Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-07-03

think Ma,E1a might watch them"
/ "It's first-rate,'' said Phil. "What
else do they do, March?"
"Eve1ything that human beings do.
They are jealous of each other, like Nor
mon wives. Those that are not favorites
sometimes go to roost in the middle of
the afternoon, SO as to secure the place
they want next their husband; and he
goes picking round with his iavorite till
bedtime, and then flies up and knocks
the others out Of the way to make room
for her. What do you think of tlat7''
ooh, pshaw!'
"It's true. And I'll tell you some
thing more. He thinks he knows how to
lay an: egg better than the hen
does, And if. there's hen that's
| dilatory, he makes nest for her, and
gets into it, and literally tries to show
her how. Isn't that human? Those hus-
| bands that know every thing Oh, it's
as good as p1ay!"
II should think So
"And then the first Growing of little
young rooster, and the strutting after
ward-it's so exactly like the first long
coat of a hoy, and the strutting after
| that"
"Marcia, am ashamed of you," said
| her mother, II must beg to hear no more
such conversation"
"Now, Mrs. Thurston," said Phil, *'I'm
sure I saw you laughing. And as for me,
I'm going to make those boxes with
March. I'm just as good carpenter as
And so Phil went down the garden
with Marcia, and there were days upon
days Of hammering and saving and fit
ting; and Tom was going. about full of
mischief, and Emily had her sewing un-
der the apple-tree near 10y, and. Bessie
came down to bring freshly baked tart
or some hot gingerbread.
"And I'm sure it's just like picnick,
ing" said Marcia. "You ought to be
Obliged to me for making such pleas
ant occasion. And I'm awfully sorry
that we're almost through And as she
uttered the last sentence, Philip happen
ing to glance down at her in that mo-
ment from the ladder where he was stand
ing, her face suddenly famed up as if a
torch had been held before it, and she
turned and hid its color over box of
old nails that she and Tom-an age ago
that seemed now-had taken at school in
exchange for pins, meaning to sell them
to the junk-man, but diverted from their
purpose by one of Mrs. Thurston's meth
| DDS of persuasion.
mamma always was the. enemy OF
enterprise" said Tom, when they found
the box. ~ suppose its the oil of birch
that has kept these nails from getting
rusty"
But as soon as Marcia could slip away
from all that merry racket she flew down
to the foot Of the>orchard, and cast her
self into the deep grass there in the shad.
ow, and cried to break her heart. That
one glance in Philips face, that swift in
slant, had served to turn the whole eartf
on pivot to an other. issue of life. Il
had, indeed held up torch before her, anc
now she knew that she loved PHILLIP
Masters. and she knew that he loved
Bessie, and the world was one deac
blank.
The hens were not fed that night, ane
nobody carried the eggs in; it was only
when the moon set that, her skirts drip
| ping with dew, Marcia stole in herself
with her dogs, and crept away to bed.
! 1t was long fight that Marcia .had
with her heart on that September nig ht
She rose early in the morning, and gave
the hens into Bridget's charge, looked in
to her mothers room and told her sh.
was going to see Aunt Brown; and as tina
good lady, now that she could no longe
whip her children, generally allowed then
their way, no objection was made: ane
Marcia found herself, after couple O
i hours, in the arms of her old counsellor
and friend, to whom, albeit, she never
breathed word of her trouble. A da,
Of Aunt Brown, Marcia used to say, Sc
her up in virtue for half a.year, and nov
she took seven of them. "Seven days
counsel with an old angel ought to make
an angel Of me. But nothing will eve1
do that"
Yet when she went home there Was
something different in Marcia's face from
anything that had ever been there before
and if nobody paid enough heed to OBJ
serve it, nevertheless the ! fact was true
that the hoyden girl had vanished, and 6
grave and active woman had taken hel
place-a woman who never allowed her.
self to be still long enough to think
She asked for no more dresses; she never
put d ribbon near her; she brushed the
kink out of her hair as we'll as she could
and said to herself that it was of no use
for her to try and. look anything but a
fright, with one eye hunting up the other
the way hers was--an allusi0n to slight
cast in her eye that was not at all unbe
looming on the who.e; of course nobody
would think of falling in love with Cy.
clops, and Of course nobody could help
loving such rose and lily piece as Bess
She was sure, she thought, she was glad
that Bess was happy but, for all that, she
cried sadly about it. Yet after any,
these secret crying spells she fought he1
4 battle with herself all the more furiously
and although it wrung her heart, she
would insist upon talking about Philip
and suffer Bessie to sing his praises on
every occasion that offered, in fear and
trembling all the while lest voice or face
surrendered, and took all his small kind.
Inesses as matter of course.
The winter wore away at last, and Mar
cia might have felt her trouble in .theil
behalf, her sef-denial, and the money, OF
rather the eggs, that she had spent, all re-
paid in. the glossy look Of her hens, with
j their red combs and their nests full Of
|eggs. Those who are In search of any
thing can always find. il, and she had Sc.
cured, in one way and another, eggs Of
the choicest breeds, the hatchings had all
turned out well, and the result was a
J great flock of some Of the fnest-lookinp
birds in the COUNT y,among which tooI
Of black 3PoIanders went about shaking
their full white crests, and hardly able to
Esee out of their eyes. aI'm sure they Re
Efne,,' said Marcia. And as am never
going to marry, and shall have to earn my
living in some way, I'H earn It this way
i And she then announced that she was
going to contribute to the poultry show
/ in the city, and waited for some opposi.
ton. .s,sssa. -. ss..ssfz 3s3ts ST.. So.
But they had done with opposing Mar