Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-10-09

rate, was young, handsome, ana recently
widowed-at least the length and new
ness of her veil indicated TO observing
feminine eyes that the bereavement was
| recent, and that is all the gossips knew
about her.
The summer term brought Adelina
again to the old red school house, but SO
changed outwardly that we hardly knew
her for the sombre blackbird of the
previous winter. She futtered in one
morning dressed in white, with sash and
shoulder-knots of cherry ribbons-the
| loveliest creature ever saw.
At noon she came to me and said, very
gravely:
"After to-day I am not coming any
more"
"Whyw
"I am going to the city to live; but
you were kind to me the first day | came,
and / tell you for that reason, and be-
cause you didn't mind untying my hood
for me-"
I felt her going SO keenly that could
not study, try as l would, and in conse-
quence nay grammar lesson was de-
cided failure. went home from school
her way that day, taking care that the
other scholars should not suspect my
motives.
When came in sight of her she was
standing motionless by the roadside, at
tentively watching yellow-jacket buzz
Canada thistle.
Years after, when miles and miles
away from that spot, | could shut my
eyes of hazy October afternoon, with a
five o'clock sun dipping toward the tree
tops, and see little girl, lovely as the
blush of the sunset, gazing pensively at
bee upon common roadside flower.
"Did it sting your" asked, assum-
ing very sympathetic air.
| ono; bees never sting me, and I've
watched them dance on the thistle-heads
all summer"
Z" did not know that you loved them.
Most girls are afraid of bees"
Yes; but am not"
She turned from the rank patch of
thistles and slowly resumed her walk
homeward.
When we came to the lane where our
paths separated she put up her little
arms to be taken and kissed before leav-
ing me, as she said, to come back no
more"
Be good to yourself, Eddie, and
next winter, if any little lonely Ade-
linas come cold and frightened to the old
red school-house yonder, be kind to them
as you were to me-"
Something choked my throat, and I
could not say word; but kissed her
more than once; and after she had
slipped from my arms and was twenty
rods away, | sat down and cried like a
baby, because i was never to see Adeiina
again.
twas notl long before the rumor was rife
in the neighborhood that Mrs. Lagrange
had married middle-aged city million
aire, and that the young widow and her
child had found a new protector in place
of the one death had taken from them.
Years fitted BY was twenty-four;
/ had fought through the great rebellion
entered the army private and came
out of it q captain, shattered in health,
and utterly depleted in pocket, to find
myself at home again, i'll and altogether
distrustful of fortunes smile.
In my frequent walks to the village
postottice | often passed by the old red
school house, and never without sigh
of regret for the many happy, care-free
days spent within its battered walls.
Among the letters handed to me one
morning was one post-marked New York,
which informed of the agreeable fact
that, through the fundamentally of
friend of mine whom he was anxious to
serve, the undersigned, Mr.. Maxwell,
had been induced to extend to me
commercial opening at the liberal salary
of two thousand a year, to be Increased
if merited. There was fortune for me in
the offer, and accepted it with alacrity.
Mr.. Maxwell, a rich New York mer-
chant, from the first took lively inter
est IN my advancement. The unknown
friend | could not account for in any
other way than by surprising it to be
some soldier comrade whom | had be-
friended in the past.
| Within month | was fairly estab-
lished at my new post Of duty, and sue
ceeded in pleasing Mr.. Maxwell 50 well
that, at the beginning of my second year
he sent me to Europe in the interest of
the house. When | returned, / was
given a weeks vacation, which / spent
among the breezy hills of my old coun-
try home, passing the pleasant September
days in tramping through the woods and
fields and by-ways that were the chosen
hsunts of my boyhood
| was just turning the curve in the