Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-05-10

command.
And nothing for little Tom but this
paltry hundred dollars" groancd llitty
when the will had been read and the cs'
tate administered.
"Of course | shall never marry, said
4 l4iddy, who was plain and old-loo&ing fol
her years, and whose one lover had jill
ted her years ago, when the bloom q
youth, 1T least, he'd been hers. There
wasn't the smallest danger that LiddN
would threaten Toms interests by mar
rying.
No, you may never marry, Liddy,
/ sighed her sister; but IL love Arson
and OH love little Tom too-my little
motherless Tom | cannot rob him ot
his patrimony, and | can not live with.
out Anson. How can | wrong Tom tC
pleasure myself? What will he have
to so out into this hard world with, if
if
Hush, you silly girl; lie will have Nj.
head and hands. like other men; and
then-you may never have amy chill
dren to stand i'll his way
But how unhappy ii would make me
to see them enriched ut his expense; to
him earning his bread 10y the sweat OF
his brow, while they Jared like the lilies
of the iicld to have Tom envy and per-
hans hate them, and feel bitter that life
had been rendered So much easier for
them by injustice
Perhaps they would share with
Tom. "
All, itwouldn't be quite safcto trust
to that pleasant perhaps.
!" You ought not to suspect your chill
drcn of being less generous than your
self
But their mother must have been
ungcncrods first, you see.
You have Ansol to think Of, Htty,
in this affair, rs well rs Tom. If you
don't love Tom better.
~ DON'T dom; but the viii has
made it impossible fer me to marry An
son with II clear conscience-to marry
him and be happy. If he were sure OF
earning fortune with which we could
make amends to little Tom, it would be
different But can not count upon
such an improbable contingency. As
YOU say, Tom will have his head and
hands to push his way, but the best head
and busiest hands do not always compel
fortune, and, if any ham should come
to him from want of capital, if he
should be tempted to sin from lack 81
money II should have to answer for
it, it would be my guilt
Nonsense, Hitty; your conscience is
too tender. Marry Anson and trust tc
Fate, that's my advice. Supposing you
refuse, and he marries somebody else
and-little Tom doesn't live to grow
up"
shall not have wrongcd him.
& But you will have wronged Anson'
Not il he-if he marries-another.
Many would, perhaps approve Hitty
ThorneS conduct at this crisis, NOR,
would condemn; but she walked accord
ing to her light in those cruel days. |
was no easy task she had set herself
She was to receive no need for her sac
ritice, except selfapproval-nothing bu
reproaches. Could she have seen nj
that would happen, she might hav,
spared herself this cruelty. And how
much can happen iii this timel how
much to make our wisest forcthoughts
assume the aspect of improvidence
Property changes hands, values shrink
children grow up with wills Of their own
people die and make room for remo.,
heirs, or they outlive the sharp edge 0
sorrow and anger. anu learnto bear tn,
bruden Of their mistakes, Miss littN
| had faded in the meantime, while An
son Searle wore his years like garland
The fortune Of which her not impossi
ble' children might have robbed littl,
Tom had dwindled to the mercst pit
tance through the knavery Of the MAJ
to whose wisdom it had been trusted
while Arson Searle had unexpected
stepped into the possession Of the scarl,
estate, with its old stone mansion, It's or
chards and outlying meadow-lands, an,
the income that had been rolling III
since the Searles first set foot upoi
Plymouth Rock. Twenty years befor,
there had been no shadow of such !
i possibility, no dream Of it III Anson'
mind or another's Two healthy lives
had barred the way against him, bu
death had effected breach.
What 4 mistake Hitty Thornt
made y people had commented these
half dozen years. She might hay'
been mistress at Searle Hill If she'd hac
4 mind TO risk marrying poor man
Folks get their ceme-up once III thii
world sometimes, with the usua
charity commentators bestow upon Iii,
motives Of others. Nobody had knowf
the true cause of Hittys refusal u
marry Searle 1t had been the towi
talk, to be sure--a riddle which no one
bad solved. She had not even contided
her reasons to her lover lie would
oyerrule them, She feared, would cal
them absurd, and only make her task
more difficult; and perhaps grow t.