Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-11-24
LOUIE'S SUCCESS.

iSA' Sho uoic0toS SiCAly llttIo CunS
and hasn't either the strength or the de-
sire to earn her living as the rest of u.
do-eh, Louie 2"
Motherly old Mrs. Simmonds smiled
alf approvingly, half indulgently down
e in the pale, wistful face of the girl who
sat 80 quietly beside her, listening to the
conversation going on between Mr.. Sim
monda and her guest-Farmer Alwyn's
wife, who had just run over with her
knitting for an afternoons visit and to
stay to tea"
They were the very ideals Of comforta-
bic, contented, well-to-do farmers wives
they were portly, rosy and bright-eyed-
such contrast, physically, to the slim,
sallow, hollow-eyed girl who spoke never
word unless specially addressed.
Her name was Louie Harland, and she
had been member of the thrifty Sim
monds family for years-ever since bit
ter cold December day, thirteen years
ago, when a forlorn, half-clothed baby
of three years, she had come to the
kitchen door crying, shivering, and in
barely Ineligible words told them she
had lost "father," and was so cold and
hungry.
Mrs. Simmonds' big, warm heart had
been stirred to the very depths by the
sight of the forlorn little waif, and in
rsingled indignation against the cruel
wretch who would permit such baby to
become so ragged, suffering and neg
lected, and great, tender pity, took the
little one in, resolving to keep it in
warmth and plenty until "father I"
should search for it, and it had now
been fourteen years, and Louie Harland
had come to be almost regarded as
genuine Simmonds by father and moth
er and the half-dozen rosy, plump chill
tlren who loved Louie so dearly.
For she was loveable. and although,
as Mrs. Simmonds tenderly declared, the
child was fit for nothing-not even CON-
petent to earn her salt, yet she was
favorite with them all for her sweet.
gentle ways, and her patience and will
ingaess to do what little she could.
Only Louie could net work. 1t seemed
to her that of all terrible things the
routine of housework was the most ter
rible, md yet she never hesitated an in
stant to obediently perform whatever lay
within her power, however distasteful
the task was.
But-there was one thing Ionic loved
to do, one thing that made the Simmonds
girls and boys sometimes laugh, and
sometimes cry, and sometimes feel ave-
struck; that made farmer s mmonds
often lay down his pipe in rapt amazed
interest, that made Mrs. Simmonds wipe
her eyes and sob audibly-and that was
when Louie would read aloud of winter
evenings, or recite some exquisite poem
she had memorized, or render some
side-splitting moroccan from some hui
morist.
Then Louie would seem to lost her
identity. She would flush with excite
ment, and her fresh, sweetly-intoned
young voice would fairly vibrate with
the intensity of the enthusiasm her
fragile form would seem to dilate with
intensest interest; her dark, intelligent
eyes would shine with inspiration, or
melt with pathos or glow with humor
and from farmer Simmonds down to little
Nell they all considered Louie's reading
a genuine treat.
Only that they never dreamed of ap-
preciating it as they ought-none of them
except William Dayton, Mrs. Simmonds'
younger brother, who would hang on
Louie's enraptured words with interest
scarcely less intense than her own.
He came gradually to care very much
for her until, one day, when she went
to him with all her heart in her big black |
eyes, and told him, breathlessly, that |
Mrs. Lecount, the great lady who was
staying at the hotel, had heard her re-
citing one day when she was driving BY.
and had instantly come in, and had a |
long, long talk with her, and the result /
was she was to go back to London with
her-When William Dayton heard that
lie knew for sure that he cared, very,
very much for Louie-that she had com.
pletely filled his heart, and that without
her life would lose very many, il not all,
its charms. And right then and there
he told her how he loved her, how he
should miss her, and begged her to be
true in heart to him when she should be
away among people who would no doubt
be more congenial to her than her old
associates. And Louie had confessed
her love and promised TO be true to him;
and not long after that she went away
from the quiet country side with Mrs.
Lecount, and although letters frequently