Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-12-04
VOL. XXXV.
Miss AShbell.

when | finished reading the letter l haC
lust received from my aunt.
The group consisted of myself-Mary
eldest daughter of the house and hearth
brown, dark eyed, tall, and eighteen
Helen, not quite as brown, hazel-eyed
almost rs tall, and sixteen; viii, browner
darker-eyed a head shorter, and ten; and
Carroll, towering above us all, blue-eyed
golden -moustached, and twenty-one.
Aunt was, in fact, our great aunt, sister
of our fathers mother, but the only aunt
great or little, that we had ever known
We had met her but two or three times
during our lives, in far-away Illinois, and
she was too much occupied with grains ant
herds to think of frequent visiting, and we
well, we were too poorly provided with
gold and silver TO take long and expensive
Journeys. So what little visiting there had
been had been on aunt's side, with one
exception, and then | was the visitor. 1t
was when | was about fifteen this short
but memorable visit took place. Yielding
to aunt's repeated solicitations-l was her
namesake-I started from home with the
intention of spending the summer months
on the Illinois farm. | arrived there safe
ly, was welcomed heartily, and entertain
ed right royalty; but before week had
passed away had grown SO tired of the
seeming boundlessness of everything, and
so longed for the little cottage and Lilli-
putian garden where grew my three rose
bushes-one red, one white, one a creamy
yelow-that aunt, seeing the longing in
and back | came long before | was eX-
pected, but my dear father and mother
assured me not moment too soon.
We children had always heard twice Il
year from aunt-once collectively ut
Christmas, and once respectively on our
birthdays-and each time the kindly note
which exhorted us to be good, industri-
Gus, and self-reliant," inclosed n check
larger or smaller, according to aunt's
gains of the preceding year-that aunt
being the wcalthiest and most influential
member of the Carmody family.
A few DAYS before our father died he call
ed us together and said, My children, it
ism ut all likely to occur, but if ever aunt
Should ask Il favor of you, grant it, at no
matter what Inconvenience. She has been
my best and dearest friend"
Poor father! | suspect aunt has often
helped him out of pecuniary difficulties.
He was an impractical, dreamy sort of
man, fond of birds and poetry and flow
ers, and didn't succeed very well in life.
But, in spite of his dreaminess and his
want of worldly tact, and his being SO
totally unlike her in most ways, he was a
great favolite of aunts, and when we tel
egraphed his serious illness to her she left
her vast possessions without captain at a
moments notice, and hastened to his side,
making her appearance in a bonnet that
Immediately suggested the prairies, it was
so unlimited in size, and so bare of orna-
ment, and which grotesquely obtruded
itself into the remembrance of that sad
time forever after.
Since fathers death things hadn't been
very bright with us. In fact, they hadn't
been bright at all.
We foundl there was a good deal OF
money owing, and what remained of the
two hundred dollars aunt gave us on the
dav of the funeral-she bade us good
bye "the instant the ceremonies were over
after our very deep mourning was paid
for, went to the butcher, grocer and shoe
maker.
We were all willing to do, and all did,
WllultNtE VIC COltlI UO"htu ouplOl lllC
households; but dear! dear! talk about
weeds I never saw anything grow like
bills.
Carroll, who had an artistic uturn of
mind, struggled with it, and |, who had a
dressmaking turn of mind, struggled with
that, and Helen struggled with her books,
hoping to become teacher in time, and
little Will struggled with somebody S
else's books, for he went into n publishing
house as errand boy, poor fellow!
Besides the struggles, we had mother
on our minds. A few weeks after we lost
our father we lost our baby sister. A
beautiful child she was, rs bright as Il
diamond and rs fair us a pearl, and the
pride and darling Of us all. Already
sinking beneath the blow of her husbands S
death, when her little daughter died too,
INV mothers heart was nearly broken.
From being sunshiny, energetic, busy
woman, she became lstless and apathetic,
sitting in her room day after day gazing
upon the pictures of the loved ones, OF
rocking back and forth, her hands clasped
before her, looking with dry eyes upon
vacancy.
Well, the eXchequer was low enough
and mother had had one of her very
bad spells, and a lady customer had just
been in and abused me--yes, abused |
can use no other word; women do fly in
such temper at their dressmakers-about
the fit of her dress, declaring it to be
utterly ruined" when it only wanted
taking up little on one shoulder and let
TING down an inch or SO in front, when
aunt's letter fell like bomb shell into our
verv nearly disheartened little camp.
''Dcar Foiks:- friend of minc-an
Inglishman (aunt's language was correct
enough, but ut times her spelling was
something peculiar)-" who came here
purposing to start in business, took the
fever, fingered few months and died,
leaving. Heaven only knows why, his only
child, a daughter, who will eventually be
u ot-to-he-snffed-at heiress, to my care.
Having been delicatoly reared in the midst
of devotion and tenderness, this place only
suited to hold, strong natures, Is little
too ruff for her. So she desires-at least
| desire for her--a home in the north, and
| wish that home to be with you. Her
maid will accompany her. At present her
affairs are in u tt@gle, but | hope to un-
rayel them in the course of a few months,
and then YOU will be recompensed for
whatever extra expense she may cause
Won. | would enclose II check at present
writing, bat all my funds are invested in
4 speculation from which expect TO reap
much profit. Do the best you can until
YOU hear from me again, when | will fur
Iher unfold my plans in regard to Miss
Ashbell, who. by-theby starts tomorrow.
AUNT"
No wonder CONSERVATION and dismay
were depicted on every countenance when
ceased reading the letter. What in the
world were we 10 do with this fine young
lady in our humble home? .....
What could aunt be thinking aboutP
True, she didn't know exactly how poor
we were, for we'd been too proud to ac-
knowledge our extreme poverty in our
few and far-bctwecn letters. On the con-
trary | am afraid we had led her to be-
lievG that we were in quite u tlourishing
condition. OF course Miss Ashbell would
look with srorn on our seven-roomed
dwelling, with Il back garden twenty five
by twenty-five, and court yard ten by
ten. And suppose-as aunt, with short
sirhtcdness very unusual to her. compla-
Gently rked-Caroll should fall in
love with her?
And somebody else might be attracted