Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-03-19
THE LOST RECEIPT.
BY M. A. DENISON.

BY NJ. A. DENIsON.
AND so,' said Aunt Annice, that re-
ceipt was never found"
Dolby was putting at the fire, and we
girls were half blinded by smoke, but
Aunt Annicc maundered softly on.
q really believe that's the hundredth
time she's told that story since | came
from school" said little Beck, winking as
she passed me. Poor old aunty! Oh,
you careless ancestor of ours'' continued
Beck, shaking her clenched fist at the pOr-
trait of an ancient gentleman In a wig
that decorated our west WALL over whose
Roman nose the paint had been cracking
for forty years; "what did you go and
iSe it for?'
Sure enough, what did he go and lose
1t for?
Aunt Annice, absorbed in mOurnful
recollections, shook her head over the
fire, and as the little pug at the back of
her head, which generally did duty for a
ch5Qaoaa had unc0iled itself, and her dear
old nose was very Roman indeed, the eff
feet was uncommonly funny. Little Beck
caught sight of it and laughed in hearty
pantOmime.
| think Aunt Annice felt the loss of the
property and the consequent poverty that
She had harped upon it ever since we
children had been old enough to listen.
"Catch me to blow the old fire after
his fashion if that money c0uld be
foundp cried Debby, springing to her
feet, her face decorated with several small
patches of SCOT / think it's downright
horrid to be poor, therep' stamping her
little foot, which was pretty, even in its
patched shoe
We'd order palace at once" little
Beck said, soothingly; land wouldn't
every room be warm? Don't talk to nae
about cold rooms being best for ones
health, and all that. Don't | know how
it is? Did we ever have a scant supply of
pudding but what dear mamma said
Pudding isn't healthy?'"
Well, she meant too much of it." re.
sponded Debby, in whose presence it was
not safe to cast the most innocent asper-
sion upon the darling head of the house.
hold
is there such thing as having toe
much of what one needs?" murmured
little Beck, dreamily. a. tell you what
girls, Pm going to write a poem one OF
these days, and it won't be on the blessings
of adversely"
at does tend to make people unselfish,
| think" echoed Debby.
Makel Who wants to be made to do
things?" and little Beck tossed her curls
till the sun seemed to burn its gold into
them.
'We're all miserable creatures" nut
tered Aunt Annice, as she folded her thin
hands one over the other and looked from
the window. "Girls, haven't you got q
smoke here Y'
Have had" said Debby; "but''-
" It's taken itself wings, as our fortune
did, " laughed little Beck.
9 1t was the last thing your poor grand
father said on his dying bed" and Aunt
Annice took up the threadbare old
theme; Annice, I'm so glad that mortgage
is all paid up! every cent, every cent!
And he wasn't a man to say thing was
done if it wasn't | always declared that
John Nudge would git come up with
fort, but he don't seem to-not yet
Mebby he thought he was doing right"
Don't say that, Aunt AnnIce; don't
make the least allowance for that wicked
man. To see him living in our dear old
homer
Debby laughed Little Beck turned
round sharply and looked at her.
It's so comical to hear you say that
when We nevef lived in it," was the ex-
planatory answer.
No matter, il ought to be ours, and
the Mudges know it. Dick Mudge-you
needn't look that way, Miss Debby, YOU
know he'd give the whole farm for smile
from you-he always looks sheepish when
he sees us, and it's pity, for Dick is
handsome.
q wouldn't mind going to singing
school with him if it wasn't for the old
iS Ic ITO of NY1r
circle: but | do have the sweet oppor
tunity of looking them squarely in the
face in church, if nowhere else, and if my
ewes don't tell them what | think of them
then one might as we'll be blind"
90 little Beck; in church," cried
Debby, with all the vigor cf an italic
exc amation point. How you do run
on ~
"Wel, don't Dick look at other folk.
in church,"
This was turning the tables. Debby sud
denly remembered that it was almost time
to get dinner, and, frowning and laughing
went out of the room.
was not far from New Years Day
No snow had fallen, and the old villag,
gossips predicted an open winter.
We had tried to lay in q full supply o
coal hut, as usual, the money was needed
for something else, and we were burnin!
some green wood, ofwhich we had Dough
a few feet. Of course, being girls, W
were always devising ways and means
ALWAYS making crochet-work TO sell,
knitting tides, or doing notwithstanding
for Debby and had bought a machin,
together, but do ali we could we onl1
kent the wolf from the door.
Added to this, Aunt Annice had pa
iently instilled into our souls that w
had been wronged Grandfather Barton
adj once mortgaged his property tor
.arce sum. After his death, John Nudge
ofWhose father the money had been Dor
owed, declared it was unpaid, and MADE mac
claim for several thousand dollars