The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-01-05


go. But alter four months her familiar
: face appeared at the window again. and
Z :he clerk was as glad to see her as if she
had been an old friend. But it was not
/ the face he used to see. It's calm smooth
! ness was shruuken its fulness was wasted !:
there were deep drawn lines around the
mouth and eyes, and the fresh flush had
1 turned to wan paleness. A friendly
greeting was on the tongue of the clerk as
! he turned to meet her but when he saw
how pale she was, how wasted, and how
the calm expression of the face had been
erased and covered with the autograph of
pain, he suppressed the cordial words that
were pushing his lips open, and simply re-
marked
.'You have been sick 90
eyes, | have been sick,'' she said, and
! gathering her letters in her hand she left
: the window, au6, like a snowflake in the
/ sea, melted away into the surging waves of
/ humanity that was roaring in the street
! outside.
After this she came regularly again, but
| the paleness never left her face, and the
! wrinkles lengtheued and deepeDed 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 inst what, although there were
plenty of reasons suggested, and it was
] concluded at an Informal meeting behind
1 the wall of boxes in the postof1ice one day,
that the next time she came it was their
duty to find out if Size was needing any
thing that they with their i'll filled pnrses
. could supply. SO when she came the clerk
| who happeued to be at the window held
her letter in his hand Il moment to DELAY
her, and said with a great deal of trepida-
tion-for the mystery OF her life and the
distant selfpossession of her manner dis
couraged any inquisitve attacks.
Il pray you To excuse me, madam but
| thought that if you were in any sort of
need
''I am very well cared for, thank You. -
she interrupted. ''You have letter for
me, I see.''
And she was gone again.
The clerk went back to his fellows, and
being person Of pride, related the iuci-
dent with some details that were not sup
piled in the occurrence. He said lie had
teudered the lady in their name, as deli
cate!y as possible, any aid that she might
H. ed, explaining to her that they had
learned from long association to feel an
interest in ber, and hoped if she was in
want of any of the necessaries 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 deftness with
which their fellow bad performed the duty
and inquired anxiously for her reply.
''She told me- he said, '.that she was
| in good circumstances, and was net inst
now i'll want of any assistance, but, with
! our permission she would remember our
kind offer. and if ever in need woulo not
hesitate TO call upon us.''
And If she had been 4 heroine formerly
she became goddess from that hour ont
"a goddess in an oid-fIsh ionad. shabby
leghorn bonnet rusty hroche shawl, and
a riticule like the one their grandmother
| carried. But she was as divine to those
| habii-hardened postoffice clerks as ever
was ST. Cecilia to The tone poets of the
! mcdieval, or ST. Agatha To the suffering
women of the church. The gray hair of
| the goddess bad 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 mouth came around were getting
| very guam and Shriveled.
The war came on, the mails were laden
| down witt MESA gcs of sorrowand bereave-
! ment the clerks we're hurried off as SOL
| dieiS, and the widows and sisters of those
whose places they went to ill, came into
the postoiiice to do the public service but
the wan old woman came just the same as
! ever, and the yellow wrapped letter was
| always waiting her there.
The war over; the clerks who went
out TO fight came back lmpiug and arm
less, to inquire after the mysterious friend.
She was still coming, bat 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 nu one called for it. The
clerk, who was lady, then put.it aside as
! If it too good for its company, and
kept it near the window, so that ii would
I've ready when Maria Russell came. An
! other month went by, and another letter
| came, which was put away with its rIate.
+ Two more months and Two more letters
! and four uf them were lying there i'll n pile
waiting for the queer cid woman-''the
mysterious woman OF the delivery window
| they called her How--tu 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 word of their con
] tents might be discovered. What temp-
| tat ion they were.
The chief of the delivery Office ordered
them advertised.
| mo" said the clerks "She viii! come
| for them. She knows they are here. She
I must be sick or something. She has come
| for 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 woman didn't come.
| And they had not been advertised. On
ioht ifSt hi tue NEWS Hctl tiiS opI-
| tom, under the head Of ''Ladies' letters"
were these words
| Russell. Maria H., 6.
People glancing at them almost every
| body looks over the list Of advertised let
ters to see il by some chance one belonging
| to them bad straycd i'll among the vaga-
( bonds. and the people remarked
II wonder who Maria Russell is she
! has six letters advert ised."
| To the clerks in the pOstoffice it seemed
| shame that old Mrs. or Miss (perhaps she
was an old maid) Russel's letters should
| be advertised, aud stuck off into n dirty
! corner with n lot of soile6 envelopes, and
/ there was quite Indignation meeting
f, held over the matter. But still the queer
old woman did not come.
"Perhaps she is dead they said, 'spoor
! thing. Perhaps she is dead" .}