THE HESPERIAN
4
if.
m
$
IHs
!
No, not all, for there were three little girls,
Hetty, Katy, and Emma, who were very
fond of the old woman, and called her
"grandma" with real affection.
Sometimes when they visited her, they
came out to the corner of the fence to talk to
their acquaintances, lingering outside on
their way to school; and when they spoke of
"grandma," their little friends, who always
associated that name with a quiet, sweet
faced, old lady, with a white lace cap and
gold bowed spectacles, pitied them, and
thought how awful it must be to have such a
grandma. They would not be convinced by
Hetty's stout assertion that she was "real
nice, and not a bit cross."
Nor were the children the only ones who
avoided her. Grown people let her alone
too. Some of the women were as much
afraid bf her as the children were, and de
clared they "wouldn't go past her house
after dark for anything;" others pitied her;
others never noticed her, except to smile at
her grotesque appearance; and others dealt
with her purely in a business way, giving her
work and paying her for doing it. These
last were the only people she ever had any
thing to do with. '
For years she lived on in the little weather
beaten old house by the road, weaving car
pets and taking care of the cow and chickens,
just as she had done for so long. Her
grandchildren were growing up now, and
did not come to see her so often as they
used to.
But one day, a man, tall, with long hair
combed straight back, and wearing eye
glasses, got off the train at the little station,
and asked if anyone could tell him where
to find "an old lady by the name of Mrs,
Sears."
Then there was excitement. Yes, of
course, everyone knew where "Mrs. Sears"
lived. But what in the world could this
fellow want with her! "Was he some rela
tive? A son, maybe, who had run away
when a boy.
A half dozen, or more, offered to guide
the tall stranger to the house, vainly hoping
that they might learn who the stranger was,
and what ho wanted. But the tall man gave
no reason for his visit, ho merely thanked
them when they reached the little rickety
gate, and sent them back. His call on
Granny Sears lasted about an hour.
All that evening, people gossiped about it
and wondered what it could mean. But the
stranger stayed in his room all evening, and
the hotel clerk, .who had found some excuse
li
to go to him, said that he was busy writing,
and had the room "all littered up with
papers."
Some of the women, for whom Granny
Sears had worked, were even bold enough to
go to see her that evening; but they came
away again with their curiosity unsatisfied.
The next morning, the stranger was seen
going back to the little old house with a big
tablet under his arm, and all day long the
curious public waited in suspense for him to
come away, so that, if possible, they might
learn the meaning of his visit. But it was
almost five o'clock, about half an hour be
fore the evening train time, when he went
back to the hotel, then hurried down to the
station, boarded the train, and was gone.
No one ever found out what he wanted
with "Granny Sears," and things went on .
just as before.
About six months after the stranger's
mysterious visit, the booksellers began to ad
vertise a new "Biograph' of Abraham Lin
coln." The book at once became popular.
Never before had so much been known con
cerning the very early life of America's most
remarkable man.
"Many of the facts here published," so
said the introduction, "were obtained from
an old lady, now living alone and unknown
in a western town, but who, in her girlhood,
was an intimate friend of the Lincoln family."
One day a package came to Old Granny
Sears. She carried it home from the post
office, pulled down the blinds of her littlai
sitting room windows, lit the lamp, and tore
off the wrapper. Inside was a volume, neat-
