Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-02-20
MIR. MULTAHNEY.
Darper's Bazaar.

Grandfather didn't leave me his prop
erty, after ALL l might have known he
wouldn't, because he said he would
Grandfather always did something en-.
tirely different from what he set out
to do.
There, for instance, was the day--we
had just got nicely settled in our coun-
try home that we were all waiting
patiently for the COW grandfather had
gone to buy. Goodness gracious knows
how many quarts Of delicious milk we
had drunk, how much luscious cream
and strawberries we had eaten, how
many crooks Of sweet golden butter we
had churned, and how many pats Of
cottage cheese we had made-in imagi-
nation-when he returned, with no COW
and n handsome parlor organ. Nobody
could play on it. Grandfather said
somebody could learn but nobody ever
did, and so we had to try and console
ourselves for the disappointment by re-
flecting what fine addition to our
somewhat soanty parlor furniture the
organ was, until the morning grand
father suddenly made up his mind that
he needed another horse, and brought
our gentle, star-faced Daisy home in
stead.
There were four of us in the family
grandfather tall, straight, eccentric.
obstinate old man mother, the sweetest
and dearest woman that ever lived
and who should know better than her
only child myself, plain, quiet girl
of five-and-twenty and my cousin
Eta, just of age, but looking about
seventeen pretty, selfish, idle, and
vain.
Now you're thinking added the last
three adjectives on account of the first
one. Bnt didn't, upon my word, for
l tried my very best to love the blue
eyed, fair-haired, teasing thing when
she first came among us, her father and
mother both having died during the
previous year; but l couldn't; she was
so thoroughly wrapped up in herself, so
sensible to her own wants and wishes,
and so utterly insensibe to even the
rights of others.
Grandfather was forever scolding and
finding fault about her, and wondering
how his grave, honest, elder son, John,
came to have such II good-for-naught
daughter, and always praising me, who
was the child of his second son, William,
and saying that was the comfort Of his
lie, and should have the cottage and
grounds when ne died, but | "must
promise this was the invariable con-
clusion-" to take care of Eta until she
married, which is sure to be before long,
rs men are always taken with pretty,
doll-likc face and kittenish ways and
never care much for sensible-looking,
sensiblc-acting girls like you, my dear"
OF course | promised, although l
hadn't the slightest idea Of grandfath-
cr's diving soon when he talked in this
way; neither had he, or he would have
said nothing on the subject, for he was
a hale, hearty man of seventy, appa-
rently good for another twenty years
lease of life, when one day, having
started to build n hen-coop, and begin
ming to dig we'll instead, he had a ter
rble chill, and died in an hour.
And when his will was read the day
after the funeral, |, for one, was very
little surprised to hear that all his pos
sessions, with the exception of five
hundred dollars to my mother and five
hundred to myself, were left to that
good-for-naught," the daughter of his
son, John.
And it was only week after the
reading of the will whea my cousin
Eta said to me, with a calmness and
GOODNESS somewhat astonishing in such
babyish-looking little thing, you
must bo looking for another home,
Faith. am going to marry James
Read "A young man grandfather had
Getested-" in short time, and we will
want the whole cottage ourselves"
SO mother and l went up into our
room-a fine large square room it was,
right over the porch, where the branches
of hundred-year-old oak-tree served
us in summer for window blinds and
curtains, and the birds that made their
nests there woke us up in the early
morning with their musical chatter
and held n consultation rs to what we
had better do.
wasn't well enough educated To be a
governesS, and couldn't sew well enough
10 he seamstresS, and, besides that.
mother and couldn't bear the thought
of being separated-we never had been
since the day father died, ten years
before and we finally came to the
conclusion that a small store was the
very thing.
What kind should it be? was the next
question, inclined to books, papers
and stationery but mother shook hel