Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-09-17

land is mine to do what please with"
TO this proposition Dr. Bob assented
though not without some further effort to
discover her object, for his soul abhorred q
mystery But Penelope kept her own coun-
sci, and after conhding to the speaking-tube
some tender epithets calculated to reduce DR..
Bob to a state of nbject submission, she took
her way homeward. OF course prudence
strongly counselled Penelope to wait and see
what were the results of Mrs. Mulloney's op.
erations "at the fut iv the hill forninst the
river" before commencing any on DIR. Bob
Macrae's land but it was not given to her
fathers daughter to take prudence for a
counsellor
BY the time that Mrs. Mulloney's boring
operations had begun, Penelope had invested
| nearly two thousand dollars in the necessary
apparatus.
If Mrs. Mulloney's venture should prove a
| success, there would be a great excitement,
| and somebody would be sure to go and buy
DIR. Bob's land for a song before he heard
anything about the oil. That was the rea-
soning which induced Penelope to take time
| by the forelock and run a great risk of prov
ing DIR. Bob's theory of luck and mathemat-
les to be the correct one.
Mrs Muloney had found some obstacles
in her way. 1t became noised abroad in
! some manner that she had bought land and
was going to bore for oil, and it was the YER
dict Of her neighbors that she had been TUX
| by a crazy spell" Father Ryan stcrnly re-
bukod her for wasting the money she had
better have spent for masses to deliver her
| poor husbands soul from purgatory.
81 seen him in dthrame, your rverence
wild his face that smilin' l made sure twas
through purgatory he'd got" she replied.
"Dthramos are delusion and n snare.
| Twas the divil ye saw :" said Father Ryan,
and departed without leaving his customary
| blessing, angry that the widow would not
| heed his remOnstrances.
Maybe it do be the Ovid Nick mused
| Mrs. Mulloney, "but it's a KNOWN ovid fel-
| ly he is they all says an Father Ryan
wouldn't howld back from blessin the oil if
gave good bit o the money till the church,
an 50 get the better iv Ovid Nick-an' sure
what wud be wiser an piouser than that"
Either "Owld Nick or Mrs. Mulloney had
made slight mistake there was no oil "atthe
fut iy the hill fornnst the river" But there
were indcatons-so the experts sad-and
the widow spent the last cent of Denuis's
hoard in moving the apparatus half way up
the hill, and boring again and this time
there was no mistake. They had to bore for
long time, and everybody prophesed fail
ure. 1t seemed to Mrs. Mulloney that they
were boring down into the very regions Of
"Owld Nick" but suddenly the oil spurted
up. 1t rose fountain-like into the air, to the
height of six or seven feet it was the most
wonderful well that had been discovered for
several years. The excitement was raised to
fever-heat the next day by the news that oil
had also been struck on the summit of the
hill, and there was great flow there as well
well as at the widow Muloneys. But TO-
body seemed to remember TO whom the land
belonged-land on Spruce Hill had been of so
little value.
When Penelope, waiting, heartsick with
hope deferred-it took so long to bore =
heard the great news she rushed down the
street again on Betsey's back. She met her
father Just coming from the station and stop
ped Betsey long enough to say, Papa, the
richest man in Buge County wants to marry
me. l have said yes. What do you say ?"
Tell him will give him fathers bless
ing" responded Mr.. Punchard becoming
playful in his delight
Tenant, of course. And she has come
to her senses" he neditated, as Penelope
gave Betsey free rein again. Il knew there
was something of that girl in spite of her no
tions"
Betsey was pulled up at the door or DR..
Macrae's office but this time Penelope dis
mounted and went in
Bob, you said l might do what l pleased
with your land, and--Tve struck oil on it."
DI- DOD , IOTtlthu COnlfhCltu lulO Il lTOWu.
He disproved of oil on principle, since there
were no mathematical calculations by which
its location could be discovered.
But Penelope was lovely, with her face
aglow and her eyes shining, and she tucked
her hand confdingly into his and Dr. Bob
was but mortal man, and very much in love
at that, in spite of mathematics. So he clear
ed his brow and listened while she INDUCED
in a little "crow" over her success and even
smiled indulgently at her use of the obnox-
ious word ''luck."
He insisted that the land was Penelope's,
and was only induced to take it back upon
her declaration that she had promised her
father the richest man in Bugle County for a
sOn-in-law. He utterly refused to make any
ventures in oil but he sold his land at a
price which made Penelope's words come
true, and upon it Sham City sprung into life.
Mrs. Mulloney was almost as much terri
fed as delighted at the extraordinary fulfill
ment of her dream, until Father Ryan came
around and reassured her She was almost
convinced that it was the work of the devil
He had concluded that her husband had APP
peared to her; and he assured her that he
was now blessed saint in heaven, and had
revealed the whereabouts of the oil to her
solely that she might enrich the Church.
Its a dale iv change must have come over
Dinnis, thin, an him always begridgin' the
tin cints I'd carry to church iv Sunday"
meditatively remarked Mrs Mulloney. And
even after Father Ryan's explanation that the
blessed fires of purgatory had effected this
change, it was not easy for her to conceive of
Dennis as devoted solely to the prosperity of
the Church.
And Dennis's relct, in spite of her fears
stoutly refused to give more than a small por-
ton of her gains to the Church. But her
haol v1afa1xr hxy bar
change of circumstances, and she spent her
money recklessly There were also plenty of
dishonest persons to take advantage of her
ignorance. Teddy became dissipated, and
squandered great deal and at the end of
four years-by which time all the oil of the vi
cinity was exhausted, and Sham City was fast
taking its place among the things that were
she was married to Patrick Flanagan, the
first cousin of the deceased Dennis, giving as
a reason that Patrick was a dacent, honest
man, and would look afther the bit that was
lift till her; and thegither they made such
comfortable family" he having nine children,
and she seven.
And when Father Ryan reminded her of
the warning against Patrick which she had
heard in her dream, she replied,
"Sure it's nivir Dinnis, but the divil, was in
the OIL an it bringin' me no good, but
harrum althegither."
1.-The divil was in ye, that ye didn't use it
right, said Father Ryan.
And that was all the consolation that poor
Mrs. Mulloney had, until Tipperary arose
from the ruins to which Sham City had reduc-
ed it, and she went back there to live with
Patrick and the com Portable family.
DIR, Rob Macrae is becoming known to
fame. He has been offered an important po-
sition in the Pennsylvania Medical Society,
and q prominent college has inYted him
to a professorship in its medical school.
He takes his success as matter of
course, and very often remarks to his wife
that two and two make four, and that luck
has nothing to do with the management of
the affairs of this life.
Mr.. Punchard still insists that two and two
are about as likely to make any other number
Il IL L.. nlI Il