The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-09-17

Rises perennial in my grateful breast;
And still at fifty am but boy.
". z. TTOiCbrtdQe, In Atlantic Monthly.
THE MISTAKE GARNET MADE.
A LITTLE, low-browed. yellow cot
tage, sleepily nesting meath canopy
of branching hemlocks. Here dwelt
Mrs. barley, or the Widow barley. as
she was commonly called by the inhab-
itants of Linden. Here, since the de-
parture of her niece, Garnet, her brother
Roberts child, for the city to learn her
dressmaker's trade, which event occur
red a couple of years ago, she had lived
alone, subsisting on the produce she
raised on the few acers Of ground at
tached to the cottage, which she man.
aged to sell or barter away for groceries
at thriving town, three miles distant.
Day was fast verging into dusk. In
deed for some time twilight had lain
gray upon the scene. and only a silver
line kissed the purple tops of the dis
tant mountains. The Widow barley
sat by the window, busily engaged in
darning a wretched-looking stocking,
over q mammoth mock orange, be-
moaning with her every stitch her re-
cent attack of rheumatism. which con-
fined her to the house, when she was
thoroughly conscious of the fact that
her services were needed outdoors.
Now was the time to dig her potatoes,
now the time to gather certain apples.
and-do everything in fact; and here
she was, not only unable to get about,
but so heavily trammeled by debts,
that she found it impossible to secure
the assistance so much needed.
"Well, l declared
This exclamation was caused by the
rumbling old stage-coach, that daily
passed her house, stopping at the front
gate, from which alighted her niece,
who ran lightly up the walk and into
the house, followed by strongly-built
man, bearing on his shoulder a good
sized trunk, which he deposited in the
hall. ere making his exit.
'sHow d. We do, Aunt Susan?'' with
a hug and a kiss. ''Not slave to
rheumatism, hope?'
EYES," replied the Widow barley,
who, by the way. was a tiny woman of
fifty, with a face not unlike the
wrinkled apples that grew on the tree
in the garden, 1.-THE monster has me
again in his clutch. But whatever
brings you homep You haven't surely
been sent adrift?''
eyes, aunt" tremor of pain
threading. her voice in spite of her eff
forts to appear unconcerned, ''times
are dull, and Madam Brown has so lit
tie work, that she deemed it expedient
to dispense with the services of those
girls who proved the most incompe-
tent. /, being the least skillful of all
her apprentices, was discharged with
out regret. Most summarily she dis
missed me, withholding the few faint
words of commentator she grudgingly
bestowed upon the others. I have no
taste for dressmaking. and was termed
q regular botch. Not very good rec
ommendation to help secure another
situation, Ell? But never mind, aunt! I
see I am needed at home. How are
things prosperingP"
s.Not at ALL" in her most dolorous
tone. '"The place is fairly weighed
down with mortgages, and for aught I
know to the contrary Mr.. Lincoln may
foreclose any day. Yes, any day may
find us without shelter. Our larder
is about empty, and there is no money
to replenish it; all of the flour has
been scraped from the barrel, and to-
day was obliged to borrow q pailful
from Jane Gray; then, too, there is not
a tea-leaf in the caddy. and do not
know how to exist without my cup of
tea. had meant to have dug few
bushels of potatoes, and got Mr.. Dem
ver's horse to 90 to market to obtain
some of the things cannot get along
without, but l am good for nothing
good for nothinge' with profound
sigh.
s.Never mind, aunt don't worry.
I'll see what can be done in the morn
ing"
And the next forenoon, about ten
o'clock, with q hoe swung over her
shoulder, and q half-bushel basket in
her hand, in which reposed q half
dozen potato bags and dainty repast
done up in q newspaper, she trudged
to the potato-lot to see what could be
done; for the widows niece, Garnet
Embers, was girl equal to any emer-
gency.
She was slender, graceful girl,
neither blonde nor brunette, but q
combination of both, as pretty Great
ure as one would care to see, with her
wonderfully fair complexion, tinged
with the merest flush of pink, her dark
eyes, almond-shAped, and full of vim,
Swallowed by black curling lashes. and
q superb abundance of red-brown hair
coiled low on her well-shaped head.
She had donned q dun-hued calico
dress, which she had fastened up on all
sides to keep clear of the dirt, thereby
displaying q foot arched and slender as
an Arabs and over her head, hiding
her wondrous hair, was one of her