Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1878-09-19

| ooou III stuu auuSeU me-yeS, 3DuSeOS
can use no other word; women do fly il
such tempers at their dress-makers-
about the fit of her dress, declaring it tx
be utterly ruined," when it only want
81 taking up q little one shoulder anc
letting down an inch or so in front; anc
Willis right arm was almost disabled
from heavy load Of books he had car
ried q long distance the day before Chow
men can have the heart to give man!
burden ato-a child I can't see)-wher
aunt letter fell like bombshell into ou]
disheaitened little camp.
DEAR FOLKs-A friend of mine-an In
gilshman (aunts language was correc
| enough, but at times her spelling was some
what peculiarly who came here proposing
to start in business, took the fever, fingered
few months, and died, leaving, Heaven
knows why, his only child, Il daughter, who
will eventually be u not-to-be- snitied-a1
airess, to my care. Having been delicately
reared in the midst of devotion and tender
ness, this place, only suited to bold, strong
natures, is q 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.
"My niece Mary, who inherits the DISPOSE
sAoo Va AOA AAllACA " q SISut ueSICc-duU
! would have gone out of his way any day to
give even dumb ENTHUSIASTICALLY, am
sure, be kind to her. Carol will love he,
! tor her beauty, if for nothing else, and the
rest of you will love her because she is
most loyable. Her maid will accompany
her.
At present her affairs are in a tangle but
| hope to unravel them in the course of !,
few months, and then you will be recon.
| pensed for whatever extra expense she may
cause you. | would inclose a check at pres.
ent writing, but all my funds are invested
in q speculation from which expect to reap
much profit. Do the best you can until you
hear from me again. when l will farther un.
fold my plans in regard to Miss Ashbell,
who, bye'the-bye, starts tomorrow:
No wonder CONSERVATION and disnay
were depicted on every countenance
when l 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
humble home?
What could aunt be thinking about
True, we didn't know exactly how poor
we were, for we'd been too proud to &C.
knowledge our extreme poverty in our
few and far between letters. On the
contrary, | am afraid we had led her to
believe that we were in quite flourish
ing condition. But for all that, she
ought to have known that we were not
fiourishing enough to support delicate
and beautiful girl, used to luxury, ten
derness and devotion, for even a few
months. Was ever anything so mala.
propos and vexatious? OF course Miss
Ashbell would look with scorn on ou1
seven-roomedd dwelling, with back gar.
den twenty-five by twenty-five, and a
courtyard ten by ten. And suppose
as aunt, with a short-sightedness very
unusual to her, complacently remarked
| Carol should fall in love with her!
The proud English girl would no doubt
regard him as fortune hunter, and in
yidiously compare his frank, impulsive,
rather brusque manners with the repose
and lawful" dignity of the languid
swell Of her own land.
And somebody else might be attracted
women's beauty-somebody who now
thought my face the sweetest in the
world. The very thought made my
neart stop DeaClng.
And the maid? Even if we could
make arrangements to accommodate
her-and it seems utterly impossible for
us to do Society, our faithful servant
for the last fifteen years, would look
upon her in the light of an interloper,
and treat her as such. Betty had been
used to being monarch of all she sur
veyed." Even il housekeeping times
those times that try mems souls and wo-
mems sOles-she scOrned the idea of an
assistant.
":No, ma'am, I'll have no strangers
pokin' roun' me. When I am not able
to do the work of this house alone, I'll
co."
And mother-dear, shrinking, grief
stricken mother-how would she bear
the event of this dainty Miss Ashbell
But we could do nothing to avert the
impending misfortune. Even if we had
thong hit Of disobeying our fathers last
command, and refusing aunt the favor
she had not asked, but, in her usual de-
cisive way, taken for granted, the young
lady was on her way, and would be here
in day or two.
The news must be Immediately: broken
to mother and Betty. I, being the
housekeeper, undertook to face the lat
ter. | will confess did it with fear and
trembling. She heard me grimly, never
ceasing to pare the potatoes she held in
her lap, and when I had ended, looked
up with a sharp nod of the head, and
said, slowly and emphatically, " Betty'll
have to 60 now, sure. She can't stand
no fine young ladies and sassy young
ladies' maids about for nothiD'.'
Helen went to mother, put her arm
about her neck, and with q kiss and a
smile told her of the expected visitor,
adding, with an assumption of gayety
"She sha'nt come near you at all, NAM
ma, dear, if you don't want her; but you
know aunt has been so kind to us, and
father loved her so dearly, it would be
impossible to refuse the first favor she
ever asked of u.s."
Mother said never word, but began
brushing the hair back from her temples
with both hands in a nervous way she
had when anything grieved or annoyed
her.
And then we began preparing for Miss
Ashbell. Willis room was to be given
up to her, and Will (Carrops room was
scarcely large enough for himself and
his art traps, as he called them) was to
be slowed away in the loft-a proceeding
which he viewed with immense dissatis-
faction. "Pn smother up there in hot
weather." he said, with wry face, "Oh,
l wish there wasn't any Miss Ashbell!
Why don't she 60 to a hotel p ''"''~'~-' -
/ "Why don't she?" echoed I.
1 said we began to prepare for her,
but for lack of the aforementioned
silver and gold, our preparations were Of
the simplest kind, Carol made and put
up two pretty brackets, and hung, with
a sigh-for he hated to part with them
the few pictures he possessed on the walls.
I Topped back the white curtainss (fresh.
" washed and ironed, with much grum.
bling, by Betty with new blue ribbons,
and I covered the trunk ottoman with
bright chintz, and with Helen's help
made new mat 10 place before the bu.
reau, and we turned an old table-cloth
into napkins, and bought a new napkin.