and these directions he followed accurately until he arrived at a point in his drive where he should have taken the "left" but did not, keeping straight ahead and taking the next "left" which brought him to the old fashioned farm house of Reuben Wiswall, whose grand neice Reubena McDonald from California, was there, and then having a lawn party. The location of the house corresponded so well to that given him for "Hawkin's Hotel" that Frank Medbury never for a moment doubted that it was the place, particularly as here and there about the grounds were the horses and carriages of the guests who had come from a distance. He accordingly drove up and throwing out his lines, greeted Reuben Wiswall's "hired man" as we have seen at the beginning of this story. The "hired man," thinking him a guest bidden to the party, proceeded to follow directions, remarking sotto voce "that young man has considerable cheek." The guests on the veranda were somewhat surprised at the arrival of the stranger but took him to be a friend of the family, an idea which was confirmed as they saw him go forward to meet Reuben Wiswall and disappear with him into the house. To Reuben and his hospitable wife, with their old fashioned notions of hospitality, it did not seem strange that a young man, taking a long drive, should wish to stop somewhere on the way and they were only too glad to do all in their power for his comfort. The most surprised of anyone was sweet Reubena McDonald, who, in returning her ball and calling out "fifteen love," encountered the stranger. Later, she saw him follow her uncle into the house and after a short interval her advice was sought as to bidding the young man to the feast that was to follow, which question being decided in the affirmative, the good uncle, on "hospitable thoughts intent," jogged off and Reubena's eyes were drawn upward to the window as we have seen. It was no wonder Frank Medbury thought he had struck a "soft snap." Reuben Wiswall had become a well-todo farmer through years of hard labor. He was born and for many years lived in in a locality known as "Satan's Kingdom," so called from the wildness of its scenery. The few families who had lived in this place had gradually died or moved away until Reuben Wiswall's were left the sole inhabitants of the "Kingdom," where his Satanic Majesty was said to reside. Two lines of railway were laid through this locality and when the second one was built the property of Reuben Wiswall was needed and bought for the purpose. It had been with sad hearts and many misgivings that Reuben and his wife, Jane Maria, prepared to leave the home endeared to them which had changed the currents of their lives and linked them fast to dear ones in the great beyond. Reuben sobbed aloud as, in reminiscence, he dwelt lovingly upon the memory of his twin sister Reubena who had married Edward Brown, the son of their nearest neighbor, and gone to California to live, and dying there, had left the beautiful daughter Margaret who came to them, after her mother's death. It was to her sweet influence both Reuben and his wife acknowledged that they owed all that had made the life of their later years full of meaning and quiet happiness. Here their one child. had been given and taken, and here some of life's richest lessons had been learned. Reuben would gladly have purchased a farm at "Cherry's Brook," (Cherry Brook the railroad calls it, while the post office department calls it Canton Center), a sweetly quiet and peaceful little hamlet. (The writer of this story confesses to many delightful recollections of this her native place- and remembers not so very many years ago she visited the little stream of water which runs in the ravine behind the church, divested herself of shoes and stockings and waded in just to see if for one short moment she could in fancy be once more the child that spent here so many happy hours in that and like diversions. Alas! the mood of childhood would not thus be wooed and now sunshine and shadows had chased each other through too many years in her life and memory REUBENA. would not forget that in the yard just across the way from the old church two of her own little ones were sleeping, heedless of winter storms and summer suns.) A farm near the village of Tunxisville was bought by Reuben Wiswall but he never sought to break away from "going to meeting" at Cherry's Brook. The old people soon became attached to their new home and a very attractive place they made it. Jane Maria had become an adept at raising flowers; they readily responded to every touch she gave them. Her garden became each summer a glory of color and later a source of income, inasmuch as not only the townspeople bought her plants, her flowers and her seeds, but her fame went out to the neighboring towns so that her orders were more than she could fill. Reuben was not only a successful farmer but for years taught singing schools in all the region roundabout which were so well attended as to materially increase his income. He was by nature a musician, a fine singer, leader of the choir and player of the bass viol at "Cherry's Brook" church. He was first selectman of the town for a long period and though an unlearned, or rather an unlettered man, his keen observation and sound judgment gave him weight in the community. His tenderness to the unfortunate and to animals was known wherever he was known. When Reuben and Maria were well settled in their new home, Reuben's tenderly loved neice, Margaret McDonald, with her two daughters, came from the far away Pacific coast to visit them, and repeated the visits with the regularity of the seasons. This particular season when Frank Medbury took his drive from Lenox, Reubena, Margaret McDonald's elder daughter, had come on from her home in California in the early springtime to spend the summer at "Uncle Reuben's." Her family were to join her later when all were going to Scotland. Reubena McDonald was as beautiful as the mother and the grandmother for whom she was named and that is saying a very great deal. The golden hair of the mother and the chestnut brown of the grandmother blended for Reubena in a rich auburn, waving like rippling water all over her head; little curls here and there, refusing to be bound, flew about her face and neck making one envious of their privilege. The clearest of complexions, the pinkest of cheeks, the whitest of teeth, these with blue grey eyes fringed with jet black lashes, made a picture that ravished the vision of the beholder. She was highly educated and accomplished, but her greatest attraction was her sweet simplicity. Her love for the plain uncle and aunt was only equalled by that her mother bore them. be ashamed of the uncle so dear to her heart, and, unmindful of the attention of which she was the center, she laughed and chatted gaily as they walked along or stopped to gaze into the shop windows. Jane Maria often said "Reubeny " could make her uncle do anything she wanted to, but it was none the less a fact in her own case; indeed both the old people would have turned the house topsy turvy had Reubena hinted at such a thing, which she did not, but on the contrary REUBENA AND UNCLE REUBEN ON OCCASIONS VISITED HARTFORD." Reubena and uncle Reuben on occasions visited Hartford where those they met rarely failed to turn and look at the old man in his homespun suit with pantaloons so brief in length that a zone of the blue stockings which Jane Maria had knit were visible between them and the heavy shoes, Reubena by his side in bewitching attire, with fashion well acquaint. It never occurred to her to her exquisite taste was visible everywhere about their home, which made it the prettiest place in all the town. Reubena had acquired acquaintance for miles around, a goodly number of whom she had bidden to a lawn party on the afternoon when Frank Medbury appeared upon the scene. (To be continued.) he would be at first unacquainted with his schoolboy days, when he turned to me surroundings. Such an one I discovered one pleasant Saturday afternoon in the summer, stand with the query, "Is this Hartford ?" When he left Hartford, soon after the Civil War, there were two lines of street [Many of the illustrations in this article, and those to come on Hartford were made from photographs taken by Mr. R. S. DeLamater, through whose courtesy we are enabled to use them. They were taken over thirty years ago.-Ed.] |