The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-25
WHO Is MY NEIGHBOR?

"Oh, what lovely bunch of pansies!
Is it possible they are for me?" | ex-
claimed TO Il tiny, brown-eyed girl who
placed fragrant bouquet of the gold
and purple dewy blooms in my ham
mock in which l was idly swinging I'M
der the big maple.
"Aunty Lee sent Them" said the
wee child, d" and she hopes the mount
ain air will soon make you well, and
she's your neighbor down under the
hill"
"Who is this neighborly Aunty Lee?"
l asked the woman with whom | board
ed when next she came within hearing
of my voice.
ooh, then, she's sent you some
posies,' replied talkative Mrs. Evans,
coming briskly from the garden and
sitting down on the steps of the little
porch so that she might entertain me
while she was Smelling her peas, thus
''killing tew birds with one stun,'' as
she said. 81 was wonderin' tew my
self not tew minutes ago how long
'twould be afore she'd find out about
We an send we suthin. | can't see, for
my part, how she can afford to do as
she does
"Why, what does she do?' l in
quired. "Oh. she says she aims to be
neighborly, and if anybody happens to
be sick anywheres around she sends
EN- little things to eat an flowers to
cheer 'em up, as she says; and she al
ways has her knittin' work in her peck
ct, and her odd job of knitting as she
calls it, grows eout like magic into
gloves and mittens and wristlets an
stockin's that she gives away"
"To her friends-people fully able to
buy them, l SUPPOSED"
so dear, no. To poor children an
tew ole men an women that, | s'pose,
are really needy, an that set great
store by her warm and handsome pres
ents, for her yarns are as bright as her
flowers, an I've told my man a good
many times that the color went half
toward maxim her little gift so well
come. An then she has so much
comp'ny."
"Ricn people from the city, whose
visits she returnS?'
80 land sakes! no; poor folks that
are tickled most to death to get invi-
tation to her pleasant little home. Yis,
her home is an amazin' pleasant one,
though her man is only poor mechan-
ic. She's always a sayin' that she'd
rather dew little good every day as
she goes along than tew be waitin'
to dew some great thing when she gets
able, and then, p'raps, lose her oppor-
tunity and never do nothin'. | told
her one day last year, says |, Mis- Lee
says |, should ruther be putin
sumthin' in the bank for rainy day
than to be givin' away all the time
And, says she, Mrs. Evings, says she,
that's your way an its good way.
don't find no fault with it, but all
these things that give away would
never git into the bank, an so, you see,
they'd be lost, an should pass away
without ever dom anything for my
Master. An | don't want to go to bed
night without thinkin' that | have
that day tried tew Tighten some fellow
mortal's burden, brought smile to
some face, or streak O. sunshine tew
some heart, fits only givin' bunch
O posies in the right speret'"
And these flowers cost her a good
deal, first and last, SUPPOSED" said L,
caressing my pansies.
"Oh, 'twould cost me good deal to
run SIGH a flower garden as she does,
but Mis- Lee says she's not strong, so
she gifts fresh air, sun baths and exer-
else in her garden and spends her time
workin' in there instead of visitin'.
She returns all her calls by sendin' her
compr ments with bunch o. posies.n
"She hires someone to carry them
about, / presumep'
"Massy, no. There isn't child in
the village but what would run its legs
off for Aunty Lee" and, having fin
ished Smelling her mess of peas, my
talkative little hostess trotted off about
her work again, saying, as she disap-
peared through the doorway: " IT
well enough to be neighborly, Of course,
but Mis- Lee may see the time when
she'd wished she had leetle sum-
thin eout at interest"
The Vermont mountain air agreed
with me, my health gradually improv-
ing, and | stayed on and on, week after
week, spending great part of my
time, when the weather did not posi-
lively forbid, in my hammock under
the naples. AS yet l had not once
seen my neighbor, Aunty Lee, but grew
to love her on account of the pretty
nosegays that daily found their way
from her hand to mine by one and an.
other child messenger.
One night, late in August, there was
a heavy thunder-shower. The sudden
downfall of rain swelled the little river
that skirted our village to veritablC
mountain torrent. A mill-dam some
miles up the stream had broken away
and the angry flood came rushing down,
sweeping all before it.