Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-12-13
MARA; OR. THE GIRL WITHOUT
REFERENCES.

one was calleu MARA ana we all OF us
wondered how name of such sadness could
have been given to girl so bright, sweet,
and tender. But Arthur Halsey, who was
in love with her, raved that the name was
the softest he had ever heard, and that it
was just such one as he would have chosen
to distinguish her from other women, she be-
ing peerless.
He would dilate upon her beauty, her gen.
tleness, the winning power of her voice, with
that meditative ecstasy used by certain art
enthusiasts in describing a picture, or by
connoisseurs in precious stones, who hold up
a diamond in the sunlight, and ask you to ad-
mire every one of its glittering facets. Men
who behave like this are generally great bores.
But Halsey was not; for we all of US knew
the object of his praise, and thought as well
of her as he did. If the truth must be told,
the fact that he had been the first to declare
his love, and the evident strength of her
preference for him, were, perhaps the only
things that saved us from experiencing for
her passion deep as his own. 1t is not
even so sure that we had escaped her inau-
ence and may be each of us reflected in Sc
cret how much lighter the journey of life
might be made to him, could he set out on
it with Mara for his companion.
Yet nobody could tell whence she came,
nor what was her parentage; and she was
destitute Of that commonest buttress to re-
spectability,-and to roguery, too, for that
matter,-referenccs She had arrived one
day at the small seaside town of Sandbeacb,
had taken cheap lodgings, and had given
out her name naively as Mara Child; only
adding, on the inquiry of her laudlady, that
she was Miss, not Mrs. The same day she
had gone to Butts's Circulating Library,
and had asked Butts, in person, whether he
knew of any family in want ola govorness.
Butts was simpleton of the discursivo
sort. Besides circulating books, be was
house-agent and proprietor of the Sand6each
Gazette. This three-handed title allowed
him to keep finger in the pies of almost all
the inhabitants of the town, and had led him
up to a vague notion that Sandbeaca belong
ed to him. He wore velvet skull-cap, had
pastryfaco with double chin, and proba-
bly, meant no harm, though he occasionally
did some. "You have held governess's sit
uation before, suppose ?" was his magiste-
rial answer to the girl-strapger's question, us
she stood at the counter Of his well-stocked
shop.
ono: l have never held any situation, she
said quietly.
"Then you have some one who will ans
wer for you,-speak to your abilities, mean
and give you character?" Butts looked
al her as his plump fingers unstrung par
eel Of books just come from London. She
was dressed in black and wore a very white
collar and cuffs. 1t WIS plain dress, but
not poor.
mo" she replied, with a shake of the
head. 81 am an orphan, and know of no.
body who could give me a character"
Butts was both astonished and scandalized.
"The price Of fve-lne advertisement in
the Sandbeach Gazette is one-and-sixpence, "
said he suspiciously,-"half crown for two
insertions. The paper appears twice a
week."
Mara drew out little network purse, and
handed him half sovereign 81 think will
have two insertions, please" she said. "You
can say | am twenty-five years old, and am
able to draw little but | do not play the
piano."
Butts rang the coin on the counter aud,
finding it good, it grieved him to part with
SO much as sevenand-sixpence change. "The
subscription to the circulating library and
reading-room is half crown month";" he
remarked in halEconciliatory tome 1--WE
take in the London magazines and The Times
where you can read of people who want
governesses. You have also the privilege of
carrying away two books together to read at
home
Mara said she would subscribe then
Butts asked her whether she needed station
cry, to which she said no. but bought some
drawing-pencils and a mill-bOard. In brief,
most of her ten shillings remained in the
possession Of Butts, who, still suspicious,
tied up her purchases in parcel, and, when
she had left his shop calculated, 81 don't
much like the look Of her.
We learned all this few weeks afterwards
when Hnlanu md I'm nIhnr thrnn nr ~.