Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-07-22

bodv-a delight which she had thought
would follow her to the journeys end,
when Aunt Hitty's necessity changed the
programme.
80 you've come, hev you?" was Aunt
IIittv's sautation Il didn't know as
you'd be able to tear yourself away from
them folks rs amt got none Of your blood
in their veins However, l s'pose You
! looked it All over, and came to the conclu-
sion how it was the best policy, seeing as
! | can't last forever, in my state
In truth. Della soon discovered that life
under Aunt IIttys roof-tree was not likely
TO prove a holiday. She could only wheel
herself about in her chair, on account OF
rheumatism while her asthma kept her
awake nights and when she couldn't sleep
she allowed no one else the happy prlvl-
leec. When Della was obliged to hint that
the groceries or the Goals were out she
! would wonder where under the sun the
next were coming from.
I'VE must economize," she would de-
clair. q" It's only a step from wanton waste
to the alms-house"
Bat, after a grelt deal of searching in all
The pockets of her old gowns, IN all the
bureau drawers and mysterious crannies of
the family desk. she would finally produce
a bank-blll of modest pretensions, which
She made believe to have found slippc
under the facing of c,lst-Off dres, or over
looked in some pgeOn-hole. 1t WlS worse
than working on the road to expect enough
money from Aunt IIitty's hoard for hu-
man natures daily food;' AMI Della soon
WearieI of the novel eXertlon, prcterrlng
to resort to her needle and the slender
bunk account she hal laid by for the sun
Shiny day that Wa not to dawn, that she
had ceased to expect.
We git along a heap better than at
first" Aunt Ilitty remarked, one day.
IF there's anything | do hate. lis money
dealing among blood relations
Sometimes, when the season was htrd,
and work slackened. and necessities IN
creased. Della yentured t. demand ritle
to exc thing, ont.
Money. always money" Aunt lIitiy
would rciterate - | believe You don t
think of nothing else Anybody'd pose
WIS made of precious metal. I'm sorry
sent for YOU. vOu Re that untinIltY.
, You'd sell the teeth ont of my hcld, II
: they'd bring anythng-you that mer-
cenarv." But afler much tribulation, 1t
woali presently occur to her that she had
pat bit of money into her best china
! cream ing for rainy day. and like the
conjurcr who pulls yards of ribbon from
+ his mouth. She poured goll and silver from
, empty cream pitchers. or she found 4 bank
bill FORGOTTEN b.tween the loves of B.tX-
ter'S Saints Rest," and She would spend
half Il DAY turning over new Leaf
. The one gleam Of sunshine shot across
Delia's life wa, the occasional receipt OF Il
letter. from Mrs CarrutherS.
I'd write more oitener, she some
f times apolorizel: " bnt somehow when |
r.1 Il IA
when she found herself singing Corona
ion au by herself in meeting, and the
= preacher a waiting to begin the long pray
, or. And then things don't sound the same
/ when they're writ as when they re spoke
ont. and the spelin's in the ways, and the
r grlmmer Amt allus handy, and tie INK NJ
+ and blotS and Paul he comes in whilst ~
about il. and the bread has burned brown,
, and tie potatoes has billed dry.
Even the baldeSt facts of Paul existence
= made Mrs Carruthers' letters more graf
:, ifyinr than the most elegant English OF tho
= eSSayiSts.
I Sometimes She wrote, Paul is plough
;. inc in the burnt land or " he's gone tC
;. the farmers club or - he took premium
n at the county fair AMI i Citing iorehnd
n el"-al Illuminated paragraphs to DeIia
Once She had written that he had been a
+ the county ball and had led off with Squire
+ Somebody's daughter; and poor, 1ooiiSi
). Della lay awake the next night 1ancyhs
~ the picture and blotting it with her tears
h How her heart ached to be squire Some
- bo.ly'S dluohter lust thcn-to he yoan9
. and ROSY and coouettish in the grand rich
. and left Alas, ten years with Aunt HIT,
. had added nothing to Delia,s phys.ca
- charms. She WIS thirty-eight with hol
! lows in her cheeks AMI silver among hel
- brlids and abseut-looking eyes, from wh!cl
laughter had departed. All these year
- she had lived on the possibility OF Pau
q coming over to IIighgate TO see how tn
. world used her-perilapS with some kim
= and tender word. to show that, ut last, h
"a had APPRECIATED her motives: and, tliougI
she hal come to wear IN air of expectancy
: She had in truth given up the feeling, whe
:, 4 letter from Paul reached her, which sim
pIv related the facts of his mothers deaf
- and asking her to the funeral. He met he
! at the ,tage-door They drove together
the grave rs chief mourners. They return
=, ed together to the vacant house
- - 1t isn't home any longer sud Pau
At as Della paused IN the porch, he-ltatng t
, make her good-bves. " Tom has gone
Australia. Sue is teaching in Minnesot;
p, and Nell is married out in California. IL
-o YOU and I, Della, are more divided tilan a
/ the rest
= You will send for Sue. suppose, sal
II Della, fumbling with her bonnet strings.
~ "Delia.m he cried, are not ten ycal
~ lone enough for you to spend in havin
~ -. voIr own way? Won't You stay and '''ah
=. il home for me?'
q Aunt iItty needs me more than eve
ii She is feeble as a child.
= And Il hired hand could serve her ;
~ we'll in such a thankless Office. Della. yo
w w are making no one happy-not even You
~ self
y Zone ought always to enjoy one duty,
~ sighed Della. wishing she did.
= "Well, You have had your choice Of dl
- ties, and its only fair to believe that 70
~ have chosen the one you like best, return
p ed Paul, grimly.
- Il s'pose." said Aunt Hitty, after Della
~ return, ." / s'pose that you and Paul "a
as ruthers are putting off your weddn. Il
r. you git me well under ground. tolI
- don't wait ten year for Il girl tor nothlIl
If without expecting ter git suthln aion
h" with her more'n u thimble and darnin!
# needle But Eve heered say it was
va wal ing for dead mems shoes-they most
" F1 pinches. They're like Cinderelly's slipp
bo either too long or too short. lelgll-h
III III give me my smelling salts. Della, YOU
~ ~ Getting to be an old maid. You air
he he plump no longer. When l was your iiS
Io id he'd more ch1nces than you could slal
= a stick at And you amt my heir. Meth
,t if he'd enylhing to heir, which hahn
~ for there's my boy Reubing, that run ava
-, to sea when he was Il shaver. [ haver
W W never heered tell of him since; but il
80 80 likely he'll come to light when there's an
~ thing to be made by it.
W W Thus day by day spun oat the sum
- fifteen wears, in which Della had been Au
VIC Hittv's slave, and Aunt Hitty was ne
= ninety, as Paul had predicted, when a +
ne a NOR reached Highgate that Delia,s