Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-02-20
MIR. MULTAHNEY.
Rarper's Bazaar.

Rarper's Bazaar.
Grandfather didn't leave me his prop
erty, after all. / might have known h'
wouldn't, because he said he would
Grandfather always did something en-
tirely different from what he set out
to do.
There, for instance, was the day-we
had just got nicely settled In oar coun-
try home-that we were all waiting
patiently for the COW grandfather had
gone to buy. Goodness gracious knows
how many quarts of delicious milk we
had drunk, how much luscious cream
and Strawberries we had eaten. how
many crooks of sweet golden butter we
had churned, and how many pats OF
cottage cheese we had made-in imagi-
nation-when he returned, with no COW,
and handsome parlor organ. Nobody
could play on it. Grandfather said
somebody could learn but nobody ever
did, and so we had to try and console
ourselves for the disappointment by re-
hecting what fine addition to our
somewhat scanty parlor furniture the
organ was, until the morning grand.
father suddenly made up his mind that
he needed another horse, and brought
our gentle, star-faced Daisy home in
stead.
There were four Of us in the family
grandfather, a tall, straight, eccentric,
obstinate old man; mother, the sweetest
and dearest woman that ever lived
and who should know better than her
only child ?-myself, a plain, quiet girl
of five-and-twenty and my cousin
Eta, just of age, but looking about
seventeen : pretty, selfish, idle, and
vain
Now you're thinking [ added the last
three adjectlves on account of the first
one. Bnt didn't, upon my word, for
| tried my very best to love the blue
eyed, fair-haired. teasing thing when
she first came among us, her father and
mother both having died during the
previous year but | couldn't; she was
SO thoroughly wrapped up in herself, so
sensible to her own wants and wishes,
and so utterly insenslble to even the
rights of others.
Grandfather was forever scolding and
finding fault about her, and wondering
now his grave, honest, elder son, John.
came to have such a good-for-naught
daughter, and always praising me, who
was the child of his second son, William,
and saying that was the comfort of his
life, and should have the cottage and
grounds when ne died, but I "must
promise this was the invariable con-
clusion-" to take care of Eta until she
M 1oH TO bx,1 Df
as men are always taken with a pretty,
doll-like face and kittenish ways, and
never care much for sensible-looking
sensible-acting girls like you, my dear"
Of course [ promised, although [
hadn't the slightest idea of grandfath-
er's dying soon when he talked in this
way; neither had he, or he would have
said nothing on the subject, for he was
a hale, hearty man Of seventy, appa-
rently good for another twenty years
lease of life, when one day, having
started to build hen-coop, and begin
ming to dig well instead. he had a ter
rible chill, and died in an hour.
And when his will was read the day
after the funeral, I, for one, was very
little surprised to hear that all his pos
sessions, with the exception of five
hundred dollars to my mother and five
hundred to myself, were left to f" that
good-for-naught." the daughter of his
son, John.
And it was only week after the
reading of the will when my cousin
Eta said to me, with calmness and
GOODNESS somewhat astonishing in such
4 babyish-looking little thing, "You
must be looking for another home,
Faith. / am going to marry James
Read "a young man grandfather had
Getested-" In short time, and we will
want the whole cottage ourselves"
So mother and [ went up into our
room-a fine large square room it was,
right over the porch, where the branches
of a hundred-year-old oak-tree served
us in summer for window blinds and
curtains, and the birds that made their
nests there woke us up in the early
morning with their musical chatter
and held consultation as to what we
had better do.
/ wasn't well enough educated to be a
goyerness, and couldn't sew we'll enough
to be a seamstress, and, besides that,
mother and | couldn't bear the thought
of being separated-we never had been
since the day father died, ten years
before and we finally came to the
conclusion that small store was the
very thing.
What kind should it be? was the next
question. | inclined TO books, papers,
and stationery but mother shook her
head (mother's head is lovely, beauti-
fully shaped, with soft brown hair way
ing and ripping all over it in q way that
never was and never will be produced
by crimping pins and other like con-
trivances) and said, "You know that
books and papers are an almost irresisti-
Die temptation to you, Faith, and when
you find one that interests you, you
forget every thing else. | think con-
fectionery and fruit would be q good
idea."
"Ah, yes" said [, shaking my head
in turn; but you know poatr weakness
is children, and you'd give away all the