, an organ be has never taken into consideration A love atTalr with a pretty girl, good but not too pious, will help Phil considerable, however it turns out." There Is no doubt but that Phil was taking hls chances and that under Patty's tutelage he was growing mel lower. As for Patty, site was only amusing herself ami frisking like a young lamb In pastures where she had never strayed before. Her fancy flew from Mark to Phil and from Phil back to Mark again, for at the moment she was Just a vessel of emotion, ready to empty herself on she knew not what Temperamentally, she would take ad vantage of currents rather tbau steer at any time, and It would be the strong est curreut that would tinnlly bear her away, tier Idea had always bceu that she could play with tire without burn ing her own fingers and that the flames she kindled were so innocent and mild that no one could be harmed by them She had fancied up to now that she con Id control, urge on or cool down a man's feeliug forever a"nd a day If she chose and remain mistress of the situation. Now, after some weeks of weighing and balancing her two swains, she found herself confronting a choice once and for all. Each of Uirnt seemed to tie approaching the state of mind where he was likely to say. aomuwlnit violently. "Take me or leave me. „ne or the other!" But she did not wish to take them, and still css did she wish to leave them, with no other lover In sight but Cephas ole. who was almost, though not ulte, worse than none (To Be Continued Tomorrow.) fHE AUGUSTA HERALD. AUGUSTA. GA. fHav.Y mcvcfcßLtu - A / ~ \ 7v 1 The WIHLS / IJUS 30INT ) , coh.no w / ' C. N\\o Vl*C> THESE. \ I | I'LL 3oST StoFP 'N otitic j|j||| ( dishes <s&T J i TmS 3unk. vjND6t?~ ) j | tMWTV iCOQ f n |\ (WHY HEHR’Y - How \ I f J j I ...... !, ■; '''Li-I, .., —fghtlNMl TOUGH LUCK. "We won't discharge you. Mr. Per kins,' 1 said the manager. "We shall allow you to tender your resigna tion" "Tendering it won't make It any the teas tough," gloomily returned the man who »m laid off—Washington Herald. MAKING THEM DANCE UP. "I always said that the child would he a great help to oher parents w hen she grew up." "Now she's t'aching them hesita tion."—Detroit free ITssa. WHEN THE WIFE COMES BA CK IN THE MOVIES HARD ON THE TRIBE. "Some of these investigators carry matters too far." V'How now?” "Now they are tryingto make out that Nero was a preacher'* son."— Kansas City Journal. THE TRANSLATION. "I'd like a cup of black coffee and a«.order of frankfurters," said a rer •ou of a quick-lunch establishment. dl "One In the dark and a pair of growlers!' bawled the waiter. —Balti- more Sun. • "Could you give me a bite, mum?" naked the drooping mendicant at the door. "Certainly not:'* snapped the house wife, “but I have a dog that would be glad to do It." RESULT OP PROHIBITION. Mermaids—Well, girls i must say it's MONDAY. MAY 25 IN REAL LIFE more comfortable now, I can wade around under an Auerlian man of war without cutting my feet on brok en hototles. —Judge. READ HERALD WANTS TODAY