Select Literature.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 570, 20 April 1868, Page 4

Select Literature.

GRANDMOTHER'S STORY: THE GREAT SNOW. [Atlantic Monthly.] had been snowing all day, and when Father 'll" came iu at dark lie said that the wind was rising, and the storm gathering power every moment, and that before morning all the roads would be fast locked, Grandmother put by her knitting at Father’s words, and rose and walked feebly to the window, where she stood a longtime looking out at the death-white waste, shut in by the morose, ominous sky, Then, turning slowly, her face alight and beautiful with that beauty which is fairer than Youth, she said,

“ It puts me iu mind old he Great Snow, Ephr

—it puts me in mind of a good many things! ’’ Then she came back to the. lire, and sat down again iu her corner. Memory was stirring, the past unfolding its scroll. The knitting-work" led unheeded from the old, trembling lingers. blip was a girl again, and the story of that far-olf girlhood fell softly un the evening silence.

“ I was only eighteen years old, Ephraim, when your grandmother moved down from the new State. T had lived up in the wilderness all mv life ; and 1 was shy as a wild rabbit, anil, in my own fashion, proud. Father was poor in those dm s, for there were six of us children to feed and clothe, and Mother was delicate and often ill; so we moved into a. low, one-story house, that was old, too, as wm! .as small ; hut as we had always lived in a log house, and this was a frame one, we W ere more than satisfied. MV did not mind if the snow hVvr in at the eraeks i:i the roof, and nestled in little drifts on the counterpane, for we were ns'al to it, I renicmber that one bright star alwnvs peeped down at me in the winter through ’he open spaces between the hoards, and shone so calm and clear that I used to fancy if was God's home, and somehow my prayers seemed surer of get dug to him when I said them in the pure livf.it of this star. But t list was while, we, were in the new Slate. 'When we moved down country, I was a grown-up girl, able to turn my hand to an;, chore about the house ; and I went to meeting at meet-ing-house at the corner, and had got over my childish notions.

“I.lder Crane was a very pious man, and lie always preadied long sermons and made long prayers* The sermons were easier to bear than the prayers, for the people sat through the sermon ; but if you had sat down during the praver you would have been thought dreadfully winked, ami the elder might have called your name right out the next Sahbaih, and prayed for you ns a poor sinner whom Satan was tempting. And so ion stood up, oi course, though the children sometimes got asleep and fell down, and mien the girls used to faint away and be earned out. Samantha Lee did, at one time, almost as regularly as the Sabbath came round, until at ia-t a’ church committee were sent to labor with tier. But Somantiia was a very free-spoken girl, and she said son a hard things against Eider Crane’s prayers. T always thought that it was more her corsets than the length of the prayers. “ I never fainted ; ‘ for up in the new State I had run wild in the woods, and, though I was o frail thing to look at, I had a deal of strength in me. But my thoughts rambled a great deal too often ; and sntip’inir-s I doubted if I was as near God in Elder Crane's church as 1 used to he K ing on my lied in the chamber of the log house, 'and saying my prayers to the bright star that looked down so friendly. I asked Mother .about it cue day, and she said (hat surely God was about us everywhere; but she added that the. ehureh was the appointed means of grace, and (hat I must follow Elder Crane closely, and try to make i.iv heart feel the words. I did try,' but there was so much about the Israelites in the house of bondage, and Moses, and the sacrifices, that do what 1 would I always, lost myself in the Red Sea, ami the chosen p’opie entered the promised land without me. At such times, when my thcajhfs went wandering, my eyes followed thru, and wort frequently they went right over to Air Jacob Allen’s pew. I could not well help it, for his was a wall pew, directly opposite ours. Air Allen seldom came to the meeting, being old and rheumatic, but nis u ife and girls came, and his sou Ephraim. “At fi rs t l noticed Ephraim Allen just ns I did the cobwebs upon the waits, and the yellow streaks in the uamscoang; nfierwards I began to see what a fine figure he had—a whole head above his companions—and how broad-shouldered and erect and manly he was; the. narrow-backed shortcoat, that made th» , pst WV , a pm-mv and and uncomfortable, sat gracefully and easily upon him. He inn a wide white forehead—though I did not notice tb's for a long time—and sbo'rt curly hair, that looked very black beside (he Air skin. Then his cheeks were bright as a rose, and his exes—out I seldom gnu so for ns j,i S eves. J*,. cause by some chance they .-'wavs met -

{lien I was ranch confab n;. Ito ham-J. Lat ways, i.i going out of meeting, he use,! to Low tor, in end .MV. ' o(i.,d rpornoi'f M»r „-

end then I saw that Lis eye? were n clear Line, and I tin pyLf tL.rv were, wary lionet, tender o-ies. They saul t oat Scuvntha Lee had hern sctLng her .-a? nt him a good wiair, am] I wondered Jf he liked her.

“This was all the acipdaim sues we. leal f*=s* two years and more. There was not much chance lor young people to meet in those days, especially where they were strictly brought up, as I was ; lor Father and Mother were both very pious, ami at that time church-members fbought it was sinful to join in the profane amusements of the' world. So when an invitation came lor me to; a husking-frolic, or a paring bee, or a dance, 1 i was not allowed to go. I was shy, as I told you,{ bat 1 had a girl’s natural longing for company : j and many Mere iuc biiti-r tears 1 shed up m the; garret because I could not go with the rest. 1 Mother used to look at mo as if she pitied me, j and ones she ventured to speak im in favor of my ; going ; but Father said stenilv these sports were! tiie means Satan used lo w’u aw-.y souls from bind, —and Father was a pood died set in hi? way, ami Mother gave up to him, as she always did. “ Once or twice Ephraim Allen came to our house, but somehow my shyness came out me when I heard Ids voice at the door, and I hid. myself in the pantry, and pretended to bo very busy turning the cheeses; and so 1 was, for I turned them over and over again, till Mother came and said I mustn’t waste any more butter. Ephraim stayed and stayed, and kept talking about the oxbow he had come to see about a great deal longer than 1 thought there was any need of; and 1 could not get courage enough to go out, though 1 uas sere ashamed of my foolish shyness. “So the whole two years -dipped away, and ‘ Good morning’ was all w* had ever said to each other. About this time 1 began to notice that Deacon Lee got in the way of looking at me in meeting, and that bis face was very sober, as if something displeased him. Semnntha, ton, would push past me in going in and out, and didn’t speak to me as she always used to do. But at last 1 found oat what it meant. One day, as 1 was coming out of meeting, and Ephraim had just said. ‘ Good morning.' 1 looked around and tiier.* was Deacon Lee close beside us, watching ns with a severe expression in his face. “ ‘ Young man,’ said he. and the tone was s" awful that I trembled ail over—‘young man, ll have noticed for some time pa-t your attempts| to attract the attention of tills young woman, who.' 1 urn grieved to say,’—turning to me—‘does noli receive this attention as she ought. Instead of assuming an expression of severe reproof, she blushes from lime to time, and oasis down her I eyes, and I cannot discover from her face that this ungodly conduct is displpnsimf lo her.’ “ L was so overwhelmed by tills rebuke that I could not look up or speak, and in a minute more I should have cried in good earnest. It was! Ephraim’s voice that stopped turn I “ ‘ I am sure 1 beg Mercy’s pardon and yours, Deacon, if I have done anything improper. L suppose I 1 ,-oked at her Ime iuse my eve couldn't! tuid a pl-'a>,!!io-r rostuig-pi'ice. \,n won’t pro-; tend that Elder Crane is handsome enough to, make it. a piea.-o.rc to look at / he.' , “ 1 was astonished, and ih-aeoa 1.--looked horrified, but Ephraim's face gmwed all over witu! smiles. j ‘“Ephraim Allen,' said the Deacon, sternly,; ‘ if yon were a professor, i should pre-eni you to, the church for irreverence. As it is, 1 have done] my duty ;’ ami with that he went away. j “ .Most: ot'tiie jjeojde hail !•>!'; the meeting.house' by tin- time, but a gooii in my of them were turning b ,ek to lo ik at me \vhere I stood near Deacon Lv and Ephraim Alien. 1 suppose they did-

n’l know 'vital il could mean ; for iu those Jay*! nlw iys walked .-uherly home from service, iml' profaning the holy Jay hy e.-umnm talk. Andj this was the, reason may I \\x,i surprised midi: frightened when Ephraim, In-i.-ml of gi-ing away hy himself, walked down the steps with i:. ■, at!.; :>im p r the road at «ty st-ie. Il \va< a iiiwi two miles home, and 1 had happen".! to coaie ahem ibat day. Either bain , r laid up v. ;lb a out in his-i tool, and Mother stay tux at homo to nnr.-e him.! Tile pal h was a lie ant ,lu! ice, leading thronghj Jeep still woods, now cot,tins oe.t into the edge oh a clearing, ami now running along a brook-si Jo I where there were dowers nodding over the water,; anil bird's lies Is in the thiek grass on t!ie hank ; li thongnt sometimes that the walk JiJ me as mucin good. as going in church, park-marly if I camej alone, anJ stopped tuny ami then tu rcn,! my ilihlej hy the way. “So we walked along, Ephraim ami I; ami presently we passed a great clump of witch-hazel hushes that were all in their bridal white, and Lphraim picked a'.much of the ‘dowers, and gave them to me, lie In (1 not spoken a word since, we' started, but now he said, Are you very much pm ou< with Deacon Lee, Mercy r ’ “Tins made me f.-.-l very mneh a. V,tinted again,; bat 1 said I hoped I knew better than to hear tourer j again.-.’. anybody ; mul theti—.tide excited and ! eager—l mid 1 wanted him to forgive if I had loosed Ins way more th.au was proper, ami not think i meant to lie forward or tin: naidenly. Amij Ephraim made reply that he would never believe' any ill of urn, no, not if ail the deacons in jworld were to testify to it ; and he said that he : ■ owed Deacon Lee thanks fur so bringing usj together, fir he should never have had the courage to come to me, thru, ii iic longed for a sight of my lle-e every da\, a d was constant at church, never missing a Smiday, so that lap might see me. All tins lie said in such an e miest.! sincere manner, ami his voice was so gentle, that I I could net rebuke hint, though t feared that Ids heart wim ln a dark, nuregettc-rate -'ate, if lie-; cared so much more for me than for Elder Crane's,' sermons. Aon won't care to have an old woman; telling any more ot her love-story. Now-a-uavs th’sc things arc all written in novels, and I should think the bloom ol a girl s delna.ev mast he long gone before she bears snob words said to herself, then jt was dnlerent. 1 had never dreamed of anything so beautiful. Dot before tills a dark time was to come. “M e must have been a good while going home, for when we came in sigh! of the house there was my mother standing in the door, shading her eves v, ith her hand, and watching for ns, and all* at , once I remembered that die must have been anxious; jltieiv were bears in those woods, and the next 'winter otic was killed in the path where we walked. When Mother saw ns coming, she smiled, and came down the road to meet «s, and shook hands with Ephraim in such a friendly way that mv heart danec-d , I had been thinking what if Father and Mother should not approve of him. lather was friendly ton, and while they sat in the fore-room and talked Mother made some of Iter cream bis- 1 emits for tea. .Vow I knew hy this that Enhraim would find favor in her eyes, because in our house all unnecessary labor was forbidden on the Jsabbat-h, and no small thing could have tempted Mother to break over this rule. When I went to call them, to supper, ] knew that Ephraim had been speak-’ mg to lather, and that lie was kindly disposed towards Ephraim. Fuller named i-m in a ski - the blessing, and Ephrain also, speaking of h' • so tc iT riy that it er, .- gl r the teem to my eye*. “ All the r-'sf of that sumnuT is very dear to remember. M lien 1 think over my life, much, of it seems misty and far away, hut that summer is as distinct to my m; u; as ti-oisgti its roses nau but "; s * ‘"ded, pam as sci at and v.emderfnl in its sun'’bn- skies, ns trm h-! lowing winds, its birds ,I1; ‘ as it seemed to me then, only now I

knew wlutk it was that 'so glorified it, Ephraim had a much greater flow of spirits than I hud. J was grave beyond my years, but I caught the hove of fun .Vo at him, aiid Mother and Father wonderedj at the change in rue. I think a girl always changes when she is engaged. A whole world ’of feeling that has slept is now' awakened. iv.cn |sh:uiow women hioom out fur a brief time, ami i sparkle and shine wonderfully. To he sure they {fade full .soon oftentimes, and only the dry leaves jure left of all the charm and fragrance, i ! Ami 1.0 aalaain came, and winter, and with Ithe wilder the frolics which Ephraim was so fond j of, and which he persisted stoutly were as iauoicent as clmieii-golug. But father was so disI turned when I spoke of going that i gave it up at once, and toid K»;omun that as ioug as 1 iivcu at home, I couldn't feel right to disobey father. So at first Ephraim stayed contentedly with me, hut hy-mid-by the old love stirred. A hit of dance music would start his color, and set his feet in motion, and it was plain to sec. where his heart was. I was sorely grieved at this ; nay, I was move than grieved. I wanted him all to myself. I could not bear that he should need anything hut me. Ephraim said I was exacting, and I thought him cold and unkind. And so there gradually grew np a coldness between us; and yet the coldness was all on my side. Ephraim was always gentle, even when 1 was pettish aud cross, fur so I was. It was partly physical. I was nut well that winter. I did not sleep, or when I did, by fits aud starts, I woke frightened anil crying. Now, my doctor would call it nervous sensitiveness . but then people did not give line names to ’ their humors, and Mother only looked sorry, and said she was afraid 1 was growing ill-tempered. “While tilings were in this state, Ephraim's mother invited me to come and spend a week with them. I didn’t feel acquainted, and I felt shy about going, hut Ephraim urged it, and Mother advised it, and so at last I consented to go. I was a good deal mor'iiled that ] had nothing nice to wear. My best gown had been in use two winters, and there were only three breadths in the skirt, {and Semjmtha. Lr.t said that nobody in Ivoatun [thought of making up less than four. 13ut Mother’s 1 wise counsel reconciled me. She said that the Allens knew we had no money to spend ou flue clothes, aud would only expect me to be neat aud clean and well-behaved. Ephraim, too, praised me boldly to my fare, and preti mle.l to think that nothing could lie so becoming as my faded hood. It was yellow silk, and was made oat of a turban that .Mother had worn when she was a girl. “ After 1 v.as in the sleigh with Ephraim, all liny unhappiness and anxiety lied, aud I enjoyed Icvery hit of the ride. It was a lonely rnad, and {part of the way it went through the, woods, where ■ the. lately fallen snow lay in pure white sheets that {were written all over with the tracks of birds aud :rabbits ami other wild animals ; and the stillness jof the great woods was so deep and solemn that ■ our love-talk was silenced, and we rode on sing, ing hymns. Then nut of the woods, and sweep. !;ng down into a hollow \t here pleasant firms were j nestled snugly together, and soup to Ephraim’.-. Moor. Mr Jacob Allen was a forehanded farmer, and the house was by far the best in town. 'When |we drove up to the door, Mary Allen was at the I window watching for us. She ran out to the sleigh, aud when Ephraim told her here was her -c.-lcr Merer she laughed, and shook hands, — and said siie was glad 1 was come to Slav a week. So my meeting her was not at all dreadful.

■ “Mhile Ephraim "went round to put up the : hurst*, .Muit took me into the fure-room, and I.r !p:'d me u itli my things, am! was as sociable as , if she had known me all her lilt*. The room was :: great (kail t.ner than anything I had over seen. I was aouo>r a trail! to step on the. carpet at first, hut tiii'ii i remembered that it must have been meant to h,; stepped on, or it wouldn’t have been laid on the dour. '■ I’tvtty soon Mrs .Vilen and Prudence came in. Mrs Aden was a very notable woman, and when she had told me how she made her cheese, ami t eat she pul down her letter in cedar firkins—'lie seemed to think that pine ones were not fit for a Christian to use, and (hat my mother must he a terribly slid!less person to put up with them—she said she must go and see to the pies that were I baking. I doit t think she was still five minutes jai a lime while I was there, hut just driving about the house from morning to night. And yet there were Iter two girls to help Iter; and Mother and I did the work iur eight, and look in spinning all the year round. ’ “ I think I'rudenee didn’t like housework. SI is jwas very intimate with Scmantha Lee ; and what I Samantha said and did and wore was preltv much jail her talk. AU that week she was at work on ;oU gowns, altering them to he like Semantha’s. I Prudence didn’t seem to fancy me at f ho verv first; lamlI aml though I don't want to speak evil of her, she was certainly rather a hard person to get along w,th. One day she would remark that I would jhe quite good-looking if my nose wasn’t such a |pug, and another day that it was a pity I had red hair, for really my other features were not so bad. And site said that my gown was just like one she jhad hung up in the garret; and so in Hits way ishe picked me to pieces, until it seemed to me she ,could not find a good tiling in me. lint this was not so bad as the way in whirh she talked to mo mbont Ser.iamha. Nobody was so handsome or so ignod or so smart as Scmantha ; and Deacon Lee jwas the most forehand man in town. Asa great Tecret she told me that Ephraim and Samantha I were once as good as engaged, and site didn’t I doubt, if anything should happen to break up the I match between Ephraim and me, that Ephraim] would go hack to N mautha. I “I was terribly angry at this, and I felt my lips] stiffen, and it was as much as I could do to say, | “‘What could happen to break our enmige-j ’ ment ? Ephraim is solemnly promised to me, and it is just the same in God’s sight as if we were! married.’ j “I’rudenee looked at me a minute, and then 1 said she ‘ had no idea I had such a temper. Site had heard that I talked of uniting with the church,' but n..or what she had seen, she shouldn’t think 'that--’ “ And here she stopped, and it was as much what was not said as what she did say that vexed me so. I was heartily thankful that she was only n to for* I o no ‘2n to T should hate her. 'With all this Mary did not tieein. ■ j!c dare to bo her oivn co lf ‘’' x ' n ij i j Ephraim acted as if he wasn't quite at. his case, jl began to be sadly home-sick. I almost hated J the sight of the carpet on the floor, and the high (curtained bedstead, and the tall chimney-glass,' jand I longed for the quiet and peace of my hunii bie home. j “I had been at Mrs Allen’s three days when .Scmantha Lee came over to spe .. the day. She had a scarlet cloth cloak that came down to the lioiimn of her gown, ami the gown itself was of ! green silk, W’th great. Vesjicp slfprcc tiner! witti (buckram, so that they stood out, and rattled like j a drum when they hit against anything. Mary (laughed at her because she could not go through jour chamber door without, turning sideways, but .jScmantha said they were ail the fashion m Boston. She was very lively aqd full of fun (hat day, though she didn't take much notice of me. In the rv(-iv,n£ wp r.rid imiluCu corn an* atiiileb, nmj v/m-li wc pared the appl-s and threw down the long coils

tSemanthaks took tiie shape of the letter E. She laughed and blushed, and pretended to be very ■mien vexed, but she was really us pleased as she could be. Mary whispered to me not to .mind, raid said Prudence had given the peel a sly push with her foot to shape the E ; but for all that I could hardly help crying. “That night ail of us girls slept iu the doublebedded room. Semantha was with Prudence, and long after Mary was asleep I could hear them whispering, and every minute or two I could catch Ephraim's name. 1 did not sleep muck that night, and in ‘ho morning was ahuoft sick. Ephraim was very kind, and when Prudence said .she was Suing to invite in some of the young people of the neighborhood that evening, tie wanted her to pin. It oif; iml Prmienee ,s;od she gii'-ssfd I Would he better—she thought people could throw oif sick- 1 cess if they tried to do so. At this Semantha laughed so disagreeably, and looked over at Ephraim in so significant u way, that I am afraid 1 almost hated her. “The company came in the evening—live or ix merry young girls and young men. If my i head and heart had been right, I could have enjoyed it too. But my head ached, and for the rest you would have thought it was Semantha who was engaged to Ephraim and not I. There was a young man there named Elilui Parsons, lie was very handsome—too handsome for a man—and what with this and his pleasant ways he was a great favorite with the girls. I had only seen him once or twice, hut he remembered me, and came! and sat by me while the game was going on. 1 thought this was very good of him, for nobody was so called for as lie ; but he would not leave me, and was so sociable and pleasant that I tried to brighten up and entertain him as well as I could. IV’e were iu the midst of our talk, when I happened to glance up and saw Ephraim looking over at us—lookin'. 7 , too, as 1 had never seen him. All at once it dashed upon me that I could make him sutler as he had made me. Prom that moment an evil spirit seemed to possess me. 1 felt my cheeks flush, my heart beat Cist: I was full of wild gaiety. I sang songs when they asked me. Elilui asked me to dance, and I danced—l, who had never taken a stop before in my life. 1 felt as light as air ; I seemed to float through the tigure. “Ephraim never came near me the whole evening, hut Elilui kept close to me, and we had a great deal of talk that I am glad to have forgotten, But I remember that he laughed at Samantha Lee, and made fun of her hair, that he said was like tow, and her eyes that squinted, and her mincing gait; and I listened and felt a malicious pleasure iu this dispraise of Semantha. Through it all my head ached terribly, and I stupidly wondered how 1 dared to he such a wicked girl, and what my motia-r would sav if she knew it.

“ By-and-bv it was ton o’clock, and then S'nnmtha suddenly discovered that she must go home. Mrs Alli'ii tried to persuade her to stay. But no. It was iroiinr to snow, she said, and she would not stay. Then Prudence said, if she must go, Ephraim would take her home in the sleigh, which, of course, was just what Semaulla wanted.