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Show j The Fading of 'U-: : By Frank Glover Hcnton ; - . - . , , (Copyright, Ford Pub. Co,) Aunt Mallta drew her hassock a trifle nearer tho stove and placed her slippered feet upon tho footstool's tufted surface As sho prepared to string the heaped-up "crock" of pared and quartered apples tor drying, she cast a glance toward her visitor, leaning lean-ing bnck In a deep rocker and luxuriously luxuri-ously munching an old-fnBhloned, pink-lly pink-lly golden Bellflowcr. "No, Indeed," sho snld, resuming the conversation that had, In tho exigencies exigen-cies of properly paring tho apples, boen temporarily dropped; "no, Indeed; In-deed; It wasn't from lack of chances that your Aunt Mnloety Btayed whnt those harum-scarum children calls 'th' old maid.' I s'poso thoy's hardly n girl In th whole village has as many beaux as I used t" havo when I wns a girl myself an' I shouldn't bo a might s'prlsed but whnt I could havo a few now, cf I wanted 'cm." Tho brightness of her oyos, unhidden unhid-den by tho "specs" that nearly always rested upon tho top of her head, tho dainty flush that mnntled her unwlth-ered unwlth-ered checks, and tho wavy coll of silvery hnlr that crowned her llko on argent nuroolc, robbed tho words of nny hint of unduo self-esteem; nnd tho whole llfo of Aunt Mnllta Adnms, as sound and oweet as her own npples, and ns golden ns tho pumpkin pies Hint II lied her kitchen shelves on linking days, Boomed well calculated to round out tho bleak existence or even tho most hardened ot homelcBs bachelors. "But, thank my stars" this with a mellow chucklo that took from tho words their seeming selllshncns "I nl'ays manngod t' escapo th' tempter's snares. Not but what I had ono or two pretty closo shaves; but I al'ays got away safe, an' glad enough I am of It. "Tho very nnrrerest escapo I over had," Bho continued, leaning hack In her chnlr and letting tho string ot quarterod apples fall Into her white-aproned white-aproned lap, "was tho last; I never 'lowed things to git so scr'ouB again. Draw up your chair hero, so's I c'n talk to you 'thout bavin' t holler clear 'cross this barn ot a room, an' I'll toll you 'bout It, j "It was 'way back at th' beglnnln' 1 o' th war, you might say, an', of course, I was llvln' on th' old farm then, with fnther an' mothor. I wns a slip of a thing, Just passed 20, but I'd been bavin' beaux for throe four years. Folks married a sight younger them days'li they do now. Well, I was just passed 20 when ho commenced cqinln' f see mo. Ho? Burn 'nuugh; 'cburso you doii't know nothln-'baut who ho was. HI? namo wus Ellhu flreene, nn' he come Into our neighborhood neighbor-hood summer o' 'G3. Fine, big man ho wns, puttln' or more Btylo'n n dog, an', of course, all th' girls wns mighty Boon settln' their caps for him. I was bad as th' rest, too, for all I'd had n lesson or two that should 'a' lot -mo know better. "Father never could 'bldo 'Llhu fnthor was mighty set In his likes nn' dislikes. Catled him a bounty jumper, jump-er, an' a refugeo, an' scch unmix, an' declared 'at 'thnt'Oreeno was too green f'r his stummlck,' Mother, too, had a kind o' pick nt him Bald he's too out In th wind fr her. Hut who ever heard of n girl payln' any heed t' whnt her parents said 'bout any man sho took a fancy to? " 'Llhu hail a flno head o' hair, black an' glossy, an' ho woro It cropped off squaro In th' buck an' th' onds tucked under. Then he had It fixed 'round over his ears an' roached up In a curl In front, nn' so slick with bear's Krcasc an' bergamont that father said once: 'A fly'd wnnt a llfo Insurance policy 'f ever It lit on that head.' He was th' first man that over1 woro bum-sides bum-sides in this part o' th" country; 'Dundreary's,' 'Dun-dreary's,' ho called 'em, long nn' flow, In' an' as glossy black as his hair was. For all his whlskors an' hair was so black ha didn't have a young-lookln' fnco; but all tho girls laid that to secrtt sorror or somo deep trouble ho'd had back at tho cast, whore ho give out ho como from. "That slick hair ought to'vo turnod me against 'Llhu, same's It, did mother. moth-er. First tlmo ho como to see mo she had 'noi'h o him. Tho best room In our house was papered ono o th mighty fow in th' township, too. 1 c'n shut my oyeB un' boo that paper now; dollcate, fady Bort o' green it wus, with stripes o' Bomo kind o' vluey pink flowers runnln' up nn' down th' walls, 'Llhu, ho come In an' took a chair nn' tilted back against th' wall, lookln' so flno I nover dared t hint 'at mother mnybo wouldn't llko It. When ho went away thcro was a spot as big as your two hands on that flno green wall, whero th' grease'd nibbed oft his head. So thcro he was, with mother an' father both makln' n mock 0' him, an mo dead set an" anxious t' have him wallln' on mo, "Well, things went along all that summer'n fall. 'Llhu went f board at th' next place t' father's; said ho 'couldn't stand the llttlo town (the village wasn't half on big then as 'tis now), an' t'ut In most o' his tlmo .ilr'.-l"' '-r.-n' tfv ii,: girls, who was a'most flghtlu' t' see whlch'd git him. For all he never seemed to do any work, ho nl'ays had money 'tiough. Fnther said ho 'peercnl t' keep pretty busy dolu' uothln' an' prosperlu' at th' job. Spite o' all the eour looks an' short answers father an' mother give him, ho'd como t' see mo every Sunday night, an' protty olten ho'd git In an evcnln' betwoen. An' I'll admit, I was thlnkln' pretty seriously o' 'Llhu; his whisker, an' shiny hair, un' his flno clo'os an' p'llte ways 'peered f sort o' flustrato fun, I reckon, an" I wns Just 'bout ripe to fall Into his hands whenever he'd say th' word, "Did you ever hear tell o" the "cold New Year's?' New Year's day o' 'Ct It was. That's th' day th' mercury dropped down Co degrees 'twlxt sundown sun-down an sunup, an' when many an' a many a poor soldier boy froio t' death In th' skimpy llttlo tents th' gov'ment give 'em f live In. Well, that's the last day 'Llhu ovor como to seo me, "It wns 'long In th' nfternoon, an' wo was nil slttln' huddled up 'round th' fireplace tryln' t' keep warm. Tho frost on tho hinges o' th' door on tho far side o' th' room wns halt an Inch thick; an' every llttlo while the rafters o' th' house, or n treo outside, 'ml go 'pop,' same's 'f somobody'd hit 'em with a maul. Tho snow was so full o' frost ItM crunch under n person's feet llko you'd crunch one o' my fresh cookies 'twlxt your tooth. "All nt once thcro wns n knock nt th' door, an' when I opened It thcro stood 'Llhu. Dressed up flner'n ever, ha was, an' lookln' 's It he'd put In most b' th' day tlxln' himself, ns, llko's not ho hnd, Ho hnd on one o' them curly brimmed benvor hats, an', llftln' It In thnt grand way o' hls'u, ho said In his mlncy voice: '"Happy Now Year, Miss Mallta. Air's n trifle bracln' to-day, ain't It? "Tho mlnuto I clnppod eycH on him I knowod they wus somethlu' wrong. Ills hnlr and whiskers had a kind o' frosted look, an' his oars an' hobo wolt, you could a'most boo right through 'em. Mother, sho glvo him ono look, then sho snld, rent snappish: " ' 'Llhu flreon, git right 111 hero an' set down t'other eldo o' th' room, fur from th' lire's you klit git Malooty, run an' git that whisky Jug your father had filled ylstcddy an' bring It right here to mo.' "For all father an' mother wns nl-'nys nl-'nys teu-to-tallers, wo kept whisky In the house; mother snld they wnsn't anything thnt wasn't good In Its own plnco, "Now, you might guess I wnsn't long glttln' that whisky Jug nu' pourln' out n bakln' pan full o' th' stuff. Mother Moth-er torn n strip right off her old shawl an' soaked It In th' liquor, an' then her nn' mo set In to rub the frost out o' 'Llhu's cars an' nose, which wan froro so1 stiff 'at It you'd n' twenked 'em they'd n' broke right off. "Hnlr dyo wusn't ns common them days as 'tis now, nil' when I saw the beautiful black begin to fado out o' 'I.ll'iu's Dundrearys an' perfumed hnlr, It scared mo 'most t' death. The dyo he used wasn't warranted not t' crock or run, nn' tho whisky took most of It out o whero ho'd put an' streaked It down his neck and 'cross his fnco an' onto his high, rollln' collar an' cravat 'til ho was 'bout th' unslghtltoBt look-In' look-In' man you over laid eyes on. 'Oh, yes, th' whisky took tho frost out o" his-. earn, an' noso; Jiut it took th' romnnco out o' him, too. When mother an' mo got through rubbln' him, what with his hnlr an' whUken a sort o' dlsapp'lnled, drnggly gray, his fnco streaked llko an Injun's an' lib ears all swelled nn' red an' puffy lookln", ho won a mighty unllkoly np pearln' toiler to tnulto nn Impression on any girl. "I nevor soon any signs o' 'Llhu again utter ho wont nwny thnt .even In. A fow o" th' girls sprnnd tli' tnfo that ho Jilted mo an' went awuy; but thoy never aeon htm llko I did." Aunt Mallta picked up her dnrnlng neodlo mi.il twlno and rosumod tho task ot stringing tho qunrtcred apples. With a quizzical glance sho added: "I was right mopy f'r a spell after 'Llhu went awuy 'thout oven nayln' good-by; but I got ovor It, though, llko n body will 'f they'vo got gumption 'nough t' senso things right. An' ' al'ayu 'vo been mighty thankful 1 turned out' llko It did. I s'poso It wanted t' talk llko. theso story bookl does, I might call It my halr-breadtl oocupe," |