The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-11-25

a merrier table anywhere round the coun-
try that day than Aunt Rhoda's. To be
sure, when they first sat tdown Aunt Rhoda
was trifle pale and looked as though a
very little would make her cry instead OF
laugh; but the girls kept back the tears
and, with their happy faces before her,
| she put her sad thoughts away.
"And now, girls, this is Winny's wish
bone, and we'll bang it right over the par
lor door and we'll all watch to seewho en-
tcrs first" and Katie Crafts, the tallest of the
three, mounted chair and hung old Cob
ble's breast-bone over the parlor door.
1t soon grew dark enough for lights,
and they were all sitting round a warm,
blazing fire, listening to Aunt Rhoda tell
how Joel came to go to sea, when steps
were heard coming up the walk and a
knock at the door announced the arrival
of some of the expected guests.
Now, Winny, take a good look at
your future husband" whispered Kate :;
and, as she spoke, tall, handsome, sun
Drowned man rushed into the room and
took Aunt Rhoda in his arms and kissed
her again and again.
And to think it's Joel, after allr' said
Aunt Rhoda, after the excitement of his
unexpected return had subsidized and she
had finished hugging and crying over her
boy and had introduced him, twice over,
to all three girls.
"Why, who else would it be, mother !:
Surely you wouldn't welcome any other
man as warmly as you have mel" and
Joel looked at his mother in avery natural
sort of surprise.
: No-no-but old Gobble, you know
and Winny's breast bone" Aunt
Rhoda began, in her usual bewildcring,
mixcd-up fashion.
'Oh, auntie-pleasew whispered Win
ny in bcseeching tone; and then auntie
laughed and stopped short, and just then
the two young gentlemen and DR.. Gray
arrived, and Joel forgot, in the introduc-
tions that followed and the merry games
that made the evening all too short-for-
got his mothers mysterious half eXplana-
llOD VI HGl holIttlIllthl iiut IL
" should be him, after alln'
''I Let us know if il comes tHC Winny.'
cried the girls as they babe their friend
good by, and Winny shook her curls at
them and echoed, "If it comes true"
That night when she had gone up to
her room Winny thought to herself, as she
combed oIt her long, brown ringlets:
"What an improvement the sea must be
to ugly boys Here is sccond-cousin Joel
a handsome man-and he used to be
hideous boy! Not so old either. He
can't be more than twenty-seven. | was
five when he used to take me to the barn
yard to see him milk. Nine years are a
big gap when one is five. Wonder if he
thinks have changcd:' and Winny held
the candle close to the glass and scruti-
nized her pretty, dimpled, rosy face very
closely.
Strangely enough Jocl's thoughts
seemed to run the same way that night.
"What pretty girl Winny has grown
into. How the years change one" he
said to his mother after WinAy had bade
them goodnight.
.. Indeed she is-and az good as pretty.
| only wish l had a daughter just like
her" answered Aunt Rhoda warmly.
Would you like daughter, mothcr?"
asked Joel, taking up Winny's picture
that lay on the table and studying it in
tently.
''Yes-one just like Winny, Joel-and
if you'll look on top Of the parlor-door
maybe you'll find one" replied Aunt
Rhoda in her rambling, queer mode of
speech; and with these words she kissed
her boy good night and went to bed.
"What on earth does mother mean? Is
she crazy? Look on top of the parlor-
door for a daughter! Well, I'll look"'
and, reaching up his hand, Joel found
Winny's wish-bone.
"Ah, hal That's the answer to the
riddle, is it? | am agreed! Pll keep it
for talisman;" and, with laugh.to him
self at the thought, he put old Gobble's
bone in his vest pocket.
Joel's ship had come home quite unex-
pectedly, but it stayed longer time in
port than he thought it would-long
enough for him to find his mother
daughter and himself a wife, ION top OF
the parlor door, too," he declared ever
after
When old Gobbe's sons and daughters
began to run round the dooryard that
spring, Winny wrote down to her girl
friends:
DEAR GIRLs-In old Gobble's brcast-bone
a heart beat for me! Come see If 1t has not
"come true"-for on Easter Monday we'd
ding will take place at Aunt Rhoda's, and it
is altogether the result of our eating the
Thanksgiving turkey and your hanging up
Winny's wish-bone.
Hearth and Home