The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-09-12

drees-makers-about the fit of her dress,
declaring it to be utterly ruined"
when it only wanted taking up a little
on one shoulder and letting down an
inch or 30 in front: and Wills right
! arm was almost disabled from heavy
load of books he had carried long dis
J tance the day before chow men can
have the heart to give mans burden
to child can't see)--when aunt's let
ter fell like a bomb-shell into our very
disheartened little camp.
"DEAR FoLKs,--A friend of mine-an
| 1ngfshman (aunt's language was correct
| enough, but at times her spelling was some
| what peculiar -" who came here purpos-
| ing to start in Illness, took the fever,
| fingered a few months, and died, leaving,
Heaven knows why, his only child, a
| daughter, who will eventually be MOTTO
be-snifed-at airess, to my care. Having been
delicately reared in the midst of devotion
and tenderness, this place, only suited to
bold, strong natures, is a little too ruff for
her. So she desires-at least / desire for
her-a home in the North, and l wish that
home to be with you.
"My niece, Mary, who inherits the dis
| position of her father to a great degree
| and he would have gone out of his way any
| day to give even a dunn brute pleasure
| will, / am sure, be kind to her. Carol will
love her for her beauty, il for nothing else,
and the rest of you will love her because
she is smostlovable. Her maid will accom-
pany her.
| "At present her affairs are in a tangle, but
| hope to unravel them in the course of a
j few months, and then you will be recon-
pensed for whatever extra expense she may
cause you. / would inclose check at pres
ent writing, but all my funds are invested
in a speculation from which 1 expect to
| NJ @1ah
| til you hear from me again, when l will
farther unfold my plans in regard to Miss
Ashbell, who, bye-the.bye, starts tomorrow
| AUNT"
No wonder CONSERVATION and dismay
were depicted on every countenance
when / ceased reading this letter. No
wonder we looked gaspingly at each
other. What in the world were we to
do with this fine young lady in our hum
BILE home?
What could aunt be thinking about ?
True. she didn't know exactly how poor
we were, for we'd been too proud to
acknowledge our extreme poverty in
our few and far-between letters On
the contrary, l am afraid we had led
her to believe that we were in quite a
fourishing condition. But for all that,
she ought to have known that we were
not fourishing enough to support a
delicate and beautiful girl, used to
luxury, tenderness, and devotion, for
even few months. Was ever any
thing 30 malapropos and vexations? OF
course Miss Ashbell would look with
scorn on our seven-roomed dwelling,
with a back garden twenty-five by
twenty-five, and courtyard ten by
l TOR nd cIrr,
short-sightedness very unusual to her,
complacently remarked-Carrol should
fall in love with herr The proud Eng
lish girl would no doubt regard him az
a fortune-hunter, and invidiously com.
parehis frank, impulsive, rather brusque
manners with the repose and awful
dignity of the languid swells of her own
land.
And somebody else might be. at.
tracted toward her-men are SO sus-
ceptible to women's beauty-somebody
who now thought my brown face the
sweetest in the world. The very thought
made my heart stop beating.
And the maid2 Even if we coulo
make arrangements to accommodate hel
, and it seemed utterly impossible fol
us to do so-Betty, our faithful servan
for the last fifteen years, would looI
upon her in the light of an interloper
, and treat her as such. Betty had beer
used to being" monarch of all she sur.
veyed." Even in house-cleaning time
> those times that try mems souls anc
women's soles--she scorned the idea O
, an assistant.
!, "No, ma'am, I'll have no stranger
3 pokin' roun' me. When Pm not abl
r to do the work for this house, alone
a Pll CO."
And mother-dear, shrinking, grief
e stricken mother-how would she bea
t the advent of this dainty Miss Ashhell
r But we could do nothing to avert the i'm
y pending misfortune. Even if we ha,
: thought of disobeying our fathers las
a command, and refusing aunt the favo
o she had not asked, but, in her usua
:. decisive way, taken for granted, tn
o young lady was on her way, and woul,
d be here in day or two.
l. The news must be Immediately broker
:; to mother and Betty. /, being the house
v keeper, undertook to face the latte,
y 1 will confess l did it with fear an
y trembling. She heard me grimly, neve
l. ceasing to pare the potatoes she held i
st her lap, and when I had ended. locke
1t up with sharp nod of her head, an
said, slowly and emphatically, Betty
le have to 60 now, sure. She can't stan
!. no fine young ladies and sassy youn
if bridesmaids about for nothin'."
u, Helen went to mother, put her arm
D. about her neck, and with kiss and
r smile told her of the expected visito
adding, with an assumption of gavety
4 a al Gh0I M anr, 49,
IS. ma dear, if you don't want her; bl
of you know aunt has been so kind to u
i'd and father loved her so dearly, it woul
in be impossible to refuse the first fave
ss she ever asked of U.S."
is Mother said never word, but bega
at brushing the hair back from her tempt,
8, with both hands in nervous way ST
ns had when anything grieved or annoye
g. her.
70 And then we began preparing ft
~ Miss Ashbell. Wills room was to
n given up to her, and Will Carols roo
as was scarcely large enough for himse
of and his art traps, as he called them) W,
b. to be slowed away in the loft-a pr
of cesding which he viewed with immen
dissatisfaction. "Pll smother up the
IT in hot weather." he said, with a WI
ey face. "Oh, wish there wasn't ar
Miss Ashbelll Why don't she 60 to
of hotelT'
he Why don't she !" echoed /.
he l said we began to prepare for he
d. bat for lack of the before-mentiont
re silver and gold, our preparations were
ng the simplest kind. Carol made and p
Or, up two pretty brackets, and hung, wi
a sigh--for he hated to part with the
i'd, "a few pictures he possessed on Il
ng walls. / looped black and white Gu
llk tains freshly washed and ironed, wi
ng much grumbling, by Betty with ne
blue ribbons, and J covered the trul
of ottoman with bright chintz, and wi
en Helen's help made new mat to pla
be- before the bureau, and we turned
Ill old table-cloth into napkins, and boug