Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1876-03-02
now ALICE LEARNED Hsa LESSON.
By HESTER A. BENEDICT.

By HESTER A. BENEDICT.
I A sweet.faced little thing was pretty
Alice Brand-that is, everybody said
so, who said anything about her, out
| side her home. Inside, there were
those who had learned to their bitter
sorrow, that she could be, and was. at
times, anything but pleasant or sweet
or pretty.
She was the eldest OF four children,
all healthy and rolicking, and she was
the darling Of the little white house
that overlooked the village of Creed
moore, with its row of elins squaring
the academy grounds, its tall spires
and back ground of high hills, where
the sun stayed the longest in the lazy
afternoons. But she was innately sell
fish and had cultivated that unfortu-
nate gift so that it seemed to he all of
her-and yet she was the darling Of
the one house on the hill, and of the
| hearts that sought her happiness first,
in all their tender seeking after good
For she was so pretty and so piqusnt
when not crossed in anything; her
laugh was so full of music, and she had
such soft, kitteny ways, that the whole
household made of her q pet and an
idol
"But you just rub her fur the wrong
| way, and then out come the claws T.
the servant girl said to the village
seamstress, who had been remarking i'll
her presence the pretty purring ways I
have mentioned.
And the servant girl was right,
though Of course she might have Kept
her opinion to herself, if she had not
been a servant. :
The village seamstress was thinking
of the significant though inelegant re
mark of Julie, thinking of it every re
grelfuly and saying to herself, what
| pity! oh, what a pit,y!' when the
door opened and Alice herself came in
looking very much as if the claws
| were 'out
"You needn't troable yourself to
finish the DRESS" she said, stitHy, 81
shall not need it.
"Not need it'll You are not going to
dis7' Miss Brand.
"No; better if l were, perhaps. But
I'm not going to the party, and there
no need for you to work your eyes out
on dress shan't wear"
"Why, Alice, thought your heart
was set on going. What has changed
your mind!'
Before the girl could frame a reply,
even had she intended one, her mother
entered softly, the traces OF recent tears
still on her cheeks and in her mild blue
eyes, and going over to where her
daughter stood, she laid one little hand
caressingly on the curly head that was
80 precious to her, SAYING:
"You have thought better of if it ali
haven't you, dear?"
81 haven't changed my mind, if that's
what you mean. -
And the girl moved away from the
hand that was stroking her hair, and
looked poutingly out of the window
and into the shadow Of the pines on
Sunset Hill.
"Yon see, Emma" Mrs. Brand ex-
claimed, seeming not to notice her
daughters manner, though her face
flushed under it. ''Alice has her heart
| fixed on an old silk of mine which she
wants me to have you make over for hel
but it would not become her half 80
| well as this sheer white muslin"
81 agree with yon, Mis-. Brand,
Emma answered, holding up admir-
ingly the snowy bodice, and turning it
this way and that in the waning light
there is nothing so perfectly sweet and
pure for ayoung girl az just snch 3
dress as this and your daughter look,
especially well in white she added
/ smiling toward the youg girl in va,
that young girl like bnt, which had nc
effect whatever, except to strengthen
the stubbornness Of an erring LITTLE
heart, aud tc deepen The lines o,
| willIullness about the otherwise perfect
little mouth.
| swell, there's no reason ~ the world
lwhy | should not have what / want" =
| Alice was biting her words sharply Of
-"xp,l | don't want white. If papa
can afford to buy me silk. should
think you'd want me 10 have yonls
| You'll never wear it again you're
altogether too old for such shade
and il would make OVER beautifully 70
ne"