Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1878-02-28

tried to forget. 1 can't tell what is
right for me to do. I'm sorry l said
anything" ...a.. .........,..
"No, Nora," SAID Miss Buckingham
promptly. "You should tell me all
your wishes and feelings. If they are
wrong, l can help you outgrow them,
if right'-she hesitated-"why, l
must help you"
Nora fell on her knees with the
most impulsive movement Miss Buck
ingham had ever seen.
ooh I do believe you are an an
gel -
ear from it, Nora said Miss
Buckingham, smiling, "but I've set
out to make you happy, and if find
whims and notions in your head, |
suppose III have to follow them out
But seriously, dear child, must say
l have had little uneasy feeling of
responsibility in my heart ever since
I've had you. And since I have al
ready won the reputation of eccentric
ity in the world, there's nothing to
hinder my being as odd as [ please
That's the one great blcssedness, bv
the way, and now let me hear your
plans
Il have no plans. I have only
longings do something for them.
Well, plans grew fast, as they al
ways do when planners are anxious to
he p. Long into the night they
talked, and the very next day work
began. Nora captured poor little
wretch who came to beg, found she
had no parents, and took her in to
Miss Buckingham, Notwithstanding
the horror of the servants. The lady
decided to take her, and Nora pro-
ceeded to make her decent with more
real happiness than she had ever
known.
Well, so it went on. Before the
end Of month Miss Buckingham
found herself more enthusiastically
interested than she had ever been in
anything. And Nora grew beautiful
and happy as the months rolled by.
and one after another the wretched
girl was gathered out Of the streets
and brought to a home.
And Mrs. Grundy ? Well, the old
lady was shocked, Of course. Theor-
elically she is benevolent. She gives
money (what she can spare she IS
sorry for the poor, wishes she could
do something, but touch one Of the
wretches-mercy it isn't to be thot'
of. And to bring them with nobody
knows what horrid diseases, right IN
to an elegant house on a fashionable
avenue, right among them-why,
really, you must admit it rather
shocking, And to refuse fashionable
invitations, let her beautiful dresses
fade on the shelves, drive her elegant
carriage into the lowest streets of the
city. Just TO hunt up the most wretch
ed we'll surely that is going a little
too far
And as to visiting her, why, really
it ism just the thing-is it now to
90 where the door is opened by one
of those low creatures, who has been
familiar with vice and crime from her
infancy. One doesn't like to come IN
contact with that class.
TO gradually Miss Buckingham s
fashionable friends dropped out of her
acquaintance, but she dld not miss
them for besides feeling the deepest
interest in the girls she rescued and
fitted for useful lives, she found a cir
Gle of real people who had found out
the happiness of an earnest purpose
and earnest work in the world.
And the fashionable did help her
in one way too, for as soon as she had
trained and fitted one girl to take a
responsible place in some ones k:tch-
en-, nursery, or sewing room, dozen
places opened to her. BY telling a
little of her story, Miss Buckingham
always managed to interest even the
sluggish heart of fashionable wom-
an, thus producing a better relation
than common between mistress and
servant. Besides, no one thought of
putting Miss Buckingham's 5irls on a
level with others. There was self
respect, a womanly dignity Of charac-
ter abont them that always made 1t
self felt.
AN institution is but the lengthen-
ed shadow of one man or woman,
though the learned author didn't say
So THIS institution, though it never
had name nor constitution, nor a
board of directors except Miss Buck
ingham and Nora, grew and flourish
ed. And when at a ripe old age,
with hair white as snow, aud the very
face Of an argel, Miss Buckingham
laid down her burdens, and drifted
out over the river, home, hundreds CT
girls and women, who owed more than