The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1873-07-17

L
| happy woman, with sleepy eyes.
ayes, pa, certainly. Sadie! Ann Eliza
Tom! Your pa wants you. You can
Quit the dishes; they'll do very well for
tonight just as they are. Squire Vose
ali, here he is with Esther and Mr. Grey.
But where's Addie and Charley Hale? and
where's Jim?"
1--WE are here, Mrs. Child" said Addie
Vose's pleasant voice, from little way
down the bank, where she was sitting
| with her lover. I'VE came little further
to see the sun set better"
"But where's Jim!'
"He's down there on the beach with
Molly"
"Ahoy!" came the answer.
"Come up; we are going to sing"
With infinite satisfaction Aunt Mary
watched the distant bundle unroll, restore
itself into component parts, and approach:
Jim and Molly came walking slowly, and
carrying the shawl.
what made you pick out such damp
corner to sit inv" asked that inconvenient
little Tom.
"Well, 1 don't know" answered Jim,
innocently. '"Molly chose it. 1t was
dampish, though"
AT which speech his Aunt Mary Rugged
herself.
Everybody sang that night-Jim in
hearty bass. his friend Charley Gray in
tenor, Squire Vose with well-intentioned
tones, which resembled nothing so much
as the squeaking of rusty hinge, the
Molly Pomfret. Molly was = little put
out 1.-TWO is company-more is trump
ery," was emphatlcally her motto, and
she by no means relished the interruption
of the tete-atete beneath the blanket shawl.
Aunt Mary noted the vexation in Molly's
face, and Rugged herself again.
That's right, DEAR" she thought. "Go
on Just so. Give Jim taste of the pleas
ant look that will await your husband
whenever anything crosses your fancy.
It's very good lesson for him, and hope
he's taking notice."
So, by way of making sure he should,
she leaned forward, and said, pleasantly:
whats the matter, Mollys Anything
gone wrong
Nothing much" was the reply, with
pout. Jim caught the LOOKOUT bless
you! he didn't regard it as pout. To
moonlight, or because Molly was catching
cold; and he seized the offending shawl
and wrapped it around his charmer with
such devoted eagerness that his aunt
could gladly have boxed his ears. Luck
lily, Molly was in the mood to take offense;
so she shook the shawl of, and said
sharply: ...-.
/ "Don't! don't want it! You're muss.
ing me ups" and Jim shrank back re-
buked. ufs t't0 1@&'
"Row, Brothers, Row." ''Tranquidillo,"
"Those Evening Bells" and other time
honored favorites composed the repertoire
of the Child family, and ere heartily en-
joyed and encored till a late hour. The
concert wound up with "Coronation," that
delight OF all country churc oh gcers. And
it was then that Grace, left out in the more
secular music, began to sing, and her clear,
bird-like notes astonished everybody who
had never happened to sit near the par
sons old pew on Sunday.
| why, Grace, what a beautiful voice
you've got" said Jim, leaning forward to
look at her.
She blushed with pleasure. ''Do you
think so:" she said, and smiled. The
brought out, as moonlight often does, a
certain subtle, inward beauty not so visi.
BILE by day. She looked inexpressibly
fair, sweet and womanly just then. Some
thing pathetic, too, blended in the COM
plexion. For the first lime Jim thought
to himself, what pretty girl Grace is
growing to be-"
Aunt Mary, meantime, was regarding
Molly. That dreadful moonlight! In the
light of its revealing beams, half CLEAN,
half shadow, the face of Jim's charmer
altered almost tc plainness. Certain hard
lines became visible-the coquettish
black eyes looked shall pw and beady.
Aunt Mary believed in moonlight, and
nodded her head to some secret thought.
Yes. yes,n she fSr s saia DIR ,i knew ,S, it:
Well, when I'm a man III pick out my
wife by the moonlight"
Molly's sulkiness had not quite melted
next morning, and she awoke in an ill.,
humor Her bed had been hard; she
hated washing her face in tin basin the
tiny looking-glass made her appear like a
frig ht; and she could not do her hair. To
her easy Incidence these little discomforts
were great and real; the pleasure party
wasn't pleasant; she was sorry she came,
she declared Sadie laughed at her, and
: that made it worse. Care lessly and cross
ly she got into her clothes, and emerged
pouting and untidy, with hair only
half brushed, to find Jim and his
sister deep in the preparation of
breakfast, the Vose girls fishing,
and Grace, in fresh, dainty print and
white apron, setting the table. The
+ early dip in the sea, with which all the
girls except sleep-loving Molly had in
obliged themselves, had tinged Grace's
usually pale cheek with delicate pink.
Her light brown hair shOne in its glossy
braids, her eyes were bright with exercise
T and pleasure; for, to the quiet, shaded life
of the old parsonage, this first "outing'
=. Ipf oh, OrrvSo
tea. Certainly the contrast between the
two girls was not to her disadvantage.
, More than one marked it; and Aunt Mary
said to herself, "Grace'll be a beauty one
day, if the Lord ever let's the sun into
her life-and SO much the better for jim"
"Come and help" shouted the young
gentleman, delighted at the appearance of
his charmer.
!, But Molly wouldn't. She hated cook
! ing; she .'didn't know where things
were"; the dishes were hot; the pail hurt
her wrist. She shrugged her little shoul.
, ders and walked off under the trees alone.
: Jim looked after her, amazed.
, whats the matter?" he whispered to
his sister, as she passed him. .s..
, Matter? Oh, with Molly, you mean!
, Nothing at all, guess. She is almost al
, ways cross when she first wakes up" re.
piled the plain-spoken Ann Eliza.
Disenchantment the first! Could this
, glum, dingy vision be the radiant little
witch of last week? 1t seemed hardly
1 possible. sr -. $50.
Girls, take this advice: Be as pretty as
! you can or as ugly as you must, but, what
ever else you are, be neat. There is moth.
ing on the visible earth more unlovely
than slatternly woman. She does vic
E lence to nature. A tumbled, dishevelled
rosebud is no less an affront to the eye
t while simple freshness and delicacy OF
appointment can of themselves almost
beauty plain person. e. gfE IN SD Z
1t had been easy enough for pretty
) Molly to run upstairs just as Jim swung
the gate of afternoons, tumble off hel
s,;loS 1,yronpor drouy tho c,,r1 nopore