The Portland daily press., 1870-07-09

think she cried a little. A man whom at
first thought was her father, met her at the
door of the store and offered her his arm. She
told him what had occurred as they walked
along the deserted street. Finally he said. in
a very kind and pleasant voice:
GLOW long will you refuse the home have
offered you SO long?"
She maae no answer, and Ibegan to think
was geltlng involyedln love scrape-whch
is tnlng That money Of any kind of course
should have nothing to do with. heard him
ask PERMISSION to call next evening; heard
her give it, and then she ran upstairs to her
room, relieved her feelings in a hearty cry,
and wrote letter, into which ], and l alone,
was put. OF course when l was sealed up in
the letter had the very best opportunity to
read it, and took that liberty. 1t was full of
sentimental nonsense, but the substance of it
was as follows:
"Dear Mother: send new ten-cent scrip
for Johnny; it is all l can send this week, as
l am all behind with my board, and shall have
no work next week. have made up
my mind to marry him. He is twice as old as
l am, but am all worn out and must have
some rest. 1 can respect him." etc., etc.
Of course it was very long letter, but
these were the main facts. L felt rather sorry
for the girl, but how could blame her, and
perhaps, after all, she was as happy as those
who marry for lave and find that its essence
evaporates with the advent of the first baby
carriage.
l was not long on my journey. The old
lady read the letter, and sighed, and very
soon consigned me to Johnny, who proved to
be my deadly enemy. He put stop TO my
circulaton,-kept me in his breeches pocket
till became as dirty and torn and dilapidat-
ed as if L had been at work for years did not
even take the trouble to paste me up, and
would not spend me because his sister sent,
me. Finally, when. he took me out once in
the street to show me to another boy, puff
of wind blew me out of his hand and carried
me under projecting curb, and Johnny's ef-
forts to find me were unavailing. l laid there
for several days-a shower came up and wet
me through was utterly ruined.
laid in front of a large white hOuse-the
largest in the village. Every morning fat
Old lady would come and sweep the sidewalk
where l was, and, at last, poking her broom
under the curb, she raked me out, picked me
up and carried me into the house. She must
have been very rich-everything about the
house betokened that,-and could not make
out at first why she took such pains to restore
me, for she worked on me every day, and f.
nally took Inc out and tried to pass me
without success. She tried again and again,
with the same result. The milkman, the
baker, the grocer, the butcher-all were tried
in vsin. "Never mind" at last she said to
me, "they are obliged to redeem you at Wash
ington;" and thereupon she put me into
vase on the mantel, where l still remain,
having transmitted these notes through
spiritual circulating medium. Of course I
have had ample opportunity to observe my
mistress's habits. She keeps no servants, be-
cause she says they are vicious. She blows
up all the tradesmen every day, declines to
entertain applications for charitable objects,
and says she doesn't know what the world is
coming to with its ridiculous notions of wO-
mans rights and all that stuff. She attends
church regularly and thinks she will be re.
deemed, but think my chances for redemp-
ton are full as good as hers.