Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-06-27

was little child. and his father dying
| soon after. Miss Barbara had, ia fash
ion. adopted him. She had INDUCED
| him from the first day OF his entrance
/ into her house she had watched over
/ him and made him her one object in
| life. He had been the one CLEAN OF
sunshine in her lonely life, and to his
/ honor be it said. he had never been I'M
/ worthy Of the love and confidence which
( she gave to him. " Aunt Barby was
! to him the only person III the world,
and although people marveled at the
affection o. the bright-faced young fel-
/ low for his grim old aunt, it was gen
nine and true. He had gone through
college in a thoroughly satisfactory
manner, and afterward had settled
down il to as steady and trustworthy a
Young business man as there was III the
| city, and for three years had behaved
entirely according to his aunt's wish IN
every respect.
lone day, however, the peace and
tranquility of Miss Barbara's house
| hold was broken up by whisper which
came to her ears-J Ohm, her John, was
"paying attention" to somebody She
was at first incredulous, but as the
DAYS went by she was forced to believe
/ it: for one night, John, sitting at her
| feet, with his yellow hair shining in
the freight, told her with much con-
fusion and embarrassment that he
twas going to be married.
Miss Barbara was a good woman, but
| she was very whimsical, little selfish,
/ II oL,.,, III ,-nr,f iau1Dnc ne bpr nu1,
! dignity, and the knowledge that John
| had asserted his independence and
actually planned out his future Lfe
without consulting her beforehand,
was a very hard thing for her to bear.
/ She was not patient nor forglving, and
1 the result Of Johns confidence was
I a very unpleasant scene; she who had
never spoken to him harshly before,
overwhelmed him with hard, bitter
words, and then, when he was gone,
wept herself asleep over his "lngrati-
| tude, as she called it.
When at last he was really married,
| her anger knew no bounds, and his
first visit to her after that event. ended
as we have seen.
The days passed slowly after John,
with his bright face and ringing voice,
was banished, and Miss Barbara, half
rcgretting her harshness, was often
tempted to send for him again, but her
obstinacy, or "pride," as she called 1T,
prevented her, and 50 she fretted and
worried until Jane was almost driven
distracted by her irritability and un-
reasonableness. She was SO cross, 50
hard to suit, and so lawfully savage,
as John would have said, that Jane be
came ut last entirely worn ont, and one
day when her duties had been more
than usually hard, she surprised her
mistress by packing mp her movable
property and departing from the
house Then Miss Barbara was wretch
ed. For three days she sat III solitary
state, and then, sending for her lawyer
directed him to insert an advertisement
in the leading papers to the effect that
she wanted young, neat and lady
like person for companion
No more old women for me, she
said sayagely, in response TO the law
yer's look of surprise, LATTER the be-
haylor of Jane, who has been with me
for thirty years and then authori2-
] ing him to examine the applicants she
sent HIM away and walled.
Tive days after the lawyer returned
accompanied by tall, slender woman,
who had come to see if she Miss Bar
bara) would engage her Miss Bar
! bara's black eyes looked keenly ut her
! for some time and after inquning
sharply into her antecedeuts, references
and the like, Miss Barbara pronomc-
/ ed herself satisfied, and Alice Wor-
+. thington (as the lawyer called herr was
/ duly installed in the office of 'compan-
ion, and a most charming companion
| she proved to be
Miss Barbara was at first disposed to
be bit critical and caphous, but the
Nuuug girl was So anxious to please,
So sweet-tempcred and amiable, so
quiet and scli-iorgettul, that Miss Bar
/ hara'S severity melted away by degrees
and at last She began to love her atten-
dant and try in various little ways to
make her cheerful and coutentel in her
new home.
Alice" she said che day rs the
Young girl sat opposite her before the
fire, "how old are youI"
Not quite niucteen, was the SHY
answer.
Aud Miss Barbara looked at her in
surprise. Not quite nineteen, and
yet SO quiet and dignitied, and woman
I Is ii was almost incredible. Miss
| Barbara looked at her again, and with
/ new appreciation in her face; she saw
how pure and sweet the fair face look
ed, with the shy brown eyes half hid
den 10y the white lids she saw how
smoothly and plainly the brown hair
, was fastened back, how neat and trim
was the dark dress, how snowy were
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