Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-09-20

Haydn, and all the rest stared poor Shiel
in the face. Look which way he would,
the sightless balls of these old masters
followed him.
And Jenny, finding that the very
walls of the old nest were almost burst
ing asunder, consented at last to move
into fine new house in a new neigh
borhood, and have new furniture and
new clothes, new church and minister,
a new butcher and baker, and, worst of
all, some very superior and excellent
servants, who took the whole establish
ment out of her hands, and left her
high and dry upon the banks of pros
perity, with nothing to do but to enjoy
herself. And all at once she began to
be most miserable. Nc. Mac Neil and
his remarkable daughter stepped out of
their nest as the blithest, finest, most
sagacious of birds, left the worthless
tenement that has served its purpose,
and began forthwith to scratch and peck
and scramble for themselves in the most
natural and praiseworthy way. But
poor Jenny stumbled at every step, and
grew more featherless and forlorn as
the years went by. Pretty she was yet,
far prettier than her daughter, but this
did not seem to win for her the admira-
ton she most coveted. Poor Jenny
would have gladly taken the ponderous
form and heavy features of Mrs. De-
lancy We're, could she have gained
thereby that lady's severely critical taste
and talent, or the long bony neck of
Miss Perry, if it could still hold those
wonderfully high notes which Mr.. Mac
Neil so admired. Do what she would,
the old accent that was once so dear to
her husbands ear still clung to her.
"Don't say 'yere' for 'here, Jenny"
expostulated Mr.. Mac Neil; "and I'd
rather do without anything at the table
than the letter h, except when it's one
letter too many"
So Jenny began to speak only from
sheer necessity. She never could please
her husband any more, do what she
would, and didn't care to find favor in
the sight of others. 1t began to be ap-
parent to Jenny that she was clog and
burden to her husband and her daugh-
ter-nay, to the whole world in which
they delighted to live-,and there came
time when she resolved no longer to
be the stumbling block to their popu-
larity.
There was a musicale at the house
that night, and all the doors were open.
The halls were filled with flowers, some
of them brought from the florist in tubs
of wide dimensions; and Jenny, in a
plain black silk, CT ouched behind one of
these while Mr.. Mac Neil was bringing
his daughter down the stairs and into
the crowded parlors. Macs nose was
high in the air; he was dressed in the
finest of broadcloth, while the musical
prodigy, who was now q we'll grown
young woman, swept along in rustling
white silk that the dressmaker wouldn't
let Jenny do even the cording for. On
they went, and Jenny's heart swelled
big with pride, then sank with mortifica-
tion, for two fine ladies near her, lean
ing upon the arms of good-natured-
looking gentleman, began all at once to
cavil at poor Jenny, who had never in
her whole life said evil of any body,
"The mamma appears to be invisi-
BILE, said one of them. "They say she
is shut up in the coal hole upon these
occasions; and no wonder, when one
thinks of the blunders of the poor crea-
ture."
"Perhaps she's in the Kitchen" said
the other. "I have heard that is where
Mr.. Mac Neil first found her."
Then up spoke the good-natured-
looking gentleman, and said that if she
could make a good ragout there, her
husband ought to rise up and call her
blessed, for it was finer accomplish
ment than any he could remember; and
one thing was certain, she was far
prettier woman than most of them there
that night.
But Jenny did not hear this; and if
she had, it would not have comforted
her.
A little later on, one of their old
friends, the wife of q journeyman prin-.
ter, in the dear old neighborhood OF the
forsaken nest, was startled by the ap-
partition of comely face, dear to the
olden time of merriment and song, but
now blurred with tears; and the tale she
told, Mrs. M'Shane anticipated every
word of.
"My poor bairnie," she said, "I
knew how 'twould be when I saw Macs
way of going on. His stuck-up airs and
his talk about strophes and symphonies
and outlandish heathenisms boded no
good. But so long as I have roof, you
shall share it,"
But Jenny was independent, and soon
got situation far above the one in
which she first saw her husband. As
luck would have it, the old rooms were
just vacated. Mrs. M'Shane had most
of tho old furniture; so before the month
was out Jenny was back in her nest, but
sick at heart, and sometimes ready to
die.
In the mean time we must run back
month to the scene of festivity
where we left Mac with his head high
in the air, and skirts of the musical
prodigy trailing full yard behind her.
Neither OF them missed Jenny till the
splendid repast was ready, and the
guests were not disconsolate for the
society of their hostess. But now. in.
deed, it was time for Jenny to take her
rightful place; and with many an in.
ward prayer that she would be as little
unequal to the occasion as could be ex-
pected of her, and resolve to caution
her only to speak when necessary, and
certainty in his heart that she would
at least be pleasant to look upon, Mr..
Mac Neil awaited his wife. 1 needn't
say he waited in vain; and two or three
of the servants not being able to find
her, Mr.. Mac Neil, in high displeasure,
sent Shiel off with an immediate order
for her peremptory appearance before
him. Shiel hunted high and low, and
came back to his partner with wild
look of alarm in his face, and his now
scanty locks almost on end.
"She's clean gone mot sign of
her |" he said.
Mr. Mao Nai1 Woo ,ooro ,,oo5 tko,,