United States or Tonga ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"But the third had a deah old fathah like Papa Jack, and he gave her a silvah yahdstick on which was marked the inches and ells that a true prince ought to be. And he warned her like this: "'Many youths will come to thee, each begging, "Give me the royal mantle, Hildegarde. I am the prince the stahs have destined for thee."
"Mam' Henry," said Aunt Sophy, impressively, "you's a' oldah ooman den I is, an' I ain' sputin' hit; but I say dey done 'filled Scripter 'bout de mo'nin' stahs; dey's done sung deyse'ves togeddah." The old woman sniffed. The next Sunday at meeting some one got the start of Gideon, and began a new hymn. It ran: "At de ma'ige of de Lamb, oh Lawd, God done gin His 'sent.
Once there were three maidens, of whom it was written in the stahs that each was to wed a prince, provided she could weave a mantle that should fit his royal shouldahs as the falcon's feathahs fit the falcon. Each had a mirror beside her loom like the Lady of Shalott's in which the shadows of the world appeahed.
Over in the corner Mam' Henry mumbled over her pipe, "Wha'd I tell you? wha'd I tell you?" and Aunt Sophy replied, "Hit's de pa'able of de mo'nin' stahs." "Don't talk to me 'bout no mo'nin' stahs," the mammy snorted; "Gawd jes' fitted dey voices togeddah, an' den j'ined dey hea'ts. De mo'nin' stahs ain't got nothin' to do wid it."
Then The Kid made out a few points of yellow light on the plain ahead of them. "That must be Midway," he mused to himself. "Those aren't stahs, or camp fiahs. Oil lamps mean a settlement." Camps of any size were few and far between on the old Chisholm Trail.
"Of co'se it turned out, that one day with her fathah's blessing light upon her, she rode away beside the prince, and evah aftah all her life was crowned with happiness, as it had been written for her in the stahs." There was a long pause when she finished, so long that the silence began to grow painful. Then Phil said, slowly: "I understand now.
"No, I ain't, an' I been livin' a mighty sight longah'n you, too. I knows all 'bout when de stahs fell, but dey ain' nevah done no singin' dat I knows 'bout." "Do heish, Mam' Henry, you sho' su'prises me. W'y, dat ain' happenin's, dat's Scripter." "Look hyeah, gal, don't you tell me dat's Scripter, an' me been a-settin' undah de Scripter fu' nigh onto sixty yeah."
"One maiden wove in secret, and falling in love with a page who daily passed her mirror, imagined him to be a prince, and wove her web to fit his unworthy shouldahs. Of co'se when the real prince came it was too small, and so she missed the happiness that was written for her in the stahs.
Toward this she turned, and lifting an arm with the reverence of a priestess said, in impassioned monotone: "'De moon shine full at His comman' An' all de stahs obey." She kissed my hand as she added good-by. "Why, Sidney!" I laughed, "you mean good night, don't you?"
"Tush! yo' kin thank yo' stahs he didn't tu'n out no preachah. Preachahs ain't no bettah den anybody else dese days. Dey des go roun' tellin' dey lies an' eatin' de whiders an' orphins out o' house an' home." "Well, mebbe hit's bes' he didn' tu'n out dat way. But f'om de way he used to stan' on de chaih an' 'zort w'en he was a little boy, I thought hit was des what he 'ud tu'n out.
Word Of The Day