The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-04-17
General Miscellany.
CONQUERORS.
BY NELL CLIFFORD.
CHAPTER l.

Dora Lee, what are you about? Here
l have been waiting for the last hour for
you TO dress me. You are lust good for
nothing at all, and | wish mama would
send you away
The spoiled darling Of wealth. this ra-
diant beauty of fourteen years was i'll
natured and arrogant.
u was reading letter from my broth
err Miss Maggie"
90 on are the most unreasonable girl
know. What is the use of having ser
wants II they cannot wait on you? You
might have put that OFF till evening"
He Is all the friend | have, and it
had been such a long time since | heard
from him that | could not wait one mo-
ment."
You knew that | needed you to comb
my hair
Dora was silent.
Is that rustic clown who called here
a few weeks ago, your brother ~
willie Is not a clown" cried Dora,
firing up with honest Indignation. "He
is the very best, dearest and handsomest
brother in the world
Maggie laughed scornfully and incred-
ulOusly.
And he writes such beautiful letters:
am sure he will make minister ad-
ded Dora, with a pardonable, sisterly
pride.
." / dare say they seem beautiful to vou,.
but any person ofcultivation, would dis
cover the odOr of stables and cellar about
him.
Maggie Rays manner and words were
like knife cutting into the quick. Dora
was made to feel the inferiOrity of her
position hourly, and her disposition
could i'll brook the humiliation of the
servitude that had fallen to her lot. She
and her brother had been left homeless
orphans few months previous to her
introduction TO the reader. Through the
kindness of a gentleman who became
interested in him, Willie had been placed
at school, where he was making almost
unparalleled advancement in his studies.
Dora was less fortunate, "a we have
seen.
"How careless you are, Dora! You
pulled my hair dreadfully just now, and
it Is all on account of your temper. If
you don't do better | viii have YOU dis
missed
That word dismissed was held over
her head as terror To go out into the
strange, unknown world was terrible
alternative for a sensitive child of twelve
wears.
1.-THE bell Is ringing for me. Hurry,
Dora. There, you have scented my
handkerchief with cologne, and you
know | hate the common stuff. Take
that and see if your memory wont serve
YOU better next time, - and she gave her
a smart rap on the ear.
Two ewes bIazed and little form
sprang after her to take summary ven
gence for the indignity. The room
opened at the head of the staircase, and
DoIa's violent push sent Maggie tumb-
ling TO the bottom. Her screams bought
Mrs. Ray and the servants to her assist
ance. Dora was there too with blanch-
ed, Mortified face.
My darling, are you hurt much
How did ii happen?n asked Mrs. Ray,
as she had her placed on luxurious cush-
ions in her elegant parlor.
'Dora did it.
Dora Lee! the little viper" she said,
shaking her fiercely.
''This is what get fortaking charity
child into my house"
Dora did not try to palliate her offence,
because il looked so black and enormous
to her. The scOwls and hate that fell to
her in consequence, she took as her due.
~ was wicked. | am sorry | hurt
you, will you forgive me?'
NO l will not forgive a hypocrite.
Go away, Dora. | can't bear to see you
around Mama will certainly send you
away nOw.n
Ernest, is she much injured ~ asked
Mrs. Ray, of her grave young foster
brother, DIR. Manly, who was examining
Maggie's bruises.
mo, Lucy, nothing but sprained
ankle. She will recover from it in a few
days"
In the meantime, Dora sought the
shade of the shining pines, in the back
meadow. A tempest ragged in heart and
brain, a tempest of alternate anger, grief
and weary despair. Some good angel
brought up to recollection her dead
mothers counsels, and she covered down
as she might had her sainted mother
really appeared. A pure example is lu-
minous, and her motives and conduct
were frightful in contrast. More than
one of us know how this is from expert
ence. Perhaps like Dora, we have felt
the whirl of passions. They rush and
roar and seethe until reason is over
whelmed for the time, and we are mad.
OF ourselves, we cannot bring them into
subsection. We can gain these victories
over flesh and spirit only through God.
The tempest subsidized gradually, and
SOIter anu sduueT tInOt1On DIOUutu ONtl
its desolating track in Dora's soul. She
read again her brothers precious missive
ofsympathy love and boyish aspirations,
and sobbed over it afresh. Tearing off
the blank portion of it, she wrote with
pencil tear-stained reply.
DARLING BROTHER WILL feel
so wicked tonight that it scares me. |
can't do right if try ever so hard.
believe l never can again-not while L
STAY here. / grow worse every day.
Naughty passions used to come into my
heart once in a great while, and mother
would help me TO pray them away; but
now they come and stay nearly all the
time. If Maggie would only be kind to
me, L could be better. If / were like
YOU, VIII, l shouldn't find it so hard to
bear. Do you think the dear Saviour
mother used to talk to us about can ever
love me? Sometimes / am afraid shall
never see her again, and it makes my
heart ache. / have done dreadful
thing to-day; and / am further from you
and her than ever. l pushed Maggie
down stairs and might have killed her,
and il was because was so angry L did
not care what i did. 1 wanted to hurt
her. How need mother and you! Do
Willie, ask God to love me q little for
her sake and yours. Pray him to help