The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-10-09

ae-ssf'-s'asdnstssr-asleep On a
'pphiap n a some ~, .spemoaes in e.Elass,
gaping With their horrid mouths
strings Of bads'5eggs were suspended,
md whips were hanging up on the
walls. There was great bsnoh Of
ho'Wers o g ln the window, and long daisy
chain fastened up in festoous round
the glass, and then on the tollet.table
there % were one OF two valuable trinkets
set out in little cases.
"Dear me ~ r. said Mrs. Ashford, lis
it not 2 PITY to leave such temptation
in the way, of the, sserv.ot.7 Little
thing !r-zhad bad ! not better keep
them forhss, .asury2a 4 They srs very
beautiful and Mrs. Ashford softly
collected Eliajs treEsuSea ia u her long
white hands.
1'tElla bas somevery valuable things"
Colonel A.bEo,d said. l. t*she keeps
them locked up< IN a strong box, be.
iieve; yes, there it Is ii the corner"
"It had much better come into my
closet" Mrs. Ashford said. "Ob, how
heavy! Come here, strong arm, and
help me" Colonel Ashford obediently
took up the box as be was bid.
If ,.s:And I think I may as well finish
marking the dnsters,' - said Mrs. Ash-
ford, looking round the room as she
collected them all in her apron. "Tbe
books, Of course, are now my duty. I
think Ella will not be sorry to be re.
lieyed of her cares. Do you know,
dear, 1 think I am glad, for her sake,
that you married me, as we'll as for my
own! I thInk X she has had too much
put upon her, is little too decided,
too pronounce for one so young. One
would not wish to see her grow up be-
fore the time. Let them remain young
and careless while they can, Henry"
So when Ella came back to mark
the busters that she had been hem.
ming, because Mrs. Milton was in a
hurry for them, and the house maid
had hurt her eye, they were gone, and
so were her neat little books that she
had taken sueh pride in, and had been
winding up to give to Mrs. Ashford to
keep IN future; SO was her pretty cor.
al necklace that she wore Of an even.
ing, and her pearls with the diamond
clasp, and her beautiful clear csrbun-
Gle brooch that she was fond of and
her little gold clasp bracelet. Although
Eliza and Susan had lived with them
all her life long, they had never taken
her things, poor Ella thought, little
bitterly. "Quite unsuitable at your age,
Dearest Mrs. Ashford murmured,
kissing her fcndly.
And Ella never got them back any
more. Many and many other things
there were she never got back, poor
child. All me! treasures dearer to
her than the pretty coral necklace and
the gold-clasp bracelet liberty, conf.
dence, the tender atmosphere of ad-
miring love in which she had always
lived, the first place in her fathers
heart. That should never be hers
again, some one had determined.
The only excuse for Mrs. Ashford is
that she was very much in love with
her husband, and SO selfsbly attached
to him that she grudged the very care
and devotion which little Ella had
spent upon her father Ill these years
past. Every fresh proof of thought
and depth of feeling in such a child.
ish little creature hurt and vexed the
other woman. Ella must be taught her
place, this lady determined, not in SO
many words. Alas! if We could al.
ways set our evil thoughts and schemes
to work, 1t would perhaps be well with
US, and better far than drifting, uncon.
scious and unwarnsd, into nameless evil
unowned to ones self, scarcely recog.
nized.
And so the years went by. Julia
and lisette grew up into two great, tall,
fashionable, bouncing young ladies'
They pierced their ears, turned up their
pig'tails, and dressed very elegantly.
Lisette used to wear a coral necklace !;
Julia was partial to clear carbuncle
brooch her mother gave her. Little
Ella, too, grew up like little green
plant springing up through the mild
spring rains and the summer sunshine,
taller and prettier and sadder every
year. And perhaps it was as we'll, af.
ter all, that early in life she had to
learn to be- content with a very little
share Of its bounties. She might have
been spoiled and oyer.indulgedif if things
had gone on as they began, if nothing
had ever thwarted her, and if all her
lille she had had her own way. She
was bright, smiling ]itth thing, for
all her worries, with sweet little face.
Indeed her beauty was so remarkable,
and her manner so simple and charm.
ing, that Julia aud Lisette, who we're
q year OF two her elders, used to COM
plain to their mother that nobody ever
noticed them when Ella was by. Lady
Jane Peppercorne, their own cousin, was
always noticing her, aud actually gave
her potato off her own plate the other
day.
81 fear she IS a very forward, de-.
signing girl. l shall not think of ta.
king her out in London this year."
Mrs. Ashford said with some ssperity ::