The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-09-21

always more or less OF nuisance ana llltl
Miss Jeans precoclty grew To an alarming e,
tent Us the years won't by The firm oI Shi.
a. Mac Neil hourishcd Jenny saved the pei
MES, and the only cXtravaganccs were in bt
half of little Miss Jeanc whose waXen fac
could only be coaXcd into glow by the aid q
some sort of melody. And the Older she grew
the wider her taste expanded 50 that after
while new piano was manTuycrcd and cngl
ncercd up the stairs, and almost filled Jenny
little parlor Many familiar kniclnacl
had 10 90 10 the wall or he tucked out of sigh
to make room for this great mountain Of ma
hogany.
ITS burnin' shame" SAID one OF the boys
"to give up the dear old fiddle for the jinglinl
Of them ivory puppets, Every new piece O
Miss Jeans sets a fellows teeth on edge. One
can't have any more fun at Macs; hes hung
up his fiddle and his bow; ana for my par
Pm almost sick to death of the infant phc
nOmcnen.h
So were the rest of the cronies-thcy fell of
one by one, and in Il few years none were left
but Shiel; he, poor fellow, sat night after
night with his head up against the wall, the
music gong in one ear and out Of The other
till it seemed to him he had become simply a
sort of hollow melancholy tube for the accom-.
mediation of echoes
What could Mac do, who had alone kept
pace with his daughter, and appreciated to the
full her remarkable prOticiency-what could
he do but long for Il larger, fuller, prOuder
scope Tor her? The ceilings were low in their
humble floor; the acoustic properties were en-
tircly wanting in that cramped but coy vicIni-
ty. Alas alasl the nest was all too small for
lis ll.ncdgcd inmates and the neighborhood
was not what it had been. Macs business in.
creased day by day He was getting to be
quite moneycd man, and really an authority
in music Bllsts Of Beethoven, Mozart, H.y.
den, and all the rest stared poor Shel IN the
face. Look which way he might, the sightlcss
balls OF these old masters followed him.
And Jenny, finding that the very walls of
the old nest were almost bursting asunder,
consented at last to move into Il fine new house
in n new ncIghbOrhoOd, and have new turnl-
ture and new clothes, new church and minis
ter, Il new butcher and baker, and, worst of all
some very superior and excellent servants, who
took the whole establishment out Of her hands
and left her high and dry upon the banks Of
with nothing to do but to enjoy
herself And all at once She began to be most
miserable Mr. MacNcil and his remarkable
daughter stepped out ol their nest aS the biih-
est finest, most sagacOus Of birds, left the
worthless tenement that had served its purpose,
and began forthwith to scratch and peck and
scramble for themselves in the most natural
and praiscworthy way. But poor Jenny stun
blcd at every step, and grew more icathclless
and fOrlorn as the years went by Pretty she
was yet, far prettier than her daughter, but
that did not seem to win for her the admira-
ton she most coveted PoorJcnny would have
gladly taken the pondcrOus form and heavy
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. MacNcil SO admlrcd. Do
what She would, the old accent that was once
50 very dear to her husbands ear still clumg to
her
Don't say ycrc' for here, Jenny" cXpostu-
lated Mr. MacNcIl; "and I'd rather do without
anything at the table than the letter h, except
wncn it's one letter too many"
SO Jenny began to speak only from sheer
necessity. She never could please her hus-
band any more do what she would, and didn't
care to find favor in the sight of others 1t
began to be apparent to Jenny that she was "A
clog and Il burden to her husband and her
To the whole world IN which
they delighted to livc--and there came time
when she resolved no longer to be the stun
blngblock to their popularity.
There was m"Stcd(e at the house that night,
ana al me doors were open. Inc nails were
lllicu WIN flowers, some OF them Drought
rom the florist in tubs OF wide dimensions;
ana jenny, IN pam black SILK, crouched be-
hind one of these while Mr.. MacNei was
bringing ms daughter down The stairs ana IN
10 the crowded parlors. Macs nose was high
in the arr he was dressed in the finest OF
while the musical prodigy, who
was now welIgroWn woman, swept along in
4 rnstllng white silk that the dress-maker
wouldn't let Jenny do even the corlng for.
On they went and Jenny's heart swclled big
with pride, then sank with modification, for
.wo fine ladies near her, leaning upon the
arms of II good-naluredlooking gentleman, be
gan all ut once TO Cavil at poor Jenny, who had
never in her whole life said evil of anybody.
"Thc mamma appears to be invisible" said
me of them. "'They say she is shut up IN the
,oal hole on these occasions; and no wonder
when one thinks of the bundcrs of the poor
"Pcrhaps she's in the Kitchen" said the 9th.
II. II have heard that is where Nr MaCNeil
irst found her"