Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-04-03

Evelt went up to his own room,
where his friend, Dick Bush, was sit
ting in the dark. Dick was boy
of nineteen. He had been trying to
work his way through college, and
had worn himself out in the effort, and
Mr.. Millburn had brought him to the
mountains for his vacation. Dick
made hero of Evert, and he had been
MORALLY Jealous of Emily May.
''Dick," said Mr.. NHlGwn, after a
little, ''we will go oveNb the Glen to-
morrow"
And then Dick understood the case,
and mentally abused Miss May as "a
cold-hearted firt," which epithet she
did not in the least deserve.
Evert and Dick went away early in
the morning. Emily heard the stage
drive away, and turned her face to her
pillow, and thought bitterly of the
horrible peryerseness of things in this
world.
She knew that Evert was good, and
manly, and sensible. He was in a
fair way to win reputation at the bar,
and, if not just handsome, was attrac-
tive and gentlemanly.
'There are dozens that would be
proud and happy to accept his love !;
and nothing would do but that he
must throw it away on me-" thought
Emily, impatiently. "But it's never
worth while to pity men very much.
They mostly get over their troubles
very easily, if there is no money lost" !"
From which it may be inferred that
Miss May was perhaps a bit of a
cynic,
Emily May lived with her mother,
in an inland town in New York. She
had little property of her own, and,
with what she could earn by her pen,
she managed to dress herself pay for
a summers journey now and then,
and keep her own house over her
head.
1t was her way to look after her
sick neighbors, poor or not; to visit,
now and then, at the hospital and the
county house, and do what her hand
found to do. She made no fuss, and
laid down no rules, and was under no
ecclesiastical "direction" in particular
but | am inclined to think she was as
useful, and far more agreeable, than if
she had made herself hideous in a
poke bonnet, and committed mental
suicide.
When her holiday was over that
summer, she came home, and settled
quietly down to her work.
She was busy at her desk, one day
in October, when carriage drove
rapidly up the street, and stopped at
the door, and Dick Bush jumped hur-
riedly out, and rang the bell. Emily
went to the door herself, upon which
Dicks hurry seemed suddenly to sub
side and when he came into the par
lor, he appeared to find great difficulty
in expressing HIMSELF and Emily,
greatly wondering, asked after his
friend Mr.. Millburn.
Dicks tongue was loosed.
"Oh, Miss May he said, with a
shaking voice, "Evert is dying"
Where? How?' eaid Emily,
startled, and sincerly sorry.
Now Dick had been rather melo-
dramatically inclined. He had meant
to act like the hero of a lady's novel,
and administer q severely inhexible
reproof to the woman who had trfed
with Evert; but in Miss Mays presence
he found this plain impracticable, and
wisely refrained.
Gle went out shooting with fool
of a boy, and he, the boy, fired wild,
and Evort was badly hurt, and fever
set in; and, oh Miss May, he keeps
asking for you, and he won't be quiet !;
and the doctor said, if you could you
ought to come, for it might make 4
difference. There's his note, and Mrs.
Milburn's.
The doctor wrote, succinctly, that,
considering the state of the case, Miss
Nays presence might possibly keep
the patient quieter, which was all i'm
portant. Mrs. Millburns note was an
incoherent blotted epistle, begging
this unknown young lady to come and
save her boy.
Emily could not refuse her mother
hurried her off, and in two hours she
was seated beside Dick, on her way to
Springfield. Her reflections were not
pleasant. Every one would talk, and
suppose there was a romance. ELY
St. John would be sure to know about
it, and ELY was such little chatter
box; and to try to make mystery Of
the matter would be still worse.
Then she had "notbing to wear
And how should she get along with
Evert's mother and sister? And who
would take her Bible class on Sunday?
And what was to become of her little
book promised for ''the spring trade 2
81 dare say it's all nonsense his
wanting me-" she thought. People
never mean what they say in a fever.
/ remember Pat Murphy insisting that
he would have a hippopotamus 'handy
in the house, and if Mr.. Millburn
comes to himself, how horribly en-
barrassing it will be"
On the whole, Miss Mays feelings
were rather those Of vexation than Of
romance.
They rode all night, and when Emily
reached the door of the handsome old
fashioned house in Springfield, she
was concious of 'looking like a fright"