The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-09-26

fates had willcd she should share his
weakness for music. He declared it
was the monkey that unused her, where
as the baby's soul was given over to the
hurdy. gurdy.
Now 1 take this premature and strik-
Ing proclivity Is misfortune. Infant
prOdigies are always more or less of q
nuisance, and little Miss Jeans pre-
cocity grew to an alarming extent as
the years went by. The firm of Shiel
& MacNeil flourished. Jenny saved
the pennies, and the only extravagances
were in behalf of little Miss Jean,
whose waxen face could only be
coaxed into a glow by the aid of some
sort of melody. And the older she
grew, the wider her taste expanded, so
that after while new piano was
maneuvered and engineered up the
stairs, and almost filled Jennv's little
parlor. Many familiar knick-knack
had to 90 to the wall or be tucked out
of sight to make room for this mountain
of mahogany.
Its burnin' shame" said one of
the boys, ito give up the dear old fid-
die for the jinglin' Of them ivory pup
pets. Every new piece of Miss jeans
sets fellows teeth on edge. One can't
have any more fun at Macs; he's hung
up his fiddle and his bow; and for my
part Tam sick to death of the infant
phenomenon"
So were the rest of the cronies they
fell off one by one, and in few years
none were left but Shiel; he, poor fell
low, sat night after night with his head
up against the wall, the music going in
one ear and out of the other, till it
seemed to him he had become simply a
|'sort of hollow, melancholy tube for
the accommodation of echoes.
What could Mac do, who had alone
kept pace with his daughter, and APP
preciated to the full her remarkable
proficiency-whatc could he do but long
for a larger, fuller, prouder scope for
her? The ceilings were low in their
humble floor; the acoustic properties
were entirely wanting in that cramped
but cozy vicinity. Alas! alas! the nest
was all too small for its full-t1edged in
mates, and the neighborhood was not
what it had been. Macs business in
creased day by day. He was getting to
be quite moneyed man; and really an
authority in music. Busts of Beetho-
ven, Mozart, Haydn and all the rest
stared poor Shiel in the face. Look
which way he would, the sightless balls
of these old masters followed him.
And Jenny, finding that the very
lie IF tho old ,,ocf 01s ocf h,,,.cf
ing asunder, consented, atlast, to move
into fine new house in a new neigh
borhOod, and have new furniture and
new clothes, a new church and minis
ter, new butcher and baker, and,
worst of all, some very superior and
excellent servants, who took the whole
establishment out of her hands and left
her high and dry upon the banks of
prosperity, with nothing to do but to
enjoy herself. And all at once she began
to be most miserable. Mr.. MacNeil and
his remarkable daughter stepped out of
their nest as the blithest, finest, most
sagacious of birds, left the worthless
tenement that has served its purpose,
and began forthwith to scratch and
peck and scramble for themselves in
the most natural and praiseworthy way.
But poor Jenny stumbled at every step,
and grew more featherless and forlorn
rs the years went by. Pretty she was,
yet; far prettier than her daughter;
but this did not seem to win for her the
admiration she most coveted. Poor
Jenny would gladly have taken the pom
derous form and heavy features of Mrs.
Delaney We're, could she have gained
thereby that lady's severely critical
taste and talent, or the long, bony neck
of Miss Perry, if it could still hold
those wonderfully high notes which MIR.
MacNeil so admired. DO what she
would, the old accent that WIS once so
dear to her husbands ear still chung to
her.
don't say 'yere' for here Jenny"
expostulated MIR. MacNeil; "and I'd
rather do without anything at the table
than the letter h, except when it's one
letter too many"
So Jenny began to speak only from
sheer necessity. She never could please
her husband any more, do what she
would, and didn't care to find favor in
the sight of others. It began to be APP
parent to Jenny that she was clog
and burden to her husband and her
daughter-nay, to the whole world in
which they delighted to live-and there
came time when she resolved no
longer to be the stumbling block to
their popularity.
There was a musicale at the house
that night, and all the doors were open.
The halls were filled with flowers, some
of them brought from the florist in
tubs of wide dimensions; and Jenny, in
plain black silk, crouched behind one
of these while Mr.. MacNeil was bring
ing his daughter down the stairs and
into the crowded parlors. Macs nose
was high in the air; he was dressed in
the finest of broadcloth, while the
musical prodigy, who was now we'll
grown young woman, swept along in a
rustling white silk that the dressmaker
wouldn't let Jenny do even the cording
for. On they went, and Jenny's heart
swelled big with pride, then sank with
modification, for two fine ladies near
her, leaning upon the arms of good
natured-looking gentleman, began all
at once to cavil at poor Jenny, who
had never in her whole life said evil of
anybody.
"The mamma appears to be invisi-
ble," said one of them. "They say
she is shut up in the coal hole upon
these occasions; and no wonder, when
one thinks of the blunders of the poor
creature"
perhaps she's in the Kitchen" said
the other. 81 have heard that is where
Mr.. MacNeil first found her."
Then up spoke the good-natured-
looking gentleman, and said that if she
could make good ragout there, her
husband ought to rise up and call her
blessed, for it was q finer accomplish
ment than any he could remember; and
one thing was certain, she was q far
prettier woman than most of them there
that night.
But Jenny did not hear this; and if
she had, it would not have comforted
her.