The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1878-09-07

| been IN and abused me-yes, abused ;
I can use no other word women do fly
IN such temper at their dress makers
about the fit of her dress, declaring it to
be 6 utterly ruined, when it only want
ed taking up little on one shoulder and
letting down an inch or SO in front and
| Wills right arm was almost disabled
from heavy load of books he had car
ried long distance the day before how
men can have the heart to give a mans
burden to child I can't see)-when
aunt's letter fell like bomb-shell into
our very nearly disheartened little camp.
"DEAR FoLxs.- "A friend OF mlne-
an Inglishman" (aunt's language was
correct enough, but at times her spelling
was somewhat peculiar)-" " who came
here purporting to start in business,
took the fever, fingered az few months,
and died, leaving, heaven knows why,
his only child, daughter, who will
eventually be q not to-be-snifed at
airess, to my care. Having been deli
cately reared in the midst of devotion
and tenderness, this place, only suited
to bold, strong natures, is little too
ruff for her. So she desires-at least
desire for her--a home in the North,
and I wish that home to be with you.
"My niece Mary, who inherits the
disposition of her father to a great de-
gree-and he would have gone out of his
way any day to give even dunn brute
pleasure ] am sure, be kind to
her. Carol will love her for her beau
| ty, if for nothing else, and the rest OF
| you will love her because she is most
lovable. Her maid Will accompany her.
SAT present her affairs are in tan
gle, but I hope to unravel them in the
course of few months, and then you viii
be recompensed for whatever extra ex-
pense she may cause you. I would in
close check at present writing, but all
my funds are invested in a speculation
| from which / except to reap much pro-
&c. Do the best you can until you hear
from me again, when / will farther I'M
fold my plans in regard to Miss Ashbell,
who, by-the-bye, starts tomorrow.
"AUNT."
No wonder CONSERVATION and dismay
were depicted on every countenance
when 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 hum
BILE homeg
What could aunt be thinking about
True, she didn't know exactly how poor
we we're, for we'd been too proud to ac-
knowledge our extreme poverty in our
| few and far-between letters. On the
contrary, I 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, fo1 even few
months. Was ever any thing SO mala-
propos and vexatious z OF course Miss
Ashbell would look with scorn on our
seven roomed dwelling, with a back gar
den twenty-five by twenty i've, and a
I,eourt-yafd 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
vidiously compare his frank, lmpulsive,
rather brusque manners with the repose
and "awful dignity of the languid
swells of her own land.
And somebody else might be attracted
toward her-men are go susceptible to
woman's beauty-somebody who now
thought my brown face the sweetest in
the world. The very thought made my
heart stop beating.
And the maid? Even il we could
make arrangements to accommodate her
and it seemed utterly impossible for
us to do so-Betty, 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 in house-cleaning times
those times that try mems souls and
women's soles--she scorned the idea of
an assistant.
s'No, ma'am, I'll have no strangers
pokin' roun' me. When I'm not able to
do the work OF this house alone, I'll go. !"
And mother-dear, shrinking, grief
stricken mother-how would she bear
the advent of this dainty Miss Ashbell !?
But we could do nothing to avert the
impending misfortune. Evenif we had
thought of disobeying our fathers last
command, and refusing aunt the favor
she had not asked, but, in her usual
decisive 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. I must confess I 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 sharp nod Of her head,
and said, slowly and emphatically:
"Betty'n have to go now, sure. She
can't stand no fine young ladies and sas-
thin"
Helen went to mother, put her arms
about her neck, aud with a kiss and a
smile told her of the expected visitor,
adding, with an assumption of gayety:
ssShe sha' mt come nesr you at all, mann
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 us.
Mother said never a word, but began
brushing the hair back from her tenn
pies witE roSn hands in nervous way
she had when anything grieved or an
noyed her.
And then we began preparing for Miss
Ashbell. Wills room was to be given
up to her, and VIII Carols room was
scarcely large enough for himself and
his art traps, as he called them) was to
be slowed away in the loft--a proceed
ing which he viewed with immense dis
satisfaction. "I'll smother up there in
hot weather." he said, with wry face.
g oh, I wish there wasn't any Miss
Ashbell Why don't she go to q
hotel 2''
Why don't she ?" echoedI
I said we began to prepare for her,
but for lack of the before-mentioned sill
yer and gold, our preparations were Of
the simplest kind. Carol made and put
up two pretty brackets, and hung, with
sigh-for he hated to part with chem
the few pictures he possessed on The
walls. Hoped back the white curtains
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