The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-06-17
IN A TUNNEL.

=" That will do nicely" said Rutl
Mayhem, receiving her last package
through the car window from Mr.. Per
kins on the platform.
" Write us how you get along, Ruth
If your aunt can spare you q spell III tn,
summer we'd be glad to see you hun
agin. Oh, my here's Mis- Curtin will
bunch of posies from her garden
Hurry hurry you'll be late, sure's th,
world, Mis- Curtin"
Thus spoke the group at the depot il
shrill chorus as the locomotive, ever,
plate FURNISHED and dazzling, which hacS
s1mmered quietly for minutes, started
lmparting jerking wrench to the cars
and then the long snake Of train glidet
smoothly away.
She takes it frst-rate," commented
Mr.. Perkifs, wiping his brow with rec
bandanaT handkerchief.
Ehen he climbed into his rusty carry.
aly drawn by meek white horse: the
others returned along the village street
to resume separate avocations, and the
event of the day was over. Ruth May
hew had departed from the home of her
! youth, and the place would know her no
more forever.
The struggle had been hard one, but
she bore it well, as Mr.. Perkins averred.
She did not look once at the white house
on the hill where death had robbed her
of parents and shelter, because even her
fOrtitude could not be trusted to witness
the Smalls moving in. What. was be-
fore her?. Life with Aunt Harriet in n
close sick-chamber, slave of an invalid S
caprices, and grateful for daily bread
Oh, the long dreary years, with nothing
but old age in advance
She took small pocket-mirror from
her bag, and gazed pensively into its
depths. The reflected image was by no
means unattractive. She was not as
young as she had once been, yet her
features were good. her complexion
fresh, her eyes clear, and her physique
robust. Moreover she was carefully and
becoming y attired, and her chignon was
of the latest style. Nevertheless a sigh
wellod up from her heart when she gazed
in the glass, ,nOtaltogether in unreasonable
dissatisfaction with her present appear
ance; still the past had had disappoint.
ments, and the future with Aunt Harriet
was without promise. Away back in the
vista of summers she beheld herself,
fanciful girl, building cloud-castles out
OF the sunset glories. One springtime
was brighter and more fragrant than the
rest; around it still bloomed flowers of
regretful memories, blossoms without
earthly semblance in the cold, bleak
climate where Ruth lived, because
sprung from the richest sources of hu-
manity.
A brave young missionary had urged
a needless girl to go with him to the hot
countries among the heather, and the
girl, to whom the world seemed a vast
treasure-hOuse lavish of gifts, had
fouted her young missionary, and he
had silently departed without complaint,
to return no more. Then Ruth had
shed tears in secret, bitterly remorseful
tears, and turned her back capriciously
on the well-to-do farmers of her ac-
qnaintance.
"Got q cinder in yer eyer" inquired
q sharp voice in our travellers ear.
The latter awoke from her reverie with
start, and turned to her questioner
with a guilty blush suffusing her cheek.
She, Ruth Mayhem, of middle age,
caught looking in the glass. Her inter
locutor was brisk, bright little old lady
in faded shawl and an antiquated bon
net of the coal scuttle pattern. She car
ried on her arm a black silk bag which
seemed to contain unlimited stores of
snuff and peppermint drops. Encircling
her withered old throat was q necklace
of beautiful gold beads delicately
wrought. These beads, an heirloom in
her family, descending to her through
long generations, had been worn by her
since early youth, and so much of super
stition is associated with such relics in
the mind of the possessor, that the old
lady would have dreaded immediate mis-
fortune had she lost them. Such was
her child like faith in her fellow creatures
that she never dreamed of parting with
her treasures.
"I can get it out quick as wink,
child" she continued, eagerly, settling
her spectacles, and spreading out soft
silk handkerchief, with the intention of
applying it to Ruth's eye.
"No, thank you. 1t is nothing" said
Ruth, hastily popping the glass back
into hiding place.
Thus foiled, the old lady relapsed into
silence, although she could not remain
quiet long. She jerked her head about
quickly to observe different objects with
q spafrow-liks motion, and becoming