Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-11-16

NC az LII tAS Ck4VOO
After this she came regularly again,
but the paleneas never left her face,
and the wrinkles heightened and deep
ened instead of growing less.
The clerks began TO talk of her
changed appearance, and concluded
that she was suffering from some cause,
they could not decide just what, al
though there were plenty of reasons
suggested, and it was concluded at an
informal meeting behind the. wall of
boxes in the post-ofice one day that the
next time she came it was their duty to
find out if she, was needing any thing
that they with their i'll filled purses
could supply. So when she came the
clerk who happened to be at the win
dow held her letter in his hand a mo-
ment to delay, her, and said with a great
ideal of trepidation-fort the mystery of
her life and the distant self-possession
OF her mannervdiscouraged any inquisi-
tive attacks: 6
81 pray you to excuse me, madam !;
[ thought that if you were in any sort
of need" &
81 am very well cared for. thank
you," she interrupted. You have a
letter for me, I see."
And she was gone again. r....
The. clerk went back to his fellows,
and, being a person of pride, related
the incident, with some details that
were not supplied in the recurrence
He said he had rendered the lady in
their name, as delicately as possible,
any aid that she might need, explain
ing to her that they had learned from
long association to feel an interest in
her, and hoped if she was in want of
any of the n~ecessaries of life, or if she
needed assistance of any kind, that
they would assist her to the extent of
their abilities.
The clerks applauded the dizziness
with which their fellow had performed
the duty, and inquired a~nxiously for her
reply:
"She told me-" he said, Hthat she
was in good circumstances, and was
not just now in want of any assistance,
but, with our permission, she would
remember u kind offer, and if ever
.us.n &
And if she had been a heroine for
merly she became n goddess from that
hour out-a goddess in an old-fashioned
leghOrn bonnet, a rusty broche shawl,
and a reticule like the ones their grand
mothers carried. But she was as divine
to those habit-hardened post-office
clerks as ever WIS St. Cecilia to the
tone poets of tho medieval, or St.
Agatha to the suffering women of the
church. The gray hair of the goddess
had grown much thinner, in the last
few years, her eyes were sinking back
under her temples and growing dim,
and the hands that clasped the letter as
each month came round were getting
very gaunt and shriveled.
The war came on, the mails were la
den down with messages of sorrow and
bereavement; the clerks were hurried
off as soldiers, and the widows and sis
tiers of those whose places they went to
fill came into the POst-office to do the
public service; but the wan old woman
came just the same Us ever, and the yell
low-wrapped letter was always waiting
her there.
The war was over; the clerks who
went out to fight came back limping
and armless, to inquire after their mys-
FERROUS friend. She was still coming,
but soon after, in March, 1865, she was
seen for the last time. The letter came
as usual, one of the first days of April,
but no one called for it. The clerk,
who was a lady, then put it aside as if
it was too good fer it's company and
kept it near the window so that it would
be ready when Maria Russell cams.
Another month went by, and another
letter came, which was put away with
its mate. Two more months and two
more letters, and four of them were ly-
ing there in a pile waiting for the queer
old woman-'st the mysterious woman of
the delivery window they called her
now-to come for them. How often
those letters were examined. How
closely the address and the seal were
scanned, how they were held up to the
light so that maybe aword of their CON
tents might be discovered. What a
temptation they We're.
The chief of the delivery office Or
dered them advertised.
NO. said the clerks. "She will
come for them. She knows they are
here. She must be sick or something.
She has come ior them for thirty years,
and they never have been advertised
yet. Let them wait another month"
So they waited another month, two
more, and still the queer old woaan
didn't come. And they had to be ad-
vertised. On a long list in the newspa-
pers, near the bottom, under the head
Of "Ladies' Letters, "were these words:
Russell, Maria H., 6.
People glanced at them-almost every
body looks over the list of advertised
letters to see if by some chance one be-
longing to them had strayed in among
the vagabonds, and people remarked:
81 wonder who Maria III. Russell is;
she has six letters advertised"
To the clerks in the p~ost-ofice it
seemed a shame that old Mrs. or Miss
(perhaps she was an old maid) Rus
sells letters should be advertised, and
stuck off into a dirty corner with a lot
of soiled envelopes, and there was quite
an indignation meeting held over the
matter. But still the queer old woman
did not come.