Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-09-18


OF hollow melancholy tube for the nc
commodation of echoes.
What could Mac do, who had alon,
Kept pace with his daughter, and ap
preciated to the fun her remarkabl,
proficiency-what could he do but Ions
ior = larger, fuller, prouder scope fol
her? The ceilings were low in theil
humble floor; the acoustic properties
were entirely wanting in that crampet
but cozy vicinity. Alas! alas! the nes
was all too small for It's flll-hedged in
mates, and the neighborhood was no,
what it had BEEN Macs business in
creased day by day. He was getting tc
be quite moneyed man, and really an
authority in music. Busts of Beethoven
Mozart, 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 ut last to move
into fine new house in new neighbour
hood and have new furniture and new
clothes, a 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 other hands, and left her high
and dry upon the banks of Prosperity,
with nothing to do but to enjoy herself.
And all at once she began to be most
miserable. Mr.. Mac Neil and his re-
markable daughter stepped out of their
nest as the blithest, finest, most sagaci.
Gus of birds, left theworthless tenement
that has served its purpose, and began
forthwith to scratch and peck and
scramble for themselves in the most ma
tural and praiseworthy way. But Door
Jenny stumbled at every step. and grew
more featherless and forlorn as the
years went by. Pretty she was vet, far
prettier than her daughter, but this did
not seem to win for her the admiration
she most coveted. Poor Jenny would
have gladly taken the ponderous form
and features of Mrs. Delaney We're
could she have gained thereby that
ladys 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 adj
mired. Do what she would, the old ac-
cent that was once SO dear to her hus-
bands ears still chung to her.
Don't say 'yere' for here Jenny"
expos.ulated Mr.. Mac Neil; "and I'd
rather do without any thing 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
a burden to her husband and her
daughter-nay, to the whole world in
which they delighted to live-and there
came time when she resolved no long
er to be the stumbling block to their
ro,s,,ln ritv
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 plain black silk,
crouched behind one of these
while Mr.. MacNeil 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 prodi-
gy, who was now well-grown young
woman. swept along in rustling white
silk that the dress-maker wouldn't let
Jenny do even the cording for. On
they went, and Jenny's heart swelled
big with pride. then sank with NORTH
cation, for two fine ladies near her,
leaning upon the arms of good-nat-
ured-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.
ble," 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
creature"
Perhaps she is in the Kitchen" said
the other. Il 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. hel
husband ought to rise up and call hel
blessed, for it was finer accomplish.
ment than any he could remember
and one thing was certain, she was q
far prettier woman than most of them
there that night.
But Jenny did not hear this; and il
she had, it would not have comforted
her.
A little later on, one of their old
friends, the wife of a journeyman prin
ter, in the dear old neighborhood of the
forsaken nest, was startled by the appa
ritlon of a comely face, dear to the
olden time of merriment and song, bu
now blurrad with toorS. opd tho talt