The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-04-30

Poor Miss Sophia McAllistcr was in
despair nj finding herself growing old
She hated age aud I'LL about it. Ii was
sad and mlovrly. and full of unknown
horrors and lack of pleasures Comfort
and joy and hope were far from it. She
had rather die than become superan-
nuatcd She woke up every morning
with dull, mspoken sense of wishing
she had not walked up at all. There was
nothing 10 do, ana nobody t. do for; no.
body n whose coming TO look forward
during the d,yor when the gloomy night
fell. 1t might rain or it might shine; It
made no difference She wanted to 60
nowhcr,, and there was nobody likely To
Ice HIN Tered or helped 10y either catastro-
phe from coming 10 her. There was no.
body 10 come Ia her, indeed, but her
sisters; and they lived "A mile away, and
came only III disregard uf their hus-
bands wishes, the husbands having
Thought that Miss Sophia ought 10 give
mp all the paterml property and divide
her time between the households of her
sisters; Miss Sophia insisting on her
right 10 her individuality, Ia her third of
the property, and 10 life 10y herself.
- have always had home, Susan, -
said Miss Sophia, land | always mean
To have one, il il is only four cedar poles
and blanket. But she peaked and
pinned and dwiudled III this home of
hers, and began Ia find her only excite
ment IN selecting various doses from her
assortment of medicines and looking for
the visits Of the doctor.
The truth was that Miss Sophia was
diving Of lOnesOmeness and ennu in this
aimIess existence of hers: only III the
rural life there nobody would dream of
calling it ennui. As she grew melan-
choly her nerves suffered. and they i'll
turn wrought upon the body otherwise.
She. sometimes said that if she cuuld
have died ut once. and have been done
with 1t, it would not have been so nard:
but This changing 10y the cyelids WAS
inquisitorial, and on the whole there was
r not much to live for when one had passed
forty. After that il was only trcading
among graves, anyway. Ii one could
but dry up and blow away, il would be
desirable, she said; but this growing old
this gradual, open, disgusting decay
before evcrybody's face and eyes Single
people ouGht to die, she said, savagoly;
and she saw herself ceasing even to be II
part of the race through lack Of SYM
patty. "Thusa who have children, :"
said MISS Sophia, sadly, live their
youth over again IN them andueed never
grow old: bdt those vino have none are
10 better than moving mummies, ant
ought 10 toe put out of the way" Yet
when Miss Sophia's nieccs came to see
her they made such an uproar, and set
everything - by the cArs, rs she said,
that she Was heartily glad to have them
- home again. That she could take one
of those children and model her 10 fancy
never entered Miss Sophia head-vcry
luckily for her, since if il had the broth
ers-ln-law would nave seen her IN Hall
fax before they would have lent her that
aid and comfort; and had it entered the
head OF ANYBODY else, she would have
thought that person very unfeeling to
imagine the possibility of such IL thing,
III her state OF health. Vet she needed,
as all Of Us DO, something Ia love and to
forget herself in. But she detcsted cats,
and their ncighb0rhood made her i'll; she
was afraid OF dogs; parrot would have
driven her frantic, n canary wIs as bad;
and as for making Il pet of II monkey,
like Miss BrDwneil's, it was an insult TO
the human race. The only one thing
left her was It flock Of pigeons. that she
fed outside her window, us they came
flashing and curveting and tumbling
through the air; and an immense old
Shanghai Rooster, that always accompa-
MED her up and down her stroll on the
piazza-prohahly for the sake of the
crumhSOf the biscuit that she nibbled
as she walked.
Every wear, when winter came on, it
seemed more and more drcary to Miss
Sophia as she looked out. The flying
scud Of dead leaves: the blinds taken of
the opposite house, and the double will
dows put IN, to stare her ont of countc-
nance: the boats hauled up and turned
over along the shore, with It's white and
frozen lip OF fruth-.hcre was Il desola-
ton about it all to her, as if life had put
ON its grave-cluthcs and the place were
the Valley Of the Shadow Of Death.
Thanksgiving Day always seemed Il
mockery; Christmas fatigue: and she
shivered and ached before the thought of
New lear az if it were only the prophecy
OF another twclvemunth Of gloom and de-
preSsiOn Sl" had Il fashion, though,
kept from grihOOd, of watching the old
year III and the old one out over the ashes
of her fire, and Of going to bed crying as
the last spark flashed and vanished, while
comparing those ashes to her own life,
vet feeling that even The ashes were more
blest; for that had once had life-it had
once grown i'll the woods, waved ia the
wind, shaken off the sweet rain and SILVER
SHOWS, glistencd in the sun, been full Of
delicious scents and charming bird songs.
While as for hcr-shc had never had q
lover 4 pale, thin, stopping woman,
growing old and whitening away, to nc
end, she was unhappy rs II creature can
he who has shelter and fire and food.
She was sitting over tine cmbers OH
New Years Eve, after her usual despond-
ing way, and Susan, her maid and com
panion, was washing the dough off hen
hands from the batch Of bread just set to
rise, when there came a ring at the door
bella timid, hcsitating little ring, much
like the touch that slight earthquake
gives II bell. II was an earthquake OF
Miss Sophia'S life, that bell-ringing, a
convrllsiom Of nature. Who could be
pulling at the bell at this hour? 1t was
something that had never happened be.
fore in the world. Directly afterward
the tlmid touch was followed by peal
that rang through every room in the
house, and Susan put her face into tho
parlor doorway, as white as clay.
Miss Sophia was equal to the emcrgcn.
cy. She slipped off her shoes and crcpt
MP stairs to her revolver 1t is true that
il had been loaded for half score d
years, and no power Of hers could have
brought the rusty implement even to 4
half-cOck; but il was a Gatling in hel
destinations; and, coming down, will
Susan trembling at her back, she sud
denly threw open the front door and pre-
scented arms-to vacancy. Not sou
was TO be seen in the clear moonlight
Up and down, and far and wide, as sh'
peered out and about, no shadow dis
turbed the serenity of the night. "Wha
III the world dit it mean? Is the house
going to be haunted, Susan 2" cried Mis-
Scplia. And then her eyes fell on a lit
tie bundle at her feet, little white bun
die, that, as she touched il with one o
those feet, i'll some dim fancy as to in
fernal machines, all Mt once gave muf
fled wall, that might have pierced
heart of stone, and from which sh
sprang as from a bursting shell.
baby! No internal machine could hav
wrought more CONSERVATION, more havo
than that sound did in Sophia's mind
But, after ali, she heroically stopped t
examine the article.
"Youll be taking your death o. cold
Miss" exclaimed Susan, with her Ion