The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1875-10-30
Small Expectations.

1t was generally supposed - our
family, and those who knew Us wei,
that my Uncle Bunclc "Would
leave lis something" at his demise. In
fact, thought 50 myself. Our reasons
for this belief being these:
First. When was little girl,
though he took no notice whatever of
other little girls, he always pattcd me
on the head when we met, and said,
LA, ha. here you arc, llctty.'
secondly. Wien wa, Il big gill,
and went to school, he always chuchcd
me under the chin on holiday occasions,
and inquired, 'Wcll, what are thc>
teaching you, llctty:'
Thirdly. When had grown to H.
Il woman, he established the following.
form of greeting as 4 permanent thing:
'lrm! how do you do::'
Fourthlv. He never took notice Of
any one else in SO many WORKS, h1t
merely nod,.cd to all other mortHl.
Filthy. When was married, he prc-
scntcd me with IN antcdcluvan tortoise
shell comb once the property Of the late
Mrs. Bunclc, and of aprepostcrouo fash
ion, said to have been in vogue at Il re-
mote date, the back Il half Il foot high,
and claboratcly carved. AS hc disap-
proved weddings generally, and ncv-
CT before had been known to give the
bride anything but Il scoldny, this was
really something t" build upon-th"u%h,
by thc way, | offended him ,orcly by
refusing to wear the horrible thing u
the altar upon nav wc,ldirr dav.
Now, of course did not wish Uncle
Bunclc to die; nor could ! have done
SO had been certain that, on his dec
case, should become millionaire
sill, we know that all flesh is mortal,
and Uncle Bunclc WA, Ike the rest Of
the world in this respect; AMI when h.
did depart. it would hc Il comfort to be
the means of presenting Charlie with
six thousand pounds.
When we moved to our charming
little cottage at Barley | ill, then | dc
,idcd that when Uncle Bunclc visited
us, | would make him 50 comfortable,
that the matter would be quite settled.
And, in fact, the spare room was fur
nishcd with an eye to his peculiar
tdStcS, dulti IL ldiSC dliI'hill ~ u lii'i
was laid in which to scaeon his tavoritc
dishes. lIwcvcr, Uncle Bunclc d.
clincd our invitations pcrsistcntly; and
having kept our spare room empty
| for him long while, we 1t last iniurm-
ed the rest of our friends who had prom
iscd to visit us that We were any
ious for their company.
We certainly were. Nothing could
have pleased liz better than that they
should have arrived in a body OH on.
day. But, alas. barley Hill Cottage
had a few disadvantages; among them,
the fact that there were but four rooms
and Il h-room-with which, hv the
way, we had such an indc~cr.bablc
amount of trouble, on account Of our
faulty plumbing, that we wished that
modern convenience was not IN our
possession.
Consequently, when on one day we
had the pleasure of greeting the MisscS
Jones, the Misses Brown and thcl
mamma, Cousin Clarssa, and Mrs.
Twit's Miranda Jane, aged nine, we
were rather puzzled. However, ncccs-
sity is the mother Of invention. We
apologizcd to the Misses Brown and
their mama for putting them all thr,,
| together in the spare room. We Ic-
| signed our, without murmu to the
Mise, Jones. We begged Co..-ia
| C!ari.sa 70 excuse Ils for giving her the