St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-10-24
Along the Line.

won't you eUer learn what dOOr-matS
are made for ?n cried Meb Wright, fas-
tenlng her sleeves before the open door
OF the little sitting room. 81 do detest
these warm, sloppy February days. 1
wish when we freeze up in November
we needn't thaw out until the first of
April. The mud and slop must be gone
through in the spring, anyway, and
TINS freezing aud thawing, freezing and
thawlng between whiles is just exhaust
ingn
Winn Wright, locomotive engineer, a
Dig fellow, not graceful, sat absently
gazing into the narrow front yard, and
drumming on the window ledge. He
looked tired.
I'm tired, tOo,n thought Meb. 'It's a
hard, tiresome world, harder for work.
ing women than for men,-no use in
whining over it, though. We must take
life as it comes"
81 don't believe you care much for me
nowadays, Meb," said Winn bluntly.
Aeh curled her lip. 1t seemed par-
ticularly ridiculous in Winn to talk
sentiment now, for he had a tar streak
Obliquely across his forehead, and wore
coarse cloth with imperfectly pressed
seams and ragged buttonholes.
81 wish you wouldn't drum on that
sill, Winn, you know how annoying it
is"
After half hour which Meb spent,
for the most part outside the little sit
ting room, Winn said goodbye, and
started for the depot. Out to Plympton
and back would make up his days
trip.
Meb put on her pretty brown cash
mere with white lace and cardinal rib
bon at her throat, and cardinal loops in
her hair, and took the chair by the
window.
She heard the occasional slush of
wheels through the melting snow out
side, or the thud of rubber-shOd feet
| through the water on the spOngy ice,
the ceaseless drip from the roof into the
tin conductors, and the drOwsy chirp of
the canary above the window garden.
Meb felt sad. Little did she think
when playing the organ on Sundays in
the Sweetville Methodist church, and
taking lessons in French and water
colors at the Young Ladies' Institute,
that she should one day be doing her
own work and economizing to pay for a
| a little house with four rooms only, on
the lower floor.
She might shave done better" There
was Samuel Fletcher who every sum-
mer, now, came to Sweetville with his
carriage horses, and his saddle horses.
There was Charlie FOrdyce and, why
Winn was a good fellow. She loved
Winn, of course but Winn had kind
of honest stupidity that would pre-
| ho ~
wearied her. Life was wearisome any
way-cheerless and prospectless.
1t may not he the most judicious in
tellectual exercise for men or woman tC
review matrimonial opportunities, even
if without the slightest dislOyalty OF
imagination. ight-have-beens are ex-
tremely slippery premises, anyway
Possibly, my dear sir, had you presumed
upOd the SMILES YOU UuOc UlIOse To ig-
more, you would have found smiles
significant only according to the imag-
ination that interpreted them. Possibly
my dear madam, the man who once
rather impressivly offered himself tC
you, now ascribes the MOI tifying act tC
a transient impulse, and is sure he
should have found way out of the en-
gagement had you accepted him.
Meb's dOor-bell rang. She was famil-
lar with the humiliation of answering il
in person. Charlie Fordyce was on the
steps. Charlie Fordyce had no tai
streaks across his face. He was starched
and brushed and polished to the last
degree. Charlie was employed at the
coffee" He inquired for Wlnn.
HAS he left the depot, think ?n asked
he as he followed Meb into the little
sitting room.
81 heard the Bucephalus signal at the
Ferry street crossing a minute ago"
"Thats too bad Ellis sent word tC
have McGregOr take Little Rhody' out
to Plympton in Winn's place, and the
BucephaIus go ON to Sidon, and come
in with the night freights. We've had
telegram that there are hundred and
twenty-five cars waiting to be moved
from Sidon. They were delayed by
the snow storm on the Central and
Shore Line last week, and have only
just got through"
The chair Meb had set for Mr.. For
dyce was very easy. He was very tired
after the slippery, sloppy walk, and
since his pay went on just the same
why shouldn't he inger7
"Were you out to hear Janauschek
last evening ~
''No there was some delay-a bridge
gone, and Winn didn't get in until nine
o'clock
"Of course you were at the concert O
the Glee Club last week."
No; Winn seldom took her anywhere
He liked to settle down at home even
ings.
Mr.. Fordyce reviewed the perform
ance, mingling the choicest of the ar
phrases culled from his daily pape
with others of unknown derivation bu
legitimate sound.
Very humble and hard seemed the
round of uneducated labor in which
Meb moved to the circle of art and cul
ture in which Mr.. Fordyce ornamental,
revolved.
Meb failed to recollect that Mr.. For
dyce's monthly receipts were little more
than Winn's, and that artistic revolu
tiOns, if continued for any length o
time, must depend upon some consid
cradle pecuniary steam power and quit
tangible betting. She had all that blin(
confidence in the mOney-getting power
of a fluent man, which is one of tn,
most curious segments in that circle o
faith from the centre of which wOmel
look out upon the world.
Mr.. Fordyce's grandmother had small
Inexpensive black eyes. She had deep
ly sOrrowed and suffered, and here ant
there amid her descendants appeared
large, dark eyes, with weight of sor
row in them-limpid, melting eyes, cal
, culated in their turn to produce sorrow
and suffering.
Mr.. Fordyce bent those eyes on Meb
His voice grew tender and gentle. Ii
his musical generalizing he had allude'