Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-01-25


four-ffths of the girls. So she had
drifted at last to our little town, with
twenty dollars in her purse to keep her
till she found something to do.
"And half of this is gone already"
said Kitty, and she has to pay three
dollars week for board. And oh : she
is such nice girl and thought maybe
you or Mrs. Royal could find something
for her."
Alas! not Mrs. Royal, and much less
|, could command places for one 1.-THE
of the poor girls in our town seeking
employment. had heard of so many
cases lately. But Kitty talked on and
on, while she stitched at Berties blue
dress, till by-and by she had won my
whole heart to an interest in her friend.
She was SO sweet and bright, yet with
something said about her-this was Kit
TVS description-and she could sing
hymns so beautifully, and could do
dainty lace-work and she kept jour
nal, and she was ready to do anything
for living, if it was to scrub door
steps; only this one thing-a sewing
girl-she could never again become.
"And l don't blame her n said Kitty,
and her words were accompanied by the
little hacking cough which was troub-
ling her of late.
grew very curious to see this Fanny
Gray, and when Kitty, looking from the
window, exclaimed, "Here she comes p
and the bell rang, and I went to the
door, it was with a real futter of ex-
element that | welcomed the one who
was destined to become my pet portegee.
She had a brave, bonny face, this fair
English girl, with soft, yellow hair, and
not the usual blue eyes, but eyes of
trusty brown-earnest, little pathetic,
maybe. l brought her in at once, and
got her things off, and in five minutes
more she was sitting in little low chair
PLAYING with BERTHE as if she felt at
home. Fred came in directly, bringing
Nevins, and few to set my table. We
had one of the contest little suppers
imaginable, and Fred had gone to the
extravaganza of bananas, for which I
pardoned him when Kitty Lang said
she never tasted one before in her life,
and how delicious they were
After tea | opened the piano and
played a little, preparatory to asking
Fanny Gray to sing-fer Kitty had said
so much about her hymns. She made
no apology when l entreated her, but
said she knew little besides few bal
lads and hymns. She had sweet, power
full voice, with great expression and
Fred nodded his pleasure to me as she
sat there playing her simple accompani-
ments and singing She gave us some
of the anthems from the prayer book
first, and then took up the dear old
psalm:
AS pants the hart 70 cooling streams.
When heated in the chase;
So longs my soul, 0 God. for thee,
And thy refreshing grace"
Her voice rose in such pure, thrilling
pathos, it seemed as if my heart stopped
beating. Poor old Nevins bowed his
head in his hands and wept. l suppose
he knew well enough in his hard,
drudging life what it was to feel like
the hart painting for cooling streams.
There was a little psuse after the
psalm; | think we had all tears some
where, in our hearts if not in our eyes,
and did not want to speak. Fanny
Gray waited a moment, and then her
voice took up that dear, beautiful
hymn:
" Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye anguish
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel:
Here bring your wounded hearts, here bring your
anguish;
Earth hatn no sorrows that Heaven cannot heal"
When this was done she turned
round from the instrument and faced
us-the quiet, fair young English girl
once more We all took her into our
hearts from that evening.
But what could we find for her to
do? No school wanted teacher, no
family a governess, no store girl for
clerk, no lawyer a copyist, no milliner a
work woman and they had too many
hands already, the foremen told me, at
the hoop-skirt factory, the book-binder-
les, and the artificial flower establish
ment. The season was dull, and labor
a drug in the market. | puzzled my
brain over Fanny Gray's case till Fred
said, laughingly, | would soon become
perfect in the law of supply and de-
mand, and the relation of capital to la
Dor, and be able to talk with Ruskin or
John Stuart Mill, and all the rest of the
political economists. Meanwhile the
weeks were slipping by, and with them
| Fanny little store OF money. At last,
in desperation, l told her she could at
least save her board bill by coming to
our house to stay till she found some
employment, and perhaps she could
help me little about the house,
enough to save her from obligation ;
but l could not offer to pay her any
thing, because Fred and had to prac-
tice economy, and did not feel able to
hire. Well, the girl actually cried for
Joy at the offer, and came to us the very
next morning; and l must say that
during the few weeks she staid with me
l enjoyed the very poetry of house,
keeping. She knew how to do every
thing, and had the neatest, deftest
ways, and was perfectly splendid in
taking care of BERTHE. / told Fred that
1 believed Providence had never meant
her to work in store or factory, but
had destined her to be sunshiny
little wife and housekeeper ano
mother.
On 10Y first baking-day after she
came she made me up the most de
licious little cakes and tarts that | ever
tasted. told her jestingly she would
be treasure in bakery and. Selling
the idea, she went out that afternoon
without telling her purpose, and wher