Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1869-06-30
BECKY HAR1AND's PLACE.

II don't know whether you viii suit me
or not said Miss Towers refeetively.
Il will do my best, ma am, said little
Becky.
ANY objection to the country?" de-
manded Miss Towers in a brasque, business
like way.
s'No ma am.
II never kept girl before" said Miss
Towers gravely But my brother is com.
ing home this summer, and don't want
to be obliged to be in the kitchen all the
time Where have you lived last ?''
Becky grew Pink all over.
II have never lived out before, ma am;
but my uncle died suddenly, and there was
no more than enough left to support my
aunt, so | am going to try and support my
self"
Very right and proper, said Miss Tow
ers.
So Miss Towers took Becky Harland back
with her to the old stone farm house in the
Housatonic valley. And Becky was never
tired of helping Miss Towers, strain the
milk, and work over the butter, and feed
the little downy turkeys, and gather pink
honeysuckles And the roses on her cheeks
grew deeper, and the velvet bloom ON her
lips seemed to catch the scarlet of the wood
strawberries, and Miss Towers declared, with
an admiring gaze at her little ''hclp," that
''she didn't lCok ike the same child she was
before. y
Meanwhile, the preparations for Miss
Towers brother went briskly on.
I'm make up lot O cocoanut pound
cake, said Miss Towers with the recipe
book in her lap That what he used to
be desperate fond of when he was boy !"
Perhaps his tastes may have changed,
said Becky, who was rubbing the old ma
hogaDy furniture with waxed cloth, at the
other end of the room.
Il don't know about that" said Miss
Towers with troubled air, II haven seen
him since -
Not seen him since he was boy?" said
Becky.
'Wcll, it does sound strange, don't it?"
said Miss Towers; but you see he went
away from home when he was fifteen, and
he's been out in the world ever since
''Is he very old gentleman, Miss Tow
ers?" innocently questioned Becky as she
rubbed away at the caw-fo foot of an antique
pier table
''Old!" cried Miss towers, uplifting both
hands in amazcment. why, he's ever so
u,uch voilnrer than | am -
SIS he?" asked Becky. "iT by, I've
been fancying him all along an old gentle
man in wig -
Miss Towers burst into hearty fit of
laughter.
well, that does beat all!' she cried,
wiping the tears from underneath her spec
tacle glasses. ''But after all, to stranger
that don't know the family story, it might
very easily appear so. You see, child, my
mother was a widow when she married for
the second time, and-dear heart alive !!
what does all that little turkey chick,
squeakipg like a possessed creature? Run
Rebecca, and see. y
Becky was sitting in the twilight on the
door-stope that evening, one cheek resting
on her hand, and her eyes dreamily fxed on
the far off wall Of woods, growing purple in
the coming dusk Miss Towers had gone to
carry little basket of her ripest strawbe: :
ries to sick neighbor, and Becky was all
alone, thinking oyer her past, and ponder
ing vaguely on her future.
"How strange it seems that should be
here she thought, when it is scarcely a
year since | was the gayest little butterfly
in all the city ball rooms The echoes of
those old waltzes and gallops come back to
me sometimes, when [ am just falling asleep,
with the moonlight on my face, and the
maple leaves rustling softly at my open case
ment; and yet am far happier here. That
| is, should be, if | could only forget one
thing. Iwonder what girls Want to be Sc
wilful and capricious tor Oh dear" and
| Becky's blue eyes swan with tears rs she
remembered the handsome lover who had
| been so true and faithful and constant, un
til her own coquetry had driven him from
her side. 81 would so like to know what
Colonel Falconer is doing now, and whether
/ he Is married yet, duu III ne ever IuinkS vi
me. would write to him if [ were Mis-
Harland, the petted heiress still; but little
Becky, who does housework for her daily
bread-ah, never, never
And Becky, anxious to escape her Owl
haunting thoughts, jumped up and raj
across the dewy meadow to meet Mis- Tow
ers, whose tall angular figure was just com
ing in sight, round the curve Of the mapl
| swamp.
''Bless and save the child !" cried Mis-
Towers. ''Why Rebecca you WASH afraid
was you?'
''No-Yes-I don't know. Let me car
ry your basket, Miss Towers"
'Rebecca, cried the old lady. mex
morning, as she drove the shaggy little pc
ny into the door yard, returning from tn
village post Office, I've got letter. He
coming to- night.
us he?" said Becky smiling because Mis-
Towers face was so radiant. Then L
better run out in the garden and gather
fresh lot of strawberries before the sun get