The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-08-01

around her mouth. aud everybody
loved her-sayc or", perhaps. and
that one. She often thought. would re-
| for the loss OF all the worlds
good viii.
Miss French. besides having a large
heart, had a large fortune IN her -"
right. and acres of dowry landS. a
roomy old house full of ANTIQUE fur
niture and and echoes. People SAID II
was no wonder she looked happy.
Why not: She ought to be happy
comfort in every way and even luxury
was hers To command
But her own footsteps startled her
some times and the gaunt rooms ana
the winding stairs began TO seem al
most ghostly in their tenantl"Ss con
dition. Squire HarrioIts prin, ugly
brick house stared her iii the face
when She jaunted to the village behlnd
her sleepy gray horse. They had been
neighbors once, she and the squire ;
lady. They had knitted together, and
exchanged cake receipts and mantilla
patterns. She could see Sarah llar-
RIOTS slender monument first. CLEAN
ing through the yew trees in the little
weedv graveyard, as she passed going
to and from the town.
The closed shutters, the deal leaves
and the pine cones lltterlng the walk
I'D to the Squire's doc was a reproach
to her. Sine had not done her duty
there.
There was young Tom coming and
going with no woman's hand to make
his way smooth for him. and there
was a Slim, pale little girl with
full eyes, who must be going to SEED
for lack of one of her own kind to
speak with.
Poor little Beth; it had put her IN a
great tiuster when the pondefous
knocker had sent a hundred loud
echoes %rumbling through the old
house, and still greater agitation when
she had peeped through the green
paper screen by the door and seen Miss
French in her best bonnet; With a
roll of work under her arm, standing
under the faded nasturitums
Beth was not afraid, however. to
admit even the town beadle's wife.
Her flowers were spotleSsly clean. and
a fresh supply of lavender and China
asterS in ali the f1ower-pots, and natu-
rally a dignified, graceful little crea-
ture, she played the hostess so admira-
bly, as to quite uusettle her caller.
Beth went on with her work, and
the old clock went on with its work,
and under the spell Miss Ffrench sat
down III the splint-bottomed rocker H.
a patch of sunshine streaming IN at
the window, and began to knit COM
posedly.
Beth's eyes la a far-awav look at
times, as she could gaze miles into
space while d,ing the most common
place things. This look of Beth's
amazed and troubled Helen French.
What right had a young bound girl,
with NO tlltlrn To lnnE like fins Ah
there were possibilities, and Miss
French determined that there should
be Il future.
Then she cautiously dived into the
girls untutored mind, thinking, with
a thrill of rapture, how sweet it would
be to earn the love and gratitude of
one pure-haarted being for her own
unto the end of time. She expected,
some time, to lie down behind the view
trees, and under the tangled ives in
that quiet spot where her friend lay
but befOle she did SO, she wished to do
something for some n h would
not allow the mildew of neglect to fall
down and blot away her name from
the burial stone.
Only to be remembered
Oh, but to feel
That when the night-dew trembles on
the grass,
Some plying heat to this lone spot
would steal,
Some foot come near that would not
lightly pass.
Miss French was resolved.
Squire Harriott said bluntly that a
fool and his money soon parted, but
Miss French was rock itself. So Beth
was adopted, sent away to school with
more nice dresses than she had ever
dreamed of in all her life, and without
knowing why. Miss French had dar-
kened her bedroom, and gone to bed
to have a good CRY all to herself, under
a vinegar and brown plaster, and III
consciousness that she was a heroine.
The sorrow and remorse of other days
lay like Il heavy band upon her heart,
but the sense of having performed a
noble, womanly action came like a
balm to soothe her into forgetfulness.
The leaves fell down and lay in nest
ling heaps and hillocks on the spare
grass, and the whispering pines shook
needles far and near about the old
Squire's door, and Miss French had
passed and repassed many times gong
to the village p0stoffice in the long
our years that had 50 laggardlv
dragged by since her isolated heart
had put forth its tender hope in the
shape of a protege.
The blood-red NAPLES danced in glee
on that haZy day, when she sat with
trembling fingers. the reins loosely
lying over Bijah (the gray hero.
while with dimmed eyes and flushed
cheeks the lonely woman read the
first words of love that any one had
Addressed to her for years. Dear,
dear little Beth her letter-how odd
it seemed-yet, oh. how sweet to feel
that this loving Young heart lcaped
toward hers.
Beth wrote
DEAREST Miss FRENCH: am
coming home. For the first time in
my life there will be a door wide open
to receive me. DO you long tt see
me, | wonder: | have not grown out