Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-04-28

tall, tho short, tho ialr, tho dark, Sht
looked in the blue eyes, and she
looked In black but not heartbeat
quickened, not even vixen the hand
soonest man IN the room bent law be
tore her and murmured ilalterlng
words IN honeyed tones
All would not DO, She ielt q posi-
tive ayeNlon TO some Of them, aud
having everything she wanted, be-
cause Of her fathers indulgence, she
could mol bring herself TO tho idea Of
marrying q nap whom sho did not
care halt no much for ~ she did for a
pet canary,
When the month was nearly up,
during which tho merchant, while ho
waited anslously, said nothing, Annie
spoke;
~apa," she said, "yon are worth n
dozen of them. I would rather live
In poverty with you than In afllucncc
with any ono Of them"
"Yon don't know what poverty is,"
said her father, gloomily.
"But have a curiosity 10 know
said the daughter, bravcly. ~ am
sure you can save enough from the
wreck to furnish two rooms. and the
cook has been giving me lessons
Won't il be fun 7"
The ruined merchant sighed, but he
was nor altogether d!spleascd.
The girl had snch sweet and coax
ing yoice-shc looked at him 60 low.
ingly, and he was in tho habit of CIV
ing her everything she wanted. So
tho end was he let her do as she liked
in this.
Godfrey Prime saved nothing from
the wreck. lie was an honorable
man and gave up everything to hls
creditors; even his daughters many
costly ornamcnts-with her consent,
too.
But even then, ali was not paid,
and humble as was the home TO which
they betook themselves, the saddest
thought was that dollar remained
unpaid against the name Of Prime.
ut must be paid, somehow" said
Annie. "Oh, is there anything great,
anything grand that / could do! 1t
is shame that there is not, after all
you have laid out for me, papa. Why
| am the worst investment You ever
made, believe. Help me TO think II
there is no way in which l can earn
money to make you even with the
world again. | could not be an artist,
for though you paid my drawing mas.
ter such fabulous sums, am sure if !
were to sketch an animal, you would
be able 20 distinguish that it had four
legs and q head, and that would be
all. ] never could make any differ
ence between q horses head and a
dogs head l don't think l should
ever succeed as an actress, and though
I have terrible voice, l should be so
frightened if l tried to sing in public,
that | could not utter a note.'
"Ab, my child" said the father, ''it
you had only married some Of those
rich admirers of yours"
Annie laughed.
"What is the use Of saying that,
papa? Not one of them has been near
us since your failure. l always sus-
pected they were not to be trusted.
But if one of them did care enough
about me to come forward now and
offer to pay those dreadful debts, l be-
lieve l would fall in love with him
out of sheer gratitude. l would marry
a clod to see your name clear OF those
dreadful debts" .
The father and daughter had come
out for a short walk at evening, and
neither of them noticed that as Annie
said these words gentleman who had
been walking behind them, passed
them slowly, with lingering glance
into the girls beautiful face.
Some days passed, and then very
queer letter came to Annie Prime 1t
read,
"DEAR MIss-I hav watcht you
offin when yudiduut no it. | hurd
wat va sed to yure fother abowt emmy
wuD hoo kut pa hlz diets. l ken doc
it, if youle hev NEE, will ime clod. but
i've got the mummy. Ware red roze
IN ynre hare, wen yu so out TO wauk
the next tyne, it you acsep, and the
.jent that gives yua bokay will be
me. CLoD'
Annie spelled this epistlc with some
difficulty, for it was miserably written
aside from tie spelling. Then she
showed it to her father, and laughed
till she cried.
"He spells rose with az and father
L.