The Red Cloud chief., 1878-01-03
HATTIE'S SACRIFICE.
BY AUNT PEGGIE.

BY AUNT PEGGIE.
eyes, I will marry him, and end the
struggle! Life is not long, anyway. In
q little while we will all be as though
we never had been. and if l ann faithful
to the end, 1 shall havea joy not known
on earth. What is the time here COM
pared to eternity? Why should we fret
and grieve when we are denied what
we wish for? 1t is wrong; so 1 will try
to think no more of Francis, but marry
Mr.. Grant, and end this wretehed strug-
gle to keep up appearances on nothing.
Beside, I'll have no peace unless 1 do.
Father and mother are SO anxious to
have me accept him they will be down.
right angry with me if I refuse"
Thus sOliloquized Hattie Mayham one
cold evening in December, as she sat by
the open wood fire in her room, trying
to look on the bright side Of the ques-
tion-trying to console herself for the
sacrifice she was contemplating.
ooh. if 1 had only been brought up to
support myself, how much better it
would be for us all" exclaimed she.
Mother does not need me since Katie
and Bell have grown up, and l should
have been teaching all these long years
since / left school, instead of being de-
pendent on father and waiting for
Francis to come back and marry me.
Ugh! 1 feel ashamed of myself when /
think of the useless. aimless life l have
led since I left school. Yet, really, l
am not to blame. I have begged more
than once to be allowed to earn my liv-
ing like Carrie White and Mabel
Vaughan; they seem so happy and in
dependent, earning their four hundred
dollars a year and doing as they please
with it. But then, as Bell says, they
are common people; no real gentleman
would permit his daughter to work for
wagesr What a ridiculous idea for
poor people to get into their heads.
"But it is no use talking" continued
she, drawing a long breath. 81 may as
well 60 to bed. Father and mother
have that prejudice firmly fixed in their
minds, and no reasoning of mine will
root it out, so I'll just end it all by tell
ing papa in the morning that Ill marry
MI. Grant. He has a nice home to take
me to and plenty of money, and l can
help my family SO much; but l might
have been tightening the burden all
these four years, if father would only
let me.
"Ah, me! nearly eleven o'clock. 1
must retire. It is the last evening l
shall be Francis Whittier's betr0thed
wife. Tomorrow Mr.. Grant will be
here, and then
O, Heavenly Father! help me to be
brave and do what is my dutyT And
with this prayer, Hattie arose very
slowly and prepared for bed.
Poor Hattie! it was hard for her to
give up the one bright dream of her life,
and marry a man old enough to be her
father. But what could she dOp They
were poor; her father owned no prop.
ty, being only a book keeper in a large
mercantile house in Cincinnati, but re-
ceived a fair salary-enough to live
very comfortably had he been satisfied
with that, but, like too many others. he
aspired higher and tried to live like q
millionaire.
His three daughters were ~fashionably
educated: they dressed elegantly, and
one not knowing their circumstances
would have supposed him worth his
thousands. OF course all this dressing
nd keeping up appearances on such
small capital must require considerable
managing, and the girls were early edu'
Gated in the mysteries of dress making
and the faculty OF making much out Of
little.
They were, therefore, quite industri.
Gus, and not nearly as worthless as Hat
tie would have us suppose. although ali
their work went to keep up appearan'
ces. Their fashionable friends would
have held up their hands in horror could
they have seen the amount OF turning
and making over old dresses. the shift
ing, brushing and re-trimming neeessa'
~ to keep these four ladies looking like
~other folks"
Hattie had often rebelled at 80 much
striving and straining to make q gen.
teel appearance, and had begged TO OK
allowed to do something for herself.
Her education was more thorough than
that of most fashionable young ladles'
and she could have taught very accept
ably. But her father would not con-
sent to it; he would not have one OF bis
daughters toiling in Q school room. aud
being criticised BY Ill the foolish. ~
tplgeat psxsats wA . alSpleaease sae