The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-03-13
MY AUNT'S WILL.

sister. with an ag9fsFaSIbg LauBh'
do not claim TO be q paragon, by any
msans and it would take qualities
Gtge short OF saints to poke down in
the country and hobble through life at
the beck Of a fractions old woman. l
hail not go, for one i"
o. Csrolnel " said mother, in mild
tone Of rebuke.
Paor little soul! She rarely ever SIS
cartel her authority before the elder
girls. They were all Rushtons, every
iach. and poor little mamma had learned
ali about the Rushton bio d years be-
fore wss born. They were g stern,
r.7oud arrogant set, and, in her meek
eyes, we're more like queens and ogres
than her husbands relatives. How
Gerald Rushtun came to marry poor
country curate's daughter remained q
nutery 60 his family till the day Of his
death, and with q woman's instinct
fCezheued by the memory OF my mothers
al 'ace snd fearful eyes, think she has
puzzled over the ENIGMA through many
lonely hours, only the question might
have been put to her consciousness q
LITTLE differently. As, how was it that
she had been brought to hold in idolatry
y man of my fathers temperament.
lie wss very unlike her imagined hero,
quite unlike the lover she had expected
would come up the rose-walk at Aubrey
rsc;ory to ask her TO marry him. My moth.
or 1srely ever spoke of her. later years as
wife. bot often with even enthusiasm of
tbsir frc meeting, and the childish
ioudne5s with which she regarded him.
It had been made matter of reProsch
70 les always by his relatives, and my
mother, [ think, never entirely forgave
herself TOR her share in his alienation from
his family. BE died with that sntagO-
uism in his heart, and my mother had
suis red silently, rearing her three girls
IA welt as she could on the slender patri-
uanv lett her, with Just enough OF the
old curate's dignity Of character 10 re
strain her from appealing to the great
people dowu in Kent.
Caroline. now ia her twenty-third
wear. had been waiting some year,,
rather irnpatientIy, Tor a duke OF viscOuaV
IA come down into the country and
marry her for her peachy cheeks and
Aos.blsck eyes But nowadays dukes
Draier A bad complexion and 10000 a
year to captivating young person whose
sote dover is in mere personal attraction.
Edith was already twenty-one, and
fett sggrieved at her sister ior not hav-
;op made a match, leaving the field TO
heI-
Not strong ike Caro-, Edith was, how
ever, 8 pretty girl, with fine, ladylike
hands, and a carriage a princess might
have envied.
believe I was seldom thought of by
any one until it was discovered was too
much grown to utilize the cast-of frOcks
al The other girls, and was now tall,
awkward girl of eighteen, with large
elbows and sandy complexion, like the
Aabreys. It was also discovered about
tbis time that had made much of my
musical chance, and, what with few
lessons from the village organist and the
drumming through long winter evenings
Oh the old harpsichord in the sitting
room, 7 hsd suddenly become proficient
n a small way; enough so, at least, to
admit Of my taking lew Of Miss Hsr-
mou's scholars in the afternoons. The
money esroed in this way seemed, no
doubt prodigiOus sum TO poor nanny,
whose common condition was state OF
perfect inpecuniosity. Mother had often
declared that both Caro- and Edith pos
esse,l the hands of musicians, so slender,
aupple and white, while mine were over
srowu from the wringing of dishNcloths,
sud red from boiling water.
Providence had given me my bony
hands with music in them, and WON
derfuI voice, which Miss Harmon had
declared msde me almost seem pretty
She never knew, kind soul, how she
made nv heart ache with dull, horrible
Dsin. whea she dealt me this deprecalory
praise.
The girls and nanny were in the
little dun,eoloTed morning-room, which
had ouce been my fathers study, with
closed binds, ripping up an ancient
chair, upholstered in grand Arab pat
terra Of scarlet and gold, to construct an
oy.uIrsks for Caroliue's cherry silk, the
sleeves and bodice of which were quite
boyoud repair. Ine GUAR had been
shlauded IN gay boilsnd fcT the lsst
dozen wears. snd The silk resliv unworn.
VINO ever thought a letter woulQ non
its way IRON the outside world TO our
sober title house behind these pollard |
willows, Ike 50 many trsnsmigEa.ed |
Rushtous, tall and angular, srill keeping |
rusrl over msmmy snd her brood.
DO open it, mamma" said Edith
impatiently. Very likely it is from
some forgotten creditor Of poor psPa's."
Poor little mammy's esp ribbons trem-
Bs5 and fu5tered while she read the
Z - ,-.ri- ,-rit+en II MIGHT be. BY an