| Show WHO DID THE WOOING it somehow leaked out in the big creek section that martha ann todd proposed to jim how the story got afloat no one exactly knew for martha certainly never told it herself and as for james he was never known in tho whole course of his existence to have told anything any bow the report got afloat and soon everyone far and near was talking about it and at every candy pull and su garin off some one was bound to bring up the subject and then the question was asked did martha ann really propose facts case were ann and james were engaged both mrs todd and mrs had given this news to the world at aunt jane Worm leya meeting of the big creek ladies aid it was farther generally agreed that james never had spunk enough to speak for himself so it really became an oppressive mystery to the good people of the section but all these wanderings wonder ings and suppositions would have been cleared up had they been able to look into the generous heart of martha ann as she sat by the western window of the kitchen doing crochet work and looking ever and anon over across the enow fields to the simpkins farmhouse behind which a sturdy figure could bo seen lustily swinging an ax and this was james martha ann was as comely a girl as any in the district and as uncle billy nason the master of the postoffice post office and village emporium averred by far the likeliest martha ann was good to look at sho was not handsome she was not pretty her eyes were neither bright black nor soft blue her hair had no poetic tendencies her figure was neither statuesque nor petite nevertheless martha ann i was a mighty pleasant girl to see she seemed to have a way of growing on one for her voice was always musical and her smile ever cheerful and encouraging she was now probably twenty seven years of age perhaps younger it matter she was a woman healthy energetic er a banners fan ners daughter who had worked all her lifo and was proud of it who had twice taken first prize at the county fair for bread and had won a medal at the same institution for a patchwork quilt she had mado all her own clothes since the day she was sixteen and besides that she could play an organ all round the other girls that was a big day in the life of martha ann when her father came home with a six stop organ on the wood deigh such a beauty as it was too with elegant bracket trimmings and a cute little rack on top for books and music it five minutes after that organ struck the parlor before coronation and the battle of waterloo were rolling through the house with so sublime and altogether magnificent a tone that mother todd dropped right down on the haircloth sofa all in her old clothes too and cried refusing to be comforted until martha ann played a few bars of nearer my god to thee but self confident as martha ann was bho had for five years now been floating on a sea of conjecture as to what jim simpkins Simp kina really meant by coming over to the house and talking politics with her father and seeing her home from church every sunday night she somehow could not locate james in her list of certainties for a long time martha ann seriously doubted whether K e loved her or not and it was not till she felt in her heart that she was all in all to him that she began to scheme how to make easy for james to propose for months she labored over this problem every once and awhile of a sunday evening as they strolled home together by the creek she would throw out a feeler but he never understood during all thia time she made herself as at jaa she knew how and her sweetest nieces on ane organ with no further result than getting him used to sitting on a haircloth chair without desiring to tip it back against the wall as was his custom with the batchen furniture although all her schemes camo to i naught martha ann never lost heart she was sure of one thing and that was that james was dying to ask her but so she looked at it as perfectly proper that she should help him out the nearest he had ever come to saying something vital was on a day in the preceding fall when he had come over to help her pick some grafted apples these apples were so large and precious that the greatest care had to be taken in gathering them on this occasion james was up amid the branches of the tree oi a stepladder and martha ann stood on the ground catching each apple one by one in her apron whether looking up so continuously heightened her coloring or not james thought she had never looked so beautiful and altogether womanly before and he registered an oath in his heart for ha never swore that so help him undo john rogers he would ask her the minute he got down he even got quite brilliant up there on the ladder and joked while martha ann beamed one continuous smile finally he gathered all the apples in his reach and so had to come down to get a new position but with each downward step down went his courage and it was only by a superhuman effort that he managed to say youre lookin pur all git out martha ann martha ann blushed crimson at so direct a compliment for she felt that the hour had come youre always a flattering me james she said say too much for you know you know guess id better move the ladder ter the south side the tree you martha ann could have cried then and there james said no more and the apple gathering went on in silence but now at the time I 1 am writing about they were actually engaged and tho reader will probably come to the conclusion that martha ann must have proposed just as the worthy gossips of tho big creek section figured the facts are as follows martha ann decided firmly on a climax either james or she must speak if she could induce him to declare his love all well and good if not she must draw him out if he would not draw bho must tell him the old story herself no strategist could have planned a finer campaign it was the evening of easter sunday the day had been bright and sunny the services at the church had been inspiring and james had come home with her for supper after a meal which would have warmed the heart of a cynic let alone a healthy farmer like our hero all the folks retired to the parlor where a rosy fire was glowing in the grate the dry caplo logs burning slowly but determinedly min edly and every coal which dropped holding its color for an hour the organ was opened and first the pieces sung by the choir that day were played over as martha ann said just ter hear how they sounded at home father todd sat near the hearth one aneo overlapping the other his eyes looking clean up through the ceiling past the bedroom on the second floor past the stars in the keen spring sky past the boundaries of space into that beautiful land of pure delight where saints immortal reign which martha ann was singing about in near him her arms folded on her motherly bosom her round fair good old face beaming with perfect rest and peace james stood by the side of the singer and joined in the chorus cow and then for he had a robust bass voice which mighty amounted ter something martha ann said had he only had the high of the choir and so the early evening passed and pretty soon the old people went to deep in a fitful way until the worthy sire allowed it might do fer young folks to set up but fer as he was concerned guess hed crawl off ter bed he was eoon followed by his faithful partner and the field was ready for the action to begin martha ann concluded she would not sing any more for her throat was getting choked up and with the greatest sang froid drew the sofa up before the fire and sat down leaving james to loolu out for himself this move put him in a bad fix if he sat down anywhere in the room but in one place her back would be toward him he hemmed a little and wandered aimlessly about tried to get interested in a picture of mrs dodds todds grandmother and anally sat down on the organ stool martha ann paid no attention she sat with her face in her hands in the fire as if oblivious of his presence there was a silence of intense and painful presence in the room now and then a spark shot upward from the bum ing logs or a stick fell from the dogs into a heap of crimson coals james actually suffered he had no more idea what to do under the circumstances than the traditional child unborn bat when the stillness began to actually ache martha ann roused up and turning to him said why james dont set over there alone come and sit on the sofa here by me and watch the flick crin I 1 acs see the prettiest prettie sf little home you ever heard tell of come atna nit eirvon L s S ay he blushed crimson at this was it possible was this really martha ann was he jim simpkins come and set down right aside 0 her and watch tha flickering flick erin well be was instantly passed through his brain and she had turned again to the fire he coughed a little made as if to get ap but subsided he turned all colors and there sat martha ann looking BO cozy A look of heroism came into his eyes he arose pulled down his trousers and sat down again got up once more and the first thing he knew he was actually sitting on the same sofa with her and she never moving from her place near the middle continued her weird stare into the fire james ehe said 1 I never see such a buildt of palaces and amalin of stories as there is in the fire there tonight cant say as I 1 seo much martha ann look there right side the dog cant you see the little house there and the vines a trailing up over the root and tho door wide open and the children a about and the old well there see it james bucket beam everything jes as natural as life and them bendin over the well they may bo lovers james a bendin over tha water jes aa we are over the fire you got tamal good eyes martha i ann ter see all them things araps I 1 aint no imagination but I 1 cant see nothing but some coals a breathing sorter like as if they bated ter give in martha ann continued her rapt attention of the drama in the fire and james began to get to home on the sofa by and by she lifted her hand and brushed back her hair and then let it descend in a careless way till it fell on that of her companion what a great strong hand you have fihe said slowly do you know the marks in the hand let me bhoj you see this longest one curving around the thumb for long life you will live to be very old and see this little one here next it for riches and this one here wonder what its for see mine jes the same mark ohl I 1 know now I 1 remember what is it for its fer love the catalogue was too limited for the bashful young farmer to find anything to say to this and so they sat in silence her hand still resting almost caressingly on his out in the sitting room could be heard the measured solemn tick took of the great oaken clock and outside the wind breathing through the trees added a certain weirdness to the sabbath repose every now and then the sound of the old dog in the woodshed turning over restlessly could be heard and all the while the mans heart was demanding that he should express himself a commission the tongue refused to obey finally martha ann without raising her head said dreamily do you know james ive often wondered why yon ever git married you see I 1 have always looked upon myself aa a sister to you always fer your welfare and happiness and I 1 have asked myself agin and agin now why dont he find some good true girl and marry her make some woman a good husband james I 1 know yon would so good and saidy and home loam and sech men aint plentiful it aint fer you to be spending your sunday evenings with me who is only your true friend fer ought to be findan a sweetheart an gettin married and settled in life oh martha annl he found courage she continued as it not noticing the interruption A man as has reached conr age ter he loolen round him and theres plenty aplenty a of girls would have you too plenty aplenty a of them now theres mary crabson ashes a good girl as even lived a splendid housekeeper and religious or sally stevens or esther Lapu many of them would jump at the chance to become mrs simpkins james groaned in spirit the tion trickled down his forehead and settled in a drop on the tip of his nose as if undecided whether or not it were best to fall oh martha agnf be said again plaintively how could yer think of sech a thing she removed her hand from his and turned her face now flushed warm by the fire until her eyes met his anda aked as if with the greatest wonder why not i its you I 1 want martha ann hs h tongue was getting into line its you as I 1 have been a planning this year or more to ask but somehow you was allera so sweet quiet that I 1 somehow da it surely the unruly vocal powers were getting very obedient ave loved yer from a little girl ave ivea the machinery stopped suddenly here and it was as much as half a before he continued you see I 1 dont know how to tell it hove you with all my heart and allers have and ave wished and wished I 1 could tell on but I 1 bein so stupid but ive told yon now and im glad for faint no room in my heart for no one else he was quite choked up with emotion now yea in his eyes were a new boh aass a new inspiration leaned eagerly forward for her answer it was now her turn tobe to be confused the wily martha ann forgather gother for canning S of speech her well laid plan and she lanew the teara were rolling s j eia L y abor abo r A down her cheeks 0 no words to say j she allowed her head to sink slowly toward his breast and hiding her face there with his strong anna about her she gave herself up to the soft passion of tears x and then he raised her tenderly and kissed her over andover again how he never knew and will never be able to explain to himself for he had no need to be told she loved him and was his for all time and so they sat silently while the fire flickered and grew passionate in tam and the old clock ticked with a gladder tone and even the breathing of the god of night in the lilacs became and so heart beating against heart and hand clasping hand they sat too full of the spirit of love to say aught and this is how they became engaged yet still the people of the big creek section are wondering did martha ann really propose fred vamer shibley in boston globe |
