Tempest and Sunshine

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Tempest and Sunshine

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Title: Tempest and Sunshine
Author: Mary J. Holmes
Release Date: 2005-12 [Ebook #17260]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEMPEST
AND SUNSHINE***

Tempest and Sunshine By Mary J. Holmes New York J. H. Sears &
Company 1909

CONTENTS
Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI
Credits A Word from Project Gutenberg The Full Project Gutenberg
License

TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE
CHAPTER I
MR. WILMOT ARRIVES AT MR. MIDDLETON'S

It was the afternoon of a bright October day. The old town clock had
just tolled the hour of four, when the Lexington and Frankfort daily
stage was heard rattling over the stony pavement in the small town of
V----, Kentucky. In a few moments the four panting steeds were reined
up before the door of The Eagle, the principal hotel in the place. "Mine
host," a middle-aged, pleasant-looking man, came hustling out to
inspect the newcomers, and calculate how many would do justice to his
beefsteaks, strong coffee, sweet potatoes and corn cakes, which were
being prepared in the kitchen by Aunt Esther.
This good dame divided her time between squeezing the steaks, turning
the corn cakes, kicking the dogs and administering various cuffs to
sundry little black urchins, who were on the lookout to snatch a bit of
the "hoe cake" whenever they could elude the argus eyes of Aunt
Esther. When the rattling of the stage was heard, there ensued a general
scrambling to ascertain which would be first to see who had come. At
length, by a series of somersaults, helped on by Aunt Esther's brawny
hand, the kitchen was cleared and Aunt Esther was "monarch of all she
surveyed."
The passengers this afternoon were few and far between, for there was
but one inside and one on the box with the driver. The one inside
alighted and ordered his baggage to be carried into the hotel. The
stranger was a young man, apparently about twenty-five years of age.
He was tall, well-proportioned and every way prepossessing in his
appearance. At least the set of idlers in the barroom thought so, for the
moment he entered they all directed their eyes and tobacco juice toward
him!
By the time he had uttered a dozen words, they had come to the
conclusion that he was a stranger in the place and was from the East.
One of the men, a Mr. Edson, was, to use his own words, "mighty
skeary of Northern folks," and as soon as he became convinced that the
stranger was from that way, he got up, thinking to himself, "Some
confounded Abolitionist, I'll warrant. The sooner I go home and get my
gang together, the better 'twill be." But on second thought he concluded
that "his gang" was safe, for the present at least; so he'd just sit down

and hear what his neighbor, Mr. Woodburn, was saying to the
newcomer.
The Kentuckians are as famous as the Yankees for inquisitiveness, but
if they inquire into your history, they are equally ready to give theirs to
you, and you cannot feel as much annoyed by the kind, confiding
manner with which a Kentuckian will draw you out, as by the cool,
quizzing way with which a Yankee will "guess" out your affairs.
On the present occasion, Mr. Woodburn had conjectured the young
man's business, and was anxious to know who he was, and, if possible,
to render him assistance. It took but a short time for the stranger to tell
that he was from the East, from New York; that his name was Wilmot,
and that he was in quest of a school; and in as short a time Mr.
Woodburn had welcomed young Wilmot to Kentucky, but expressed
his regrets that he did not come sooner, for all the schools were
engaged. "But," added he, "you had better remain around here awhile
and get acquainted, and then there will be no doubt of your eventually
getting a situation. Meantime,