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About The Eugene City guard. (Eugene City, Or.) 1870-1899 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1882)
ill1 ? ES I TTIDOISA (iOWJ. .Oh, missus, missus! Someflnsdone nun horror and dismay were depicted T. nf mr small Afrioan. as Kriood npon my threshold with np falb.nds and eyeballs that seemed .... v- ..' . . parting . . -t lh . M-lltulP HfMrHBLS. XAtJr IIUUSH -a QUO Ol ' i V i 1 . ' f mm alia i, n! COnslJOrauou u " Pa7. hroak the news gontly to me. it the burden of it was too great for PUl " , ,i, . hrrtaih all A A. e.t ana .'aimed: ni xr;B "1)601 P'K UUUD VUM i' , ! weddin' gownl" Vlurv " I exolaimed (she had been :n,iT christened Gloriana.) "Glory, did it happen?" '1. sa d Glory. "Tears to me ... k.i crnt Satan in 'em. Guess ! .Vended from de ole lot what run oirn steep place inter the sea. 1 11 go ) fetcu y .'.-". .... . , J ,t nnt and instantly roturned ith Uttered sbrod of India mull that ll once been white, and still bore some ambiance .to a gown. Poor Miss M,cJ XU18 was ail mat rjiutnuuu ui Mr dream ui r"uiuu ... " .. ...n T folt ok -una Hi.it Mia limulx f aood neighborhood had been irre trievably broken, and that Major Haw- ind worst uepreuauou ui mo uuncumij "Bnt WHO wuuiu uiua iuo uofio 5lis Lyddy.' ., "Glory, sam i, wuere is Mier to de burrvin' place to lj.it de ancestors." answered Glory. Poor, faithful soul; even in the last l.nr maidenhood, with the vacuo terrors of matrimony and the Btill more itppalling reBponsioiiHies oi uuniivt-u jeathen souls bauging over her, she did lot forget the ancestors. Long line3 of Lodkinses lay buried in little sunken Mlocks in the family burying place, irliich lay JU81 10 B,Bul ol ,lur "'"B m -in.lnw. She herself was the last of her race, aud until within three weeks it had seemed that the only Jute wuicu Ufaited her was to live out her little .pace under the ancestral rooi tree, ana then take her place in the silent ranks of iboie who had gone before. But a change ,.A onme. It came in the person of a returned missionary from the Microne- ,in Islands, who baa bunod tne nrst md second partners of his joys and sor unmAvhArn nnder the Dulm trees of those tropical lands, and had como back to the scenes of bis youtu to recruit uis health, serve the cause, aud look np r. 3. He met Miss Lvddv at i woman's missionary metting. lie called the next aftornoon and was invited to jtav to tea. He accepted the.invitation, nd next morning Miss Lyddy came into my room for I, too, domiciled under the Ludkins roof tree, for a consideration -and with much hesitation and many faint and delicate blushes, informed me that Bhe had promised to suare tne luture lot with with the Rev. Nehemiah Apple b nnm tn dike care of bin six children. uid to support him in bis arduous labors iniong the heathen oi iuo microuesian Islands. I was struck dumb with amazement. "Mian T.vddv." I cnid at length, "have tou duly considered this project?" Her turn ngnre quivered, anu uer whita face that vet had a delicate re membrance of youth in it, grew tender with fooling. "Yes," she said, "I think I have I have always had a presentiment that I ihould marrv a minister or a mission try." Admirable and prophetio faith! "And Mr. Applobloom says he Know tne mnmnnt ha Rfct evpa UDon me that I was ordained to be bis wife; so you see it is not the surprise to either of ns that it is likuly to be to our friends." I knew then that her mind was tuny mado up. I demurred no longer, but lent mvsulf at once to discussion of the vflildincr. whiub I nlainlv saw was what llisi Lyddy desired of me. "You will he married in church 1 sup pose? "Oh. no." said Miss Lyddy, with gen tle decision. "I am the last of the Lud kinses. All the Ludkinses have been married at homo. I will go out from un der my own roof tree. If I must seem to forsake the ancestors" she paused to regnlite a littlo choking in her throat 1 will at least not forsake tueir tradi tions. I shall leave a little money with the iaritdi clnrk. that he niav see that the graves of my dead are kept in proper or- dHI. 9 T nlunva hn.vn Itivad In kftftD them. ana i nope tliev win lorgive my uepur tnre; but I will at least go as a Ludkins "hould. It is my desire to be married in my grandmother's wedding gown." Miss Lyddy's voice trembled, and thoro was" a humidity in her eyes, at whiob I did not wonder, for it was much like a funeral, after all. "I thought perhaps," went on Miss Ljddy, "if I brought the venerated reliotoyon, you would tell me if any thing were necessary to be done to fit it to cie. I don't care for the fashions, you know, and my grandmother, as I remem ber her, was about my height, but still, you know something some changes micht te advisable." "Certainly," I said, "do bring it to me. I should so like to see it." "It is sprigged India (she called it logy) mull. My grandfather, Captain Simon Ludkins, brought it home from over the seas. I'll bring it." Like some palo and gentle ghost she rose then and went to a bureau drawer nd unrolled, from folds of linen that melt of lavender, the frail relict of Mrs. Capt. Simon Ludkins wedding state. It vas fine embrodered mnll.the undoubted product of Indian looms. "It is lovely," I said, "and so well kept that it will be just the thing for ?ou. Will yon try it on? We can then Ml jnst what it needs." Miss Lyddy proceeded to disrobe her elf and put on the spider net gown. As she did so, the changes in fashion's man date became only too evident. It bad no waist to speak of, and juat a little lace trimmed pnff for sleeves. Miss Lyddy s evidently surprised. She had not thought of this. I knew well what the troubled look npon her face meant, and f Pitied her maiden sensibilities. Could it be possible that her grandmother.Mra. Cpt. Simon Lndkics, bad ever worn such a gown aa thin? She said cot a ord that could indicate the depth of her mortification, but her face was a tody for an artist. "There must be sleeves," she mnr Bund, after ft few moments silent em rrased contemplation. "lea," I replied cheerfully as my con strained gravity would allow. "And you might have a fichu, and a flounce on the bottom." She looked down. She had not before realized that the skirt of the venerablo relic laoked a full quarter of yard of tonobing the floor. "However conld theyfthey ejaculated in an nndertone. But shi quiokly re covered heraelf, and looked up to me cheerfully over her spectacles. "How ingenuous you are!" she said, with an air of sweet relief. "I knew you would help me out." We went out together to buy the requisite mull that day, but when we came to put it beside the "venerated relic" of Mrs. Capt. Ludkins. it was evident that time had so euriched the color of the latter that the two wero most unfortunately nnlike. "We can lay it out oa the grass," I said; "those June dews are just the thing for it, and as it will be evening no body will in the least notice." Again Miss Lyddy smiled gratefully, and declared that my suggestion should be carried out in the most faithful man ner. The Kev. Nehemiali Applobloom "A lovely name, don't you think so?" said Miss Lyddy, and she blushed and smiled like a school girl in her teena had but a short furlough, and the marriage was to transpire the next week, so the rolio was put ont to bleach forthwith. It bad al ready boen put upon the gross three days aul nights and had been religiously watered by Miss Lyddy at worn and noon and dewy eve, and the next day it was to be taken np early and put into the dressmaker's hands for the necessary alterations, when the dreadful went oc curred with which this narrative opens. "Glory," I said, "do you keep watch or. Miss Liddy when she returns. Say nothing about what has happened unions she misses the gown from the grass. In that case tell her that I thought it was bleached enough and took it up to dry, and you don't know where I have put it. I' am going out now, but if Bhe asks where, tell her you don't know." Glory was faithful, and had, besides, the natural craft of her race, and I knew that sho could be trusted. As for me, I swiftly donned my bonnot and set out to find Maj. Hawthorne. It was a bright June evening, and my walk through the meadow and grove that skirted Haw thornedcan would have been a more de lightful one if I had borne a mind more at ease. The Major was a gentleman by birth, but ho bad lived out bis fifty bachelor years in a gay and careless way that had seemed to set tho gentler part of creation at defiance. In the lifetime of bis parents Hawthornedean had been an estate. It still retained many marks of wealthy and cultivated ownership.but it was sadly run down, as the home of a bachelor was apt to bo. The grove, which had ouoe been the pride of the place, was grown up to brush now, and the sere leaves of many summers' growth rustled nnder my feet as I walked through it. At one point, coming sud denly around a thick clump of under growth, I heard a chorus of tiny snorts, and tho scampering of numberless hoofs, and knew that I had invadod the haunts of the Major's last agricultural freak.the very brood of Borkshire pigH that were the source of all my borrowed woes. Away they scampered, their snouts well raised in air, aud each, with a curl in bis tail that seemed too ornamental to be wholly the product of nature nnd to jus tify tho village rumor that the Major's own men put them in curl papers every night. They had the air of spoiled chil dren, every one, and were evidently the Major's pets. But that didn't matter; they had ruined Miss Lyddy's wedding gown, to say nothing of other aggravat ing exploits' which do not belong to this story, and I was determined to have sat isfaction out of their owner. I found the Major sitting on bis piazza, with on after dinner look upon bis hand some, irood humored face. He rose to groet me with an air of old school polite ness, dashed with a faint wonder that I, a woman, should have had the hardihood to approach a placo so little frequented by women. "Good cvenincr. Miss Grace. I am hannv to see you. In what can I have the honor to serve you." He had read my face and know that I had come on a mission. "Major Hawthorne," I said, paying no attention to his offer of a chair, "I have come on a very painful erraud. "Sit down, madam." said tho Major, politely. "I can not possibly permit a lady to stand oq my piazza. 1 ought, perhaps, to ask you to walk in, but it is rather stuffy inside this ovening." "No," I said, I will sit here if you please." To tell the truth, indoors, as seen through tho windows, bad not the most inviting look, aud I was glad to compromise. "You have no donbtheard" plunging in medias res, "that Miss Lyddyit Lud kins is about to be married." "Married! Miss Lyddya! No! Hadn't heard a word of it," said the Major, in genuine amazement. "Who is tho for tunate man, praj?" "The liev. Nehemiah Applebloom, a missionary to the Micronesian Islands, who has come home to recruit bis health and find a wife." "I know him," said the Major, "baw him down at the station a long, lean, lank individual -just fit for hia vocation; no temptation whatever to canni bals! Bnt what the deuce is he going to do with Mi Lyddy? What will Balaam's Cor ners do'without her?" "Balaam's Corners must do the best it can," I said I foar a little sharply for my mind was still in a most aggressive state toward the Major. "They are to be married next week, and"-" "What will become of the 'ancestors?' " interpolated the Major, in whom surprise seemed to have gotten the better of habit ual politeness. "Oh, she has made arrangements with Mr. Crow about that." "Jnst like her. Dear, fuitbf ul girl. The Major had all bis life loved all the sex not one and I was not to be beguiled by this show of feeling. "She had set her heart npon Wing married in her grandmother's wedding gown." , "Old Mrs. Capt. Simon? I remember her well. A mighty fine woman. She never would have gone to the ends of the earth with a missionary. It's the craziest soheme I ever heard of." I began to fear I sbonld never get to my errand. "It was put out on the grass to bleach, being a little yeuow wiu age. It was a lovely embroidered India muslin that the old captain brought home from India himself." "How well I remember him in my boyhood! A jolly old soul! A grand daughter of his go oil to the Cannibal Islands to be eaten np by savages! I won't have it!" "Her heart is set npon going," I con tinued. "The wedding gown was sot out to bleach, and this very afternoon those little Berkshire pigs of yours they are a nuisance to the whole neigh borhood, Major trampled and rotted it to pieces, so that it is utterly mined." "Little black rascals!" said the Major, with a chuckle behind his neckoloth. "And I have come, without her knowl edge, to tell you of it, because I was sure that, under the circumstances, a gentloman of your breeding would feel in honor bound to make souio reparation to Miss Lyddy." The Major mnsed and looked at bis boot for a moment in silence. ' "Miss Grace," be said at length. "I thank you for the service you have ren dered me in this matter. Will you have the goodness to say to Miss Ludkins, with my compliments, that I shall do myself the honor to wait upon bur to morrow at 10 o'clock, to adjust this un fortunate matter? 1 beg iu the mean time that she will give hen-elf as little solicitude as possible, for tbgugn 1 cau not restore the ancient and venerable dry gooift, I will do the best that is possible under tho circumstances to make the loss good." Hebowodover my band, and the au dience was evidently concluded. Was I satisfied? No, indeed! What woman would not have felt wronged to be left at the end of a mission of disinterested benevolence in such a state of doubt and uncertainty as this? But I was obliged to go home, nevertheless, and wait as patiently as I could for the stroke of ton next morning. Glory bad beea in bearing when the message, bad been delivered to Miss Lyddy, and she, too, was on tho watch. At last she scudded in from the hedge, her ivories all aglisteu, and her eyes wide open and full of a rather incompre hensible mirth. "He's a comin'," she said; "and stioh a sight!" At that minute the gato olioked, and np the walk strode, indeed, a most as tonishing figure. The Major had gotten himself up iu a continental suit, which he must have fished out of tho unknown depths'of the'ancient attics of Hawthorne dean; black velvet coat with lace r utiles at the wrist, knee breeches, white satin waistcoat, slippers with shoe buckles, powdered wig, and cocked hat. He was six feet tall, portly and well formed, aud he looked every inch a signer of the dec laration at the very least. He was fol lowed by his colored man, who carried a large, brown paper parcel. "He's come a courtin' ' missus," said Glory, "ye can see it in his face." I had not the instinct of Glory, nnd doubted; but what his errand was I was dying to know. But he disappeared into Miss Lyddy's parlor, and I was left outside to temper my impatience as Wst I could. Pres ently Glory entered on tiptoe. "Missus, missus," she whispered, "de do's swung open jest de leas' crack, an' it's jest opposite de big murror, an' if ye come out hero in de hall ye can soe it all in de murror, as plain as day, an' it's a heap better'n a play." It was a temptation, but beliove me, dear reader, I resisted it. Only as Glory ran back to her peeping, I fol lowed to pull hor away aud send her ont of door that was simply my duty and there he was full on his knees before her, and she with that rapt seraphic look upon her face which no woman ever wears except on the most vitally inter esting occasions. But Glory disposed of, I went back to my sewing and waited as best I could the conclusion of the mo mentous interview. The Major came out at length, as smiling as a May morn ing, leaving the brown paper parcel bo hind him. It was vory still in Miss Lyddy's room for a quarter of an hour, and then she, too, emerged from her retreat. Spread over her hands was a gown of cream col ored brocade embellished with the love liest roses in full bloom, with blue forget- me-nots trailing here and there among them. It bad an ample waist, elbow sleeves, and a train a yard and a half long. "My dear Gracie," said she. "The Major has brought me his mothei's wod ning gown to be married in." "It is beautiful," I said; "but who is to be the bridegroom?" She smilod as angels do, and looked afar, a delicate flutter of pink hung out in her cheek to deprecate her recreancy, as she whispered iu a tono of gentle but consummate triumph: "The Major hunselt! Uidn t he look grand in his knee breeches?" "And Mr. Applebloom?" "Mij:r Hawthorno will udjtiHt thut matter." "That matter," indeed! She spoke as though it were already as remoto from her as the pyramids. "I congratulate you, Miss Lyddy," I said, growing formal, for she had behaved shamefully. "Don't blame me," she murmured. "Mnjor Hawthorne declares he has loved me since I was a child, but never thought himself worthy of me, tho gay deceiver; and Mr. Applebloom, you know, is only the acquaintance of a day." I wanted to ask her how she had dis posed of her presentiment, but I did not dare. Major Hawthorne subscribed fifty dol lars to the Micronesian mission, and 8tnt Mr. Applebloom elsewbee to look for a wife, and the verdict of Balaam's Corners was that be had done the band1 some thing. " 'Fore goodness!" said Glory, "ef dere weren t a crar relation between dem pigs an' providence, den 1 dou't know nothin'." Miss Lyddy took tho same pious view of the matter, and made the Major the most dainty and dignified of wives. Sleepers. A sleeper is one who sleeps. A sleeper is that in which the sleetmr sleeps. A sleeper is that on which the sleeper which carries the sleeper while lie sleeps rnns. Therefore, while the sleeper sleeps in the sleeper the sleeper carries the sleeper ovfr the sleeper nnder the sleeper until the sleeper which carries the sleeper jumps off the sleeper and wakes the sleeper in the sleeper, and there is no sleeper in the sleeper on the sleeper. Conimol Senna About the Piano. Little girls fear the piano, and long for the time when, having at last mastered its difficulties, ther will cut bo called uon to play upon it any more; while numberless great girls regard it as one of the many nuisances which they must put np with until they get married. Ouoe, however, liberate ouug women from that piano to which like serfs they have so long been "assigned" but not "at tached," and some of them will take to cultivating it for its own sake; while the remainder will at least spare loth them selves atd their friends a. considerable amount of annoyance. The cuormous tiinK-t.lt y of modern piauo-furte miisiu constitutes in itself a reason why in the e.iucatiou of young girls the piano should tint, like "dancing and deportment, 'I bo made obligatory. A woman can get through life so well with out playing tho piano; and for a few shillings, or even in extreme cases for a single shillinc, she can, if her lot happeus to be cast in London, hear from timo to time tho finest players that this great pianoforte-playing age has ever producod. It is not because the piano is nnworiuvjjoi ner.flitenuon mat woman should be liberated from the task work imposed upon hor in connection with it. It is beeauso music, liko every othor art, demands from its vobiriesspeo ial gifts and inclinations, and tecause among women who are thus endowed it is a mistake to suppose that tho piano is Uho only instrument suitablo to them. Lot it be understood m the urst place that it is no more a disgrace for a young lady not to play the piano thau it isauis graco for her not to draw, to paint, or to modol; and, in tho second place, that if she does mean to play some instrument it is a mistake for her to restrict herself as a matter of course to the piuno. Next to tho organ the piano is, thanks to the orchestral effects which it can be made to produce, the finest in strument in the world; and it is the only instrument for which every groat compo ser writes as a matter of course, and for which every greet composer's orchestral works are arrunged in reduced form. To praise, at the expense of the piano, the violin, which except when "tours do force" are indulged in yields like tho human voico but a siuglo uoto, is a very common thing, but is one we should not eare to uudertuko. Tho violin, to bo effective in a truly musical sense, must, like the huniau voice, bo accompauied either by the orchestra or by the piano forte, or by other members of the violin family. The pianoforte is (putting aside of course, the two colossal organ), tie only instrument which, for harmonio as well as molodlo purposes, is complete in itself, and which is really an orchestra in a little. There are good reasons, theu, why all who care much for musin should study the piano, but no reason why they should study the piano exclusiuely. Often in tho same family there are two, three and even four pianists. How much and how advantageously the musioal domain of suoh a family would bo inoreased if, with or without negloct of the piano, the in struments of the violin family were taken up, with a view not necessarily to string quartets, but, at least to the numerous pieces writton by great Com posers for violin or violoncello, and piano. "The violin I inoltlde always the viola and violoncello is no doubt," says Mr. Hullali in his exoellont little work on "Music in the House," "a diffi cult instrument: but the difficulty of ac quiring a serviceable amount of skill on it has boon ranch exaggerated. To be! come a Joachim, a Holmes, or a riatti.is the work of a lifetime, even for men giftod with equal aptitude and pereever ance to these -turned to ao count under skillful guidance and at the right timo of life, and suDidemented aud encouraged by a thou sand oiroumstances as impossible to take account of as to bring about and foresee But there is an amount of skill below very much below that of artists of this class which, if accompanioa oy ieeung, taste and intelligence, may contribute largely to the variety and agreeablouess of mnsio in the house." It may be hoped that in a few years, without the number oi our uomesno .Jiuuisia umug too muoh diminished, that of our domes tic violinists will be considerably in creased. Some half dozen lady violinists have appeared this season in London public concerts, who possess the vory ilichest merit: and at a half private, half - public concert given reeeutly at Stafford House for tho benefit of a charity, the chief attraction was a string band con sistinir of no less than twenty-four lady executants. The diversion, then, of feminine tallent from the piano towards the violin, is not a movement which has to be originated; it needs only to ue en couraged. f St. James Gazette. Ilorsesliorlng. Some affirm that thero is no necessity for shoeintr horses under any circuin stances, but it cannot be avoided in many cases, says an exchange. Horses cannot work on stone pavements or on icy roads without being shod. There is no doubt that farm horses are shod much more than is needed. On most farms very lit tlo attention is paid to the care of horses' feet. The dry plans noors or most sia Lies are injurious to feet, having a ton dencv to make them dry and brittle, in stead of tough and elastic as they should he. whether tliev co without shoeing or not. Earth floors are much the best for the feet, and stone or cement muoli bet ter than blank. There is much differ- ence in horses, some having flat brittle hoofs, that will break off and keep them tender footed even while colts in the pasture, and otheis have toazii hoois mat win bear a croat amount of wear without shoeing. If those that are brittle are kept properly trimmed they will not be so liable to break, and H tney are sept moist and do not stand on hard floors the year round they will often improve. The expense of shoeing and the injury that ia liable to be done to the feet by igno rant smiths, render it advisable to do all that is possible to prevent the neces sity for shoeing; but some attention is needed. If the colt is not shod from the beginning be will get along without shoes much better than u ne is nunq si first, and afterwards made to ro without. Farm horses that go on the road but little and are kept at slow work, will do without shoeing, but for driving on the road there are few horses and few roads that will enable them to go without shoes. TAinn BOARDERS "It was a scaudal."he neighbor said, "that Miss Delia should be obliged to take boarders, after all she'd been through; and heaven knows boarders did not help a body to work out her solva tion. And so muoh money in the family too, hiking it by small and large. Wasn't her Uncle Eboii, over at Dovor, well to do, and not a chick of bis own t cam for, except the boy ho had adopted, who was no credit to him? It was odd. now, that a man with poor relations should take a stranger wheu his own flesh aud blood was needv: but somctlmos it does sevui as if folks had more feeling for others than for their own kin. Then thero wero cousins in the oity, fore handed and fashionable, who were never worth a row of nina to Delia, and there was her great-uocio John's widow a-larkin' on the ooutinont. a-gaming at Baden-Baden, and tryiug the water of' every mineral spring in tue turce King doms, for no disease under tho sun but oldagrf She had been knowu to say that her folks wero too rich already, and probably sho would endow somo bospi tal with her property." Plainly, wealthy relatives were of no value to Miss Dolia. To be sure, she hail never sooa her great- aunt sinoe sho was a child, when her Uncle John had bronchi her into their simple life for a month's visit, with her French maid and dresses, her jewels and fallals, which won the hoart of her name sake Sinoe then Uncle John's widow had become a sort of gilded creation, always young and beautiful; for, though Delia had received littlo guts irom time to time across the seas for the last fifteen years, sho had noither beard nor aeon auything of the being who had inspired her youtuliu imagination, ami was iiuiw uncertain if such a person a Mrs. Johu llogorsou was in tho land of tho living. Dead or alive, sho seouied to have made no material difference to Delia's hum drum life. After having nnrsed tier father through a long sicknoss Delia found that he had left a heavy mortgage on the homestead and her mother and herself on the httfh road to the poor house, unless thoy should lutir them selves. As her mother was already bed ridden, the Btirring very naturally fell upon Delia, and sho advertised for sum mer boarders. CHoFTMitoiiovG.il. Me. Good board iu the country to the riveiside, at 7 a woek. .Large Cham be. s, nroau piazzas, fino views, berries and now milk. Ono niilo from the station. Address Delia Koukkhon. "Chean onouch!" commentod an el derly lady who happened upon it. "Delia llogorsou ,an old maid, I suppose, obligod to look out for herself. I've a good mind to try hor broad piazzas nnd new milk. If I don't liko it there'll bo no harm done." And so Delia's first boarder arrived an old lady with false front hair, brown, wrinkled skin, faded eyeB, a niacs aipaea gown, and a hair trunk. Delia made her as welcome as if Bhe bad been a Duchess; lighted a wood fire in Mrs. Clement's room, as the night was damp, and brought out her daintiost cup and saucer, with the fadeless old roses wreathing them. "Wonderfully kiud," reflected Mrs. Clement as she combed out hor wisps of gray hair and confided the false front to a box. "Wonderful kindness for $7 a week. She's new to the trado. Sho 11 learn hotter. Human nature doesn't change with latitudes. She'll find it doesn't pay to consider tho comfort of a poverty-stricken old croa ture." But in epito of hor worldly wis dom. Mrs. Clement was forcod to confess that Delia had begun as sho meant to hold out. though othor boarder camo to demand hor attention, to multiply her cares. Tho frot and jar of conflicting temporaments under her roof waa a now experience to Dolia, When Mrs. Ore some complaiuod of the mosquitoes, with an air as if Miss Koirerson wore respon sible for their creation; of the flics, as if they wore new acquaintances; of want of appetite, as though Dolia had agreed to supply it along with berries and new milk; of the weather, as if sho had plodged herself thore would be no sud den changes to annoy nor uoanu-rs, ut Hia sliabbv bouse and antinuated furni ture, "too!old for comfort and not old enoiiRU for fashion" then Dolia doubted if taking boarders was her mission, "Wluit multea vou koeo us. my dear?' asked Mrs. Clomont. after a doy when everything and overybody hal soomed to go w'roug. "Why didn't you ever marry? You had a lover, I dare sayf "Yes; a long, loug time ago." "Tll mn all about him it?" 'There isn't much to toll. Ho asked me to marry him. He was going to Aus tralia. I couldn't leave father and mother von know, (they were both feeble) and I 1. . Tl,'. oil " "And vou VOU '' "Now all men beside are to mo liko Hlindows." "And you have never heard of him since? "Yes. he wrote, but whoro was tho use? It could uover come to anything It was better for him to forget me and marrv. I was a millstone about his neck. I didn t answer his letter." "And supposing be should return some day, would you marry him?" "I dare say," laughed Delia, gently, as if the idea were familiar. "Jet the neigh bors laugh ever so wisely. 1 ve thought of it sometime, sitting alone, when the world was barren and cojjmonpiaco. One mnst have recreation of some kind, you know. Everybody reqnires a little romauce, a little pootry, to flavor every day thinkine and doing. I'm afraid you think mo a silly old maid, Mrs. Clem ent." "No. The heart never grows old. The skin shrivels, the color departs, the eye fades, the features grow pinched; but the soul is heir of ciernal jonth it is as lieautiful at four-score as at 'sweet 20.' Time makes amends for ravages of the body by developing the spirit. You didn't tell me your lover's name. Per haps you would rather not." "His name waa Stephen Langdon. Sfmetimes Capt. Seymour runs sgainst him in Melbourne, aud brings me woid how be looks and what he is doing; though I never ask, and Stephen never a-dis for nan, that I can hear.' Delia's summer boarders were not a success, to be sure. If they took no money cnt of her pocket they put none in. She was obliged to eke out her sup port by copying for Lawyer Dunmor and embroider ng for Mrs. Judge Dorr. One by one her boarders dropped away like aotnmn leaves; all bnt old Mrs. Clement. "I believe I'll stay on," aha uid. "I'm getting too old to move often. Perliups you tuke wiutor boarders at reduced rates. Lh?" "Do yon think inv terms high?" "By no means. Bat when one's purse is low-" "Yes; I know. Do stay at your own price. I can't spare yon." She had grown such a fondness for the old lady that to refuse her at her own tenuM unitlil liiA-e seemed like torninor her own mother out of doors; beside, one month more would not signify. But sho found it hard to make both onds meet, and often went to bed hungry that hnr nwiilinr ami Mm. fllement. nn ir lit en joy enough, without there appearing to , . . . ..sit.:... - I. lie "just a pattern. ai iiiriHHuan, uuw ever, came a ray of sunshine for Delia, iu tie shape ol a tfiuu bin irom an un known friend. "It can't be meint for mo," she cried. "It's directed to Dolia Rogorson," said her motuer; "ami mere s nooouy else of that name, now that your Aunt Delia's dead." "We are not sure shes dead, ob jected Delia. M 1 T A.an.u I lt.i,t vnn If nnuf MftifitViop UUIIUini A' U II J v.. "' .......... . your own aunt is dead or alive?" askod Airs. Ulemeot, in a suockouv tons. "It isn't vour fault. She is rich and lives uhroad. I was named for her. I used to look in the glass and try to be lieve I'd inherit her beauty with tho name, though she was ouly onr great uncle's wife." "She ought to do something for yon." "How can she, if she is dead? I don't blame her, anyway. Her money ia her own to use according to hor pleasure. Undo John made it himself and gave it to her." "But if she should come back to yon, having run through with it, you'd divide your lost crust with her, I'll be bound. "I suppose I rhonld," replied Delia. Tho winter wore away as winters will, and the miracles of i-priug began iu fields and wayside; and Delia's hoarders re turned with tho June rose, and droppod away again with the fading loavos; and still Mrs. Clement stayod on and on. Just now she bad been somo weeks in ar rears with her reduced board. No money lnul luwn fortlmoniiniT for some time. and she was growing more feeble daily, needed the luxuries ot an invalid ami iuo attention of a nurso, both of which Dolia bestowed uuon her. without taking thought of tho morrow. "I must bear from my man-oi-pusiness to-morrow. Delia: I'm kno deep in debt to you," she began one night. "Don t montiou it! criea uoua. "i u rather novor soo a cent than have you t.ikn it tn heart. You are welcome to stay and share pot-luck with us; you are such company lor motuer anu me. "Thank you, ray dear. I've grown aa fond of you as if you were my own flosh and blood. Thore, turn down the light, ploaso. It grows chilly, doesn't it? You uiiebt kiss mo just onoe, u yon wouiuu t mind. It's a hundred years or so since any one kissed me." And next morning, when JJuia carried nn Mrs. element's breakfast, her boarder lay cold and still upon bar pillows. The nrat siioon over, ioua wrom m tlm lanrvAi- nt whom she bad heard Mrs. Clement speak as having charge of her affairs, begging him to Tiowy mat lany s relatives it BUe naa any. in repiy air. Willi wrote: "The late Mrs. Clement appears to have no near relatives. Some distant cousins, who nave an auunuanoe nf this world's roods, vet sorvod her shabbily whon she tested their gonerosity as she tried yours, are an mat reiuaiu ui her family. In the moautime I inolose vnu a conv of her last will and testa ment, to peruse at your leisure." "What interest noes ne turns t wm - Mrs. Clement's will?" thought Dslia; but she rend, nevertheless: Being of sound mind, this 10th day of June, 18, I, Dolia Bogerson Clement, In liarnhv leave 81(H) to eaoh of my oonsins: and I bequeath the residue of . . Aim 1 ...! 1 my property viz.: ju,ow wvesiou m the Ingot Mining Company, $50,000 in iTnit..,i Hi,t.. linnda '(). 000 in the For tune Flannel MiIIh, aud my jowels to the beloved nieoe ol my nrst uusoano, aun Kogorson, Delia itogerson, of Crofts borough, Me. "For I was a Btrangor and yo took mo in; hungry, and ye fed me; Biok, and ye ministered nnto mo." "Goodness alive!" cried the neighbors, whon the facts roaohed their oars. "What a profitable thing it is to take bourderst Everybody in town will be trying it. Of course Steve Langdon will come and marry her if abe were forty oil maids. You may atiok a pin in therei" Delia did not open her bouse to board ors the next season. She found enough to do in looking after her money and , sponding it; in replying to letters from indigent people, who Boemod to increase alarmingly; iu receiving old friends, who suddenly found time to remember hor existence. Aud, sure enough, among the rest appeared Steve Langdon, and all the villuge said. "I told you so." "It's not my fault that you and I are single yet, Delia," he said. "And we are too old to think of it now, Steve." , Nonsense! It's never too lato to mend. I'm not rich, Delia, but I've enough for two and to spare." "I wouldn't be contented not to drive in my carriage and have eervanta under me now," laughed Delia. "Indeod! Then perhaps yon have a better match in view. Capt. Seymore asked me, by the way, if I had come to interfere with Sqnire Jones' interest." "Yes. Wquire Jones proposea iuo last week." "Now, nee here, Delia. Have I come all the way from Melbourne on a foolish errand? Thore I was. growing used to my misery and loneliness, when the mail brings in a letter in a strange hand, which tell me that my dear love Delia Bogori-on, loves and dreams of me still, is poor and alone and needs me mel And the letter is signed by her aunt, Mrs. Clement, who ought to know. I packed my household goods aud oaine." "I'm glad that you did." "In order that I may congratulate Sqoire Jones?'' "But I haven't accepted bim. In fact, I've refused bim because fc "Because yon will marry your old love, like the lass in the song, Delia?'-' "In Crofisborough, people are not yot tired of telling how a woman made money by taking boarders. A Kentucky man has for clock welghta two pint bottles filled with whisky.