Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-08-11

"nobody'll take caie of ye" meant to her
something so hard and so lonely.
"Nobody will, nobody does. o, dear"
and she choked down something hard in
her throat Aunt Samantha would scold
her If she cried. SO she wiped the tears
with the corner of her apron, when she
went into the pantry for dishes, and came
out trying to look bright, but all the while
saying to herself "Nobody to take care of
her, and she hasn't any mother and her fa-
ther is dead, and old Tabby. o, / wish I
was dead too"
Linn had way of plying herself as
though she was somebody else and many
night after she had gone to bed in the
dark, up in the attic, she cried her ill a.
mong the pillows; and told over to herself
the dismal tale of her misery, as though
she had been second person, and Linn
Blythe a child whom the world was using
badly.
The pork and potatoes were fried and
eaten, Eldad Pike had gone into the field,
andhhe work Of the Gay had begun in earn
est. Mrs. Pike was a large and strong wo-
man. So far as being tired bodily went,
But Linn knew, she had good reason to
know, that the harder the mistress of the
house worked, the more unamiable she
grew, and the more impossible it became
to please her. All that long day the child
ran up and down, to and fro for her. "Chil-
dren save a sight o. steps" Mrs. Pike had
remarked once in Linns hearing. And "a
sight O. steps" she must have saved that
day. How her feet ached, and her head,
and her heart, poor child, as the day waned
and the hot afternoon sun poured in at the
curtanless west windows, and as Mrs.
Pixies shrill reproof kept time TO the tick
ing of the mummy-like clock in the cor
ner.
"Bring me a pie plate, Lindy. Not that
A blue-edged one, don't you know? Does
seem as though you never would renem-
Der. Sometimes l think you hain't got
quite common sense-you do act like a
half-witted child. l would be an idgit an
done with, pears TO me-
An idiot Perhaps that was the reason
they all found fault wnh her so, thought
Linn. There was an idiot in the neighbor-
hood, gurgling, helpless, frightful speci-
men of human life. Perhaps-she could
MT tell-perhaps she looked to other peo-
pie Just as Jacky King looked to her Was
that the matter, she wondered, and Just
then her thoughts were broken in upon.
Snow what are you doin, stannn' there
gawpin'? See here, this plate amt washed
clean, or wiped dry. Look" Mrs. Pike
carried the plate to the window, and point
ed to little drop of water dried upon the
smooth surface. Then she rubbed her red
finger round and round, pointing to the
mark left behind.
"Grease, do you see? You oughter be
shut up in your room all day for that. I
'blieve you never will learn. Now run,
and fill that air water pitcher, n bring it
here, will you"
Never was there since the days of Egyp-
tian bondage such making bricks without
straw, as Linn's dish washing. Many
winters day she had washed the family
crockery in the unfinished back room, the
air so cold that the water froze on the plates
before she could wipe them, not allowed
soap or rinsing water, her very washing
water measured and imited-because, for
wood to heat water. Under such rules as
these, having the care of the family crock
cry and then punished for the first drop of
water, or the first shade of soil left on plate
or bowl!
Does any one think this is tedious mat
ter? Perhaps so. But It's real. 1t hap
pened once. It's like may happen again.
1t is not for children it is told but for those
who have the care of them. For tell you
there is no slavery on earth like the slav-
cry of a child to a hard grown person.
That lonely farm house wa S the world to
Linn Blythe. Outside there might be hap
py places. But she had never seen them.
She knew nothing about them. Had she
known Mrs. Pike might have walked some
morning to find her "help" gone. But, as
it was, the child had bnt to stay there day
after day, work on, and suffer on.
Mrs. Pike was the great power of the
place. Her word was not only law, but
light and shadow. On her and her moods
hung Linn's veal or woo. The child had
watched and studied that large featured
face until she knew its every phase, and
what every phase BODIED. If she smiled,
there was brief sunshine. If she entered
the room Linn looked up to see if the cor
ners of her mouth meant peace or war. If
those corners were drawn down, Linn's
heart went with them. If the crescent
wrinkles on either side the mouth deepen
ed, then the child anticipated trouble, and
she was seldom disappointed. The very
sound of her step had a language for the
little girl. She had learned by hard les
sons, the quick peremptory tread which
showed ill humor, and the easy movement
which indicated quiet, In short, you ee
Linn Blythe lived, and moved, and had her
being, in the humors of this stern, unlov-
ing irritable woman. DO you think you
would haverebelled against this rule? Do
you think it was weak so to be kept sub
ject to woman? DO you think, perhaps,
you would have taken the reins into your
own hands? | tell you it would require
less courage to beard the grand mogul with
the headsman behind him, less nerve to re-
bel against the ear of all the Russias, with
the Neva's ice over his shoulder, cut to re-
ceive malcontents, less strength in short,
to resist any power on earth, than for
child in the place Of Linn Blythe to oppose
Aunt Samantha.
"Come along here with that pitcher,
can't ye, in desprit hurry. Here, quick
| Therer
A slip, a crash, and twenty broken frag
ments of earthware lay, in a food Of water
on the floor
"Linn Blythe p
The two faced each other the tall red
faced, exasperated woman, and the pale,
covering, wretched child,
81 didn't mean to-"
The words came, and CLOSE upon them a
| great burst of tears.
Didn't mean to" whined Mrs. Pike.
! UVho said vnu nnaontto9 Careless trOllOnt