Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-12-17
Gordon Doane's Thanksgiving.
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

"You will have to get along at the
office without me to-day, Harry,
said Gordon, Doane, buttoning up
his over-coat; "there is no prospect
OF Smiths getting about again for
weeks, perhaps months, and l must
see about that tenement property. l
wish | was rid of it,
"Money-sinking, sir?'' asked his
nephew.
ayes and troublesome. would
have sold it off long ago, but" And
the gentleman hesitated.
Mrs. Everett, his sister and Harry's
mother, spoke for him.
"But you thought q harsher land
lord, while he made more money,
would bring still more misery, into
into those crowded houses. Have l
not guessed right, Gordon?'
"You are always right" was the re-
ply. st is now two months since
my agent has been ill, and there is no
demand for rent, so it is fully time
for me to see about the matter. 1t
will be hard winter for the poor,
and l wish to judge of some Of my
tenants wants myself. By the way,
Harry, in making up the bank money
to-day, leave out five hundred dollars.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the
clerks and statesmen are to have a
good dinner, as well as every employe
of Doane q Co., and l want to send
donation to the soup-house.
"All right, sir. BY the way, Uncle
German, don't spend all the rent you
collect upon turkeys for your tenants.
And take care Of your heart, for
have no doubt there are plenty of
pretty seamstresses and milliners in
Flyaway Court"
"My heart is such an old fossil, it
is we'll protected. l should not care
to trust you now, but you need not
fear for me-"
Then he was gone, and Harry look
ing rather wistfully after him, SAID:
at is odd, mother, so soft and
warm heart as Uncle Gorman's has
found no partner. He Is over fifty, is
he not?"
'Just fifty. Twill tell you his love
story, but you must never refer to it,
for he does not guess l know it. He
YVES about nineteen when the Rev.
James Appleton came to Millhaven,
our country home, and brought one
child, his daughter, May. She was a
fair, sweet girl of sixteen, educated
in city seminary, and more refined
and gentle than the country girls
around us. l was engaged myself to
your father, and it may have been my
own love made me quick to read
Gordon's. But from the first it seem
ed hopeless affection. We were
orphans, with very small farm, and
as poor as could be and escape starva
ton. When married, Gordon came
to the city, after selling the farm, and
giving half the proceeds to me. ]
knew that he would never ask her to
share poverty and toll, and l sorrow
ed deeply when she married young
theological student, friend of her
fathers. She went from Millhaven
after her marriage with Thaddeus
Moore, and l never heard Of hel
again. 1t was many years later
when your fathers death threw me
again upon the world, poor and grief
stricken, that Gordon sent for me to
keep house for HIM. l came gladly
though did not know till long after
wards that this house was bought and
furnished expressly to be home fol
me and for you. What kindness we
have met here, you know as we'll as
do. But Your uncle told me only
once that l need never fear being left
homeless. He said he would never
marry, but if such a remote posi-
bility did happen, this house was
secured to me for life. Absorbed in
business he has gained great wealth
but his heart never hardened in pros
perity." ..
"Do you think May Appleton
guessed his lover"
81 know she did not. We were
close. friends after Gordon left home
though she liked him well, she never
knew he loved her. She was engaged
to Thaddeus Moore before she camd
amongst u.s.
"It's pretty story, mother. But
must be off, if | am to be alone in the
office"
In the hours that followed, Gordan
Doane, with his agents list IN his
hand, was busily employed visiting
his tenants in Flyaway Court. l,
consisted of double row of small
houses, facing each other, in a court