, 1877-01-14

THE LITTLE PEOPLES NEW YEAR.

IuE LITTLE PEOPLES NEW YEAR
We came to call them the Little People, NJ
knowing their names at first, aud feeling
necessary to call them something, since we sa
them go up and down by our windows so ofte
after We began our small housekeeping. Fathe
had kept us at St. ursula's, for lie had pu. u
in charge Of the wife Of another sea Captaf,
who sent us to the school with her own gilr:
always addressing our letters to her care in tn
clty where we went for our vacations, till IF
grew SO fond OF the old town OF Portston tha
we chose to stay there altogether, whc
through with school, and make home TO
father when he should be done wandering III
| and down the earth, and be ready to put an
other master in tue brig. It was such a cozy
| charming little home that it seemed sham
| he could not enjpy it too. but mus
needs be leading his storn-tosscd life at sea
''1'vc never known any other" he wrote us, i,
reply: :" You enjoy it for me, my darlinss. /
| will be comfort to know It's there" And 81
| We did, as best NC could. "Poor fatAer!', II,
used to think, with our faces against the pane or
stormy nights; always out III this weather, al
most born at sen, never having any home since
bis pretty young wife. our mother, died. and
left him with her two babies On llis hands!n Sc
ne busted ourselves making the little place
pleasant for father when he came-for be traded
IN the Chinese waters, and said that the world
was all alike to him, and when he sailed into
northern ports it would be to cast anchor there;
and We had our small occupations and amu5e-
ments, our books, our letters, our neighbors,
and OF these last the Little People somehow
came to be the Chief.
Every day they took their morning walk, up
one side and down the othcr of the lane, tue
wife always leading the husband by the hand,
the husband beut by his intrinities, the wife
bent by leaning toward him. Worn and with
cred Little People they were, he always smiling
and happy, she ALWAYS with slight anxious ar,
except when his glance was turned upon her,
and then she looked smiling and happy too.
They we're very poor; that was evident. In
all the time we knew them tl1cir outer garments
never changed. The husband wore q long sur
tout in winter that had been brushed till it
looked like burlap, III its elliott ior respc:ta-
bility, and nat OF some long bygonc fashion;
linen coat and palnl-leat hat In summer
The wife wore always her old plaid cloak that
enyelopcd her completely, and her queer straw
bonnet. But poverty made no odds to them.
They were poor, just as tilcy were little. 1t was
circumstance OF nature With which they made
no quarrel nor dreamed OF any complaint.
B.v and By, aud very slowly, We made their ac-
and conjured up whole unreal world about
them. They were such Very odd little creatures
1t seemed as though they might, by some acct
dent, have been left over frou an antcdiIuvian
era sealed like the toads in cleits Of rugks, or
rather trunks Of trees, and unconssiously one
day set free to take up life where they left it.
And yet in some strange way they touched the
heart-tle dear Little People! At first we cx-
changed With them look Of recognition, then
nod, aud presently smile; oae morning re:-
crence to the weather as they passed the gate
where We were leaning; another day an invita-
tion to rest on the dooT-stone with us; then, on
still another day, i long clmt; and ut last we /
boldly went to sec them.
What miracle Of ncatness that tiny house |
OF theirs was, and only one old pair OF hands
they owned almost nothing else, nothing but
some $1,000 i'll the savings bank,-and they
little garden, which a neighhor cultivated for
Them at the halves, as it is called and out of
thetr share OF which they sold some grapes and
apples and pears to the provision dealer in cx-
:hange for beef and chicken now and then.
Without doubt that provision dealer was In
:ollusion with Divine Providence, re-
:eived 20 very much for SO very little. tsLor'
bless you, miss,'' said he one day, when the
suspicion was half limited, ait all comes back
you :oe Some for their pleasure
,eyer go down the river summers; 1 don't drive
! fast horse, except when my brown colt gets 4
y IN hts car; and K1ikinick suits Inc just as
ne them Little People take ten times as much
IS their nurly apples are wuth, 'thout the least
stest idee that 1t amt Il bony tidy business Of
I'VE and take, SIX to one and 4 half-dozen to |
he other, and then going off satisfied with the
rade, thankful to hare that price on the apples |
nd be beholaen to nobody, and independent rs
tourth OF July. Let lem have MI they want |
nd charge it to youa Oh, 'taint wutb vile;
ut then II you insIst-Qucer Little People,
hem Nlcbolsons! They know what trouble
Il they did know what trouble was, they kept
btavely to themselves. It WAS not easy to | ,
uess that they had ever known anything but /
lis even tenor; and although, when We were
lorc familiar, We fancied We could see through
1e disguise OF thecontent Of one OF them, never
ere We more mistaken. II trouble had been
ers7 she had something that quite outweighed | I
now, something that made honey out Of every {
ossom Of regret The old dhusband-paralyzed
nce his early manhood, but yet with tolera- t
e command Of h,s limbs, and with his mind I
It little more impaired than his childlike de- Q
ndence on his wife dispIoyed-sat III his vii | i
w-woven rocllingehair, placidly smoking his y
pc. perhaps, when we we're in, perhaps asleep, r
rhaps listening to her as sheWcnt through the o
ms Of local paper that neighbor sent in
cry week, OF else she read and expounded, in o
trange and lively manner, various passages | r
I'M the big Bible on the table between the vim b
us, but chiefly the stories of the Old Tcsta- al
nut, to which she gare novel modern air that st
8sed the old man vastly q
Now, wife, he would say, coming in from IL
garden, where lie had been potterlng about
b his stick, trimming UP grapevine laboEi- ol
IL, or picking mess OF greens, - let us
e some reading. Let us have the story &C
the little maid that wished to goodness her di
ster would 60 to the prophet in Samaria and fe
:ured Of his leprosy, just rs abby Lurvey tn
he'd Id go to the new clairvoyant doctor,- CT
!; there's some difference, you know, HUI he
, between the captain Of the host If the co
z of Syria and me,'' be added, innocently.
I'D then read right on,'' be said; "1'm prct- br
ircd, and I'd like togo to sleep With the au
t OF the horses and chariots Of fire that the a
Dg man saw in the mountain behind Elisha, to
lQtges plungtng and praucing, aud angels hold OF