Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-03-02

with the easiest cushions, and the warm
est robes, and bells, the merriest bells.
and the straight young lady. And
Jim McMahoney was there, and he
carried her down stairs to "set" har.
And her mother was there, and wrap
ped her all about in an old red shawl,
for Deb had no "things" like other
little girls. The young lady had re-
membered that, and she had brought
the prettiest little white hood that Deb
ever saw, and Deb's face looked like
bruised day-lily bud between the shin
ing wool, but Deb could not SEQ that;
and Mrs. McMahoney was there to wish
her good luck; and all the little Nc
Mahoneys were there, and all the child
rem who did not wonder, and the grocer
/ turned in Mt the Alley corner, and the
baker stopped as he turned ont, and
everybody stood and smiled TO see her
start. The white horse paved the snow
and held mp his head, Deb had never
I seen such horse, and the young lady
gathered up the reins into her brown
gloves, and the sleigh-bells cried for
| ioy,-how they cried !"-and away
/ they went, and Deb was ont Of the
alley in minute, and the people in the
alley hurrahed, and hurrahed, to see
her 60
/ That bewildering, beautiful, blessed
ride How warm the little white hood
was how the cushions sank beneath
her, and the fur robes opened like
feathers to the touch of her poor thin
hands How the bells sang to her, and
the snow drifts blinked ut her, and the
icicles and the slated roofs, and sky,
and peoples faces smiled at her!
"What is the matter?n asked the
young lady; for Deb drew the great
gray wolf Strobe over her face and head;
and sat SO, for minute, still and hid
den. Tie young lady thought that she
was frightened.
81 only want to cry little! J"
! said Deb'S little smothered voice H
must cry a little first p"
When she had cried a little, she held
up her head, and the shine of her pretty
white hood grew faint beside the shine
of her eyes and cheeks. That bewilder-
ing, beautiful, blessed ride
Streets and a crowd and church spires
were in it,-yes. and wedding and u
funeral too; all that Deb had seen in
her high chair in the daytime, with her
eyes shut, she saw in the sleigh on that
ride, with her happy eyes open wide.
She sat very still. The young lady
did not talk to her, and she dad not
talk to the young lady They rode and
rode. The horse held up his head. 1t
seemed to Deb that he was flying. She
thought that he must be like theawful,
beautiful white horse in Revelation.
She felt as if he could take her to
heaven just as well as not, if the young
lady's brown gloves should only pull
the rein that way.
They rode and rode. In and out of
the merry streets, through and through
the singing bells, about and about the
great church spires, all over and over
the laughing town. They rode to the
river, and the young lady stopped the
white horse, SO that Deb could look
across, and up and down, at the shin
ing stream and the shining bank.
"There's so much of it said Deb,
softly, thinking of the crack of it that
she had seen between two honses for
fifteen years in high chair; and the
long, broad shouldered, silvered river
seemed to her very much like this
world about which she had wondered.
They rode to the mills, and Deb
trembled to look up at their frowning
walls, and to meet their hundred eyes,
for the windows stared like eyes; but
some of the girls who wore the little
pink bows, and who knew her, came
nodding to look down out OF them, and
she left off trembling to laugh; then in
Il minute she trembled again, for all at
once, without any warning, the great
Androscoggin pealed the time inst over
her head, and swallowed her mp in
sound. She turned pale with delighted
terror, and then she flushed with terri
fed delight
Did it pray? or cry2 or laugh Deb
did not know. 1t seemed to her that II
the white horse would carry her into
the sound of that bell, she need never
4 sit in high chair by window again,
but ride and ride with the young lady.
/ 1t seemed to her like forever and for
ever
They turned away from the Andres
cogcin Without speaking, and rode and
rode. Daylight dimmed and dusk drop
ped, and see, all the town blazed with
fights. Deb could not speak-there
were so many lights
And still she could not speak when
they rode into Brick Alley, and jim
McAIahoney and her mother and the
children who did not wonder came out
to meet her, and take her back to her
high chair. =,
She was too happy to speak. She
need never wonder any more She
could remember.
! But the young lady did not want her