The Republican journal., 1871-12-07
Mabel's Story.


n.@.-.,....-- n.@.-....-
maoei 5 story.
We lived far awav in the country in q
rustic district. Nv father was poStmas.
ter OF the little place. and kent a few gro
ceries for sale. But he had enough to do
to maintain his family scantily. and
clotbe them 1erent]v. was sixteen anf
housekeener. NV mother was dead and
I was the eldest of rs four children. The
rest ha;no vounoar strovo to do INV
hest for tLem
Nv one GREAT tronble then was nv
CLOTHES Other vouno GIRLS of our sta.
tion that T associated With dressed hette,
than con]d and i, orieved me Vanity
Lng;na a.,l;a,. th,n tbat in tho fnn,.ie
he9rt hal maIa ,,n and ron,ada n,,a,,
ort,aIo af ,n1 ,,,nt,or,s ,,,arIrnba f,,. th5
nhiI,l,o,, o,,1 ,,,,soir bd ,,,o,.l-o1 ~,
shred to tbo hest odv,ntsen '' and M, now
hat was al aone ana J;d need q now now
dress fnr tba m ron;ng .' w;,tar ~ Ina ImaJe i ~ INV w
shoes Ia s+ as lon@ aga;n as ot,ar oirls ID
for i.nouT NV +, ,tbar ,,an+ad a2ar,, s;,,
nnrno w. oo,,Ij oarl 49,, arao'1od ;,,a,,t
mo- anTth;ng Nnt that bo o1,a,. ,vas
cross hnt he often siohnJ and Looked O.
paincd and sorrowui when + asked fo,
monav th,t tr;ad n do with 80 I;ttio os
possible
Rnt hera il ,vas tbo ,,st of 0otol,er. INV
s1mme,, dresses moor anousb at all
times Looked yerv Hin and noltrv now
One Satnrdav sfternoon T % %shau neva, n
forget, It is what | am aoino to tell Of.
NV work All done the children at nIav in
the orchard / eombed ont NV m lono o.
h,,oy,, ha;r ,,,t o,, INV host oo+tcn f,ooi2
selected a nIa;n linen collar Of NV own
making. and pinned it round nv neck
with an old breastpin. the only bit of lew
elry had ever owned with me I think
it was m instinct ia dress well Not fine
only neat. Then. taking out nv last
winters best trock. 7 sal down AT the
window to see what / could do at reno
yatng it. 1t was a lioht blue merino-
verv light indeed. now-and | knew it
was 100 short for me, as / was still grow
inc. and was very shabby. But hy turn
inc and putting in wide band Of trim
ming which T had. I thouoht it miobt be
made to answer, 50 l set to work With 2
will.
The work was vexing. was irving
to do what scarcely could be done; and
as sat sewing and contriving, | felt fit
to cry over our poverty. Just then the
dog on the shop-sill set up a loud bark
ING, and looked to see what it was at.
A man was coming in at the gate with a
pack on his back; travelling peddler, |
knew. He smiled and came in, although
1 said I did not want ANYTHING, and the
children. seeing him. came running in
too.
Il cannot afford to buy indeed, | can
not" l kept saying. But the man only
kept on smiling, and opened his pack on
the parlor floor. And it was too great a
treat to me to see the things, to make
great opposition.
The first thing that came out was just
the very thing | had most longcd for-a
beautiful fine French merino, Of Il dark
crimson color. | had once seen dress
of this kind, but none had been offered
for sale in our little place that could equal
this in shade or texture.
The peddler looked at me with his keen
black eyes us | knelt down to feel the
prize I had no hope of winning. "The
lady will buy" he said but 1 shook my
head. and crossing my hands behind me,
stood up rcsolutely, trying hard not to
long for the much desired piece of goods.
Not buy he exclaimed in broken
language OF some sort, | could not tell
whether German or French; and he
looked 50 astonished, even pitifnl, that l
felt sorry at once, and confessed that l
had no money, and could not purchase.
''But the beautiful young lady have
some old silyer-old jewelry-old silk