Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-05-21
MISS MAHONEY,s LACE.

THEY were having a very good time
at the Farm, as pleasant a party of gay
girl graduates as could well be put to-
gether, when Miss Mahoney arrived
upon the scene of action, and her ap-
pearance was certainly like a wet blank
ct on all pleasure.
The Farm was on mountain-side,
high up in the air; all below it great
amphitheater of lesser hills, mellowed
in distance and vapurs till they looked
like the waves of a purple sea, with now
and then mighty rainbows spanning
them; and all above it the lofty tops of
hills, whose woods here feathered off
upon the morning sky, and whose crags
were iutted sharply on the stars at night.
The air was full of the song of birds,
the rustic of leaves, the hum of bees,
and the rushing of waterfalls, and it
seemed to the happy young things that
they were somewhere above the world
in an ideal region from which no voice
could summon them. But, for all that,
a sharp voice called when Miss Maho-
ney was heard at the door, and the cruel
common world burst in behind her.
She came in the noon stage, and she
brought such tons of luggage! That
had to come on another. What did she
mean to do with it at the Farm, where
linen lawn was full dressP And she had
a collie dog, and a huge cage with a
magpie in it, and the magpie chartered
like the confusion of tongues.
Miss Mahoney stopped at the
door, opened the cage, and let the mag
pie go. "He comes back at CALL" said
she to Mrs. Pierson, our landlady, who
hardly looked with kindness on the bird
of evil. "He likes to have his liberty
and make his nest, and so let him have
it all the summer-city life is so confin-
ing. And Laddie keeps an eye on him. -
But we all embraced " Laddie " at once,
as he put up his pretty nose and tender
brown eyes to our faces, and the collie
became the best friend of all of the
young girls that day, particularly of the
prettier one; for he had quite taste in
beauty; he seemed to know that there
was not gallant about the place, and
he might be escort to the whole party
if he would, and he presently attached
himself so pertinaciously to Adele
Montrose that Jane Hunt said she should
have to show him Philips picture next,
and tell Laddie that Philip was coming
in a month.
Miss Mahoney came down to tea in
regal array. No such garments had
ever been seen at the Farm as her pur-
ple-striped velvet gauzes, with their
satin under-stuff. As for her string of
pearls, perhaps they were only Roman
but if they were real, they were worth
more than the Farm; and then the lace
-, ,r,l,soh Oh l,,n4t,l vnt,s,l hor
throat as they sat on the piazza looking
at the sunset more underneath than
above them, "as if it had been Shetland
WOOL" said Jane, "when it was price
less Brussels net"
"But she has oceans of lace" said
Miss Meyer. az opened her door by
mistake as she was unpacking, and there
it was, some in boxes and trays, and
some over chairs. What with laces and
Jewels, the room looked like the Milky
Way"
"Shell think we are set of barbari.
ans" said Adele, with her quick blush,
"with hardly so much as a tucker"
"And we shall think her vulgar
parvenue, bringing such things to such
a place." said Jane.
"She's not a nOtreGu riche, at any
rate," answered Miss Meyer. " FoI
she isn't rich at all. Mrs. Piersou
knows about her. She inherited all hel
fine things from some relation or other
and has only enough money to live on
and when she wants to do something
eXtravagant, like coming to the noun
tains, for instance, she sells a pearl ol
q bit of lace"
well, shouldn't care how camt
by it, so long rs had it,, said Adele.
"Why, Adele Montrosel' in chorus
"Oh, l mean, of course, you know,
shouldn't care who left il to me. Sh,
may, if she wants to- said Adele. 81
there's one thing more heavenly thar
another, it is lace!n
Miss Mahoney, of course, became al
object of study to the girls, and was al
ways accompanied in her progress b,
some awe and more ridicule-the forme
as the possessor of finery that somehow
went to their hearts every time they saw
it or heard of it, the latter as woman
past forty, tall and angular and ugly ant
ignorant, aping the appearance an'
manners of young girls. 81 wonde
how she came by Ladder" said Adele
one day.
I" She gave a jewel for him. sat
Miss Meyer, laughing, $50 as to hay
something TO protect her other jewels
I'm sure it's no wonder how she cam
by Jack. That magpie will drive us Al
out of the house yet"
"See him now" said Jane Hunt, so
the limb of that hollow oak. Doesn'
he look like limb himself2"
"There certainly is something demo
MAC about jack" said Adele. " H
came tapping at my window last might
and when saw those eyes of his the
made me shiver So"
"He was after the cakes in you
closet"
"Do you suppose he wasP" she asked
as she was going off with Laddie.
They didn't any of them suppose 81
for all the animals about the plac
seemed to have a fondness for Adele
COWS and horses, cats and doves; eve
the wood birds had a way of flying lo'
round the charming head as she calle
them. Some said it was her beauty
for she was the loveliest little brown
haired, blue-eyed, white-browed, dan
ask-cheeked piece of flesh and bloc
one could imagine; others said it wa
her gentle Ways: and the rest fancied