The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1877-03-29
OUR TREASURE.

Our girl Mary had been engage,
hastily, but We never regretted tina
haste. Never had We been so respect
fully served, nor so thoroughly we'll salts
iiel A. now. Every one told us that y,
hala treasure, and her very manner q
opening the deor g. "a visitor was he
Wltchiag while grocerS' Young men ant
the milk man and butcher seemed {,
hnyer enuanced when they came TO le
liver their wares. Mary took their com
p.ments calmly, and had ready smil,
for them all. without departing from tn,
quiet dignity III her ways, aud We felt nt
shadow oi coming evil, until matters be
gan 10 lo1k serious with the oue-ar,ne,
Eastman.
Tins same pustm0n hal delivered Oul
letters regularly for the last two Years.
always Ia the same business like way,
never lingering for u moment never 10y
any possibility smiling or exchanging q
worl with either Of us, and vet we look
ei upou HIM quite IN the light If =
friend, and speculated about his history
rs lonely women viii about those with
whcm they come in contact. He ha,,
been in the army ami had lost an arm
this was all we knew about him. except
that he was evidently German, and
quite good loo&lag-n0t 10 say sch 5larly
IN his aspect
Were you aware. asked Brunhilda
one morRing. that Miss Murphy speaks
German ?''
Speaks German % | repeated. in
aGAzenent. And pray how did you
fad it ont o.
BY hearing her address the postman
in that tongue. was the reply.
= l shall mp this in the bud, said /.
severely, Bu. presently better thoughts
came 10 me. / remembered my own
youth, and | remembered Cranford
where Miss Matte, after the death Of Al
Cli lover, soiteus to Martha and allows
" followers.
A week or two passed, and l was at
tending to my preserves one day in the
kstchen--lt was "a pleasure To DO any
thing in Nry's kitchen. everything
looked 50 immediately clean, almost
poeucal, | thought-and / approached
tie subject uppermost in my mind by
saying, carelessly:
80, Mary, you know German, it
seems. How does that happen?
Nary's pretty face WAS uyerspread by
rosy clond as she replied. in low
tone: Il picked ii up myself. I la /
some German books once.
Then she sat down and cried, very
Eluch In my bewilierment; and present
" she exclaimed: II should like To
tell You something. Miss D4ringtorG: /:
/ shall feel better when You know all "
"a hope, said /, with "a vague eIpec-
tation Of dreadful developments, "that
all Is not very bad. Mary 2"
The flush deepened on the pretty face,
but Tor answer she took from her bosom
a black ribbon to which WAS fastened a
plain gold ring. ! dropped my preserves
in anazenent; the girl looked 50
young.
"You are a widow, then?" said !,
with feeling o. tender pity. Poor
child Z"
- don't know whether I am or not, ''
was the reply, with fresh burst Of
tears, and that is what troubles me
. so.
| turned 20 my preserves a-,Eih, with a
smile, as thought Of the good looking
German pa5tMaa.
MIS- Darlirgsorl," continued tie
ltrl. more eUIp3-edly, &" want 10 tell
You everything, aud / am soTy now that
/ didn't 10 this ut first But / felt that
il would be against me, and / had tu rat
place. / have a boy six years oil -
% La the name Of wonder, / exclaim-
I'd, chow old arc you yo-;rseli?'
am twenty-five, " she said, q little
proudly; "ani Mr. Blumcuthal prom
ises t. take care Of Willie; he wants me
to let him pay his board now
Here / sat down hard in a chair t. col
lect myself People have other things
besides greatness thrust upon them; and
| saw that | was destined to prove a most
unwilling beneiactress to the one-armel
postman. u hy i it, / thought, bitterly,
that if one ever does happen upon that
Tari dris, q model servant. all the pow
ers Of darkness seem leagucd together to
spirit her away?
"Where is your clild?' / asked, with
a strong effort.
% have put him to board q little WAY
ont Of town, replied the girl, sadly.
a" He is with friend Of mine, who takes
good care Of him; and / always 60 to
see him on my afternoons out; but do
miss him so e
And here she broke down again.
But what does it all mean p ! con-
timed, for my sympathies were getting
dreadfully worked upon. "Why are
you not living with your husband, if lie
is alive? or why do you not know it If he
is dead Just tell me the whole story,
Mary, from beginning to end"
At this point Brunhilda, who always
scents a romance from afar, appeared
upon the scene. and gracefully estab-
hshed herself upon the kitchen dresser.
" Seven years ago, said Mary, "wbcn
/ married William Murphy, / thought
there was no one like him in the world:
and / should think so vet If he hadn't
nearly worried the life ont Of me. Bat
/ shall always believe that his mother
was to blame for it all. She was that
jealous OF VIII that it sometimes seemed
as if she would like TO scratch my ewes
out. We lived with the old people for
year or two; but after little Willie was
born / had no peace at all for his grand
mother. who insisted on having her way
with him, and naturally thought that /
had a right to mine.
"The old people had money, and
lived very comfortably, and VIII and his
father carried on n coal yard together;
but Will fell into bad company, and took
to drinking, and his father and mother
were 50 bitter toward him, it drove him
to desperation. You see, they we're peo-
pie who had always been respected, and
they couldn't bear the disgrace; and
many's the night I've sat up watching for
VIII, so that they shouldn't know when
he came in. | taught myself German,
by way of amusement, on those lonely
evenings. Some one gave the books to
Will, and had always been fond of study
at school.
After awhile we left the old people.
and moved into two rooms OF our own:
and / worked hard at sewing and knit
ting and anything could get to support
us. VIII did not improve, though he
was never unkind to me; and one morn
ing boy brought me crumpled note
from my husband telling me that he had
gone to California, and that he would
never come back unless he came a sober
man, and with money to support me and
our boy. His father had been harder
with him than eyer and he said ba vraa