Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-07-04
.Inaeeai Miss Crosgpatch. We

1Indeedi Miss Crosspateh- Well,
you'll not get the pretty present from
Us you were going to have when We get
our money for the berries we pick. So
thereP' And with this not very affee-
tionate adieu the boys took their tin
pals and baskets and started of for the
day. Grettie felt real unhappy. She
had meant to have everything so
right for the boys while mother was
away; and now things were all wrong,
and they had gone off feeling cross and
angry with her. 1t was all that hateful
new moon she had seen over her left
shoulder. She Just knew it!
Everything went wrong all day. She
broke one of the new china bread
plates, washing it. She tore her new
blue calico on a nail in the buttery.
She upset the pitcher, and lost
the whole of the cream she meant to
have for the berries the boys would
bring home with them; and when she
tried her hand at making shortcake for
their supper, as q sort of peace offering,
it was heavy and sticky and horrid
1t was no use. The new moon was
against her, and Grettie sat down in
despair to watch at the window for her
mothers coming, that she might pour
out on her bosom all her grievances.
She saw the csrrysl coming up the
road at last, and started joyOusly to
meet If. OH wasn't it nice to have
dear, good mother coming home, to
make the crooked places straight and
the wrong things right! The boys had
met the carriage on the road, and were
in behind, with their baskets full of
berries, beside the stained tin pals,
which told Of berries sold. Grettie
wondered if they had told her mother
how cross she had been to them and
about the breakfast and all. But no!
Their happy faces didn't look tell-tale.
So Grettie jumped up on the wheel, and
hugged and kissed her mother half
dozen times, before she would let her
get out of the carriage.
''Wen, and how did you make out
housekeeping, daughter?" asked Mrs
Grah6on, as she united her bonnet
strings.
"0hl mamma" began Grettie, with
tears ready to fall, "everything went
wrong. 1 Imeant to do it all so spIen-
did. Didn't the boys tell you? But
it was all the new moon, and 1 couldn't
help it." And here poor Grettie broke
down
s'Come, sis. never mind nowr' cried
Harry. 1--WE had enough; and, mann
ma, She only oversight herself a little.
We didn't care. Did we, Joe? See
here, Grettie. We sold nine quarts of
berries to Mrs. Beal, and she gave US
dollar; and now Joe and can buy you
the book you were wishing for the other
day. Won't it be jolly reading it aloud
this winter?n
Grettie laughed through her tears
now. They were awful good broth
ers," she declared, as she threw her
arms around their necks and kissed her
thanks.
''But, Grettie, what do you mean by
the new moon being the cause of all
your grievancesP'' asked mamma, a
little astonished at that curious sort of
reason for one s over-sleeping ones self.
Then Grettie told her how she had
seen it over her left shoulder the night
before, and Nurse Biddle said it was a
sure sign of bad luck, and she believed
in II now herself.
"Oh, Grettie! Grettier' cried her
mother, after Grettie had ended her
recital of her trials and troubles. g.
hope YOU are not such little lunatic as
to believe in any such superstition.
Don't you see all your mishaps were
but the result of your Encouragement?
You did not get up when told you to.
That made breakfast late for the boys.
Then you got out of temper with them,
because they were hungry and disap-
pointed in their poor fare and scanty
luncheon. That, you see, left you out
of tune all day; and dare say the torn
dress, broken china, and heavy short
cake can all be traced to something
more of the earth earthly than that
pretty bright new moon shining up in
the sky"
Then papa and the boys laughed so
heartily over Grettie's little elunacy'
that she ended in laughing over it her
self. And that night, when she looked
out of her window, before saying her
prayers, and saw the slender silver
crescent hanging up in the blue sky,
she whispered, smiling to herself:
Sc Ali pretty new moon, won't ever
hang my own misdoings on your horns
againp And from that day Grettie
Grafton put aside all her superstitious
notions, and can no longer be called
50 little lunatio. Mrs, G.. De BubnG,
tq1 N. Y. I71deDe1dent.