The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1869-01-08
SGlGGt Stprv.
From the Philadelphia Press.
AgNES WILLARD.
n NEW YEARS STORY,



"Hurry. Agnes. hurry! You are so slow
and provoking this morning, and there is
everything to do. The butter to work, milk
pans to scald, the cheese to turn, and the
potatoes TO peel. so stir about lively" Thus
cried Mrs. Hatfield, in Il sharp, loud tone
from the foot of the narrow STAIRS, 10 her
daughter Agnes, who was making beds above.
The impatient slam Of The unoiI'rndng cham
Der door told that Mrs Hatfield was out of
temper as usual.
Her daughter soon made her appearance,
and meckly went about preparing the vege
tables for dinner Agnes certainly did not
look like heroine of romance as she sat by
the kitchen table peeliug potatoes-her
scant calico dress clinging to her slight
girIish figure in q most ung'aCeful way,
aud IL hideous slat sun-bounet pulled over
her face.
While she is busy with the potatoes, we
will take the liberty OF pceping under the
slat bonnet and have a look at the features
it tautali2ingly concealed.
Her brown hair, uubccominGly braided in
two Chinese.ike tails fcrlornly tied at the
ends with "A bit Of sh0e-string, hung down
her back IN rigid primitivenrsS, beautiful
but neglected. Little damp ringlcts were
always twisting rcbelious!y aboat her sun
burned temples, trying to curl as nature in-
tended it should in spite Of her cnacavors to
make il smooth-detGrminedly c i'm ling and
friZzing when she became tired I'D warm
from inCesSant work.
Mrs. Hatfield declared curls TO he nui-
| sauce, dangling about ones ears perpetual
bothcr, and causing shameful waste Of time
| in arranging Therefore, Arues was not al
| lowed to curl her beautiful brown tresse8. -
| Indeed, she scarcely found time to braid the
award tails O!tencr than twice Il week. Her
melancholy hazel eyes were fall of n tender
| light few understood or cared to fathom.-
| Shaded by long, dark lashes, they shyly
dropped when you would read the sadness
they portrayed. Lovely eyes had Agnes,
| Just now their beauty was bent on a big po-
tato, seemingly unconscious of her mother S
sharp tongue, which WAS always scolding or
grumbling at.somebody or her little three
year old hall-sister pulling playfully at her
old faded dress. 'She did not look sullIy or
angry, but utterly hopeless, resigned, and
| weary.
Her gentle lnfaut-like mouth looked odd
and unsmiling for a girl Of not seventeen. -
Her naturally fair complexion, tanned russct
brown from exposure TO the sun, detracted
from the blonde fairness Of her hair and
|
put on the slat bonnet, generally Gonning
that ungainly article of dress when she felt
more than usually detected, that she might
hide her tel-tale face in its ample shadow.
Her dusky hands were hard with toll; cal
lous ridges roughly marked the small palms
and wore the shapely nails blunt and unsym-
metrcal, for Agnes was the slave of hel
hard, driving mother, who kept her busy
from morning till night, working her far be
yond her young strength. There being ne
limit to her own capacity for vigorous labor
she OWNED that there could not be tC
any one. This principle had become SC
thoroughly part of her being, that Mrs
Hatfield considered it the only Legitimate
theory of existence. 1t was always hurry
hurry with her. She hurried her husband
and children, and some said, maliciously
that she hurried her first partner out of tn
world with her perpetual scolding and etei
nal "hurry.
Agnes Willard resembled her hazel-eye
father, who humbly took time to die tiv
years before we introduced Agnes to the rea
der. Her fathers memory were her only Joy
the solitary oasis in the dreary desert of he
Young life, the one star unclouded in he
cherries horizon.
Her stepfather seldom noticed her in an
way, contenting his vicious propensities b
diligently pelting her two brothers; scelo
ing, kicking, and cutting them about unmer
cifully, but never interfering with Agnes
In fact, thanks to his amiable lady, he pc
sessed respectful fear of all womankinc
evincing a desire TO keep out of thei
way as much as possible. His stepdaughte
might have been vixen or a saint, he WOul
not have cared which, if she only left him
quiet.
To-day Agnes was occupied more tha
! ordinarily, submerged in labyrinth of seen