Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-05-20
MA1NE THURSDAY MAY 20
NO 12O.
Gales ano Skettbes.
MISS MAHONEY'S LACE.

'He III. rs t'iSSsaht party vi gay Sui
graduates as could well be put together.
when Miss Mahoney arrived upon the
scene of action. and her appearance was
certainly like "a wet blanket on all pleasure.
The Farm was on mountain-side. high
up in air; all below it great amphithea-
tire of lesser hills, mellowed in distance
and vapors 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 of upon the morning sky,
and whose crags there jutted sharply on
the stars at night. The air was fun ofthe
song of birds. the rustic ofleaves, 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 MAJ
honey was heard a, the door. and the cru
ell common world burst in behind her.
She came in the noon stage. and she
brought such tons of lnggagei That had
to come on another. What did she mean
to do with il at the Farm. where linen
lawn was full dress? And she had a
coole dog, and Il huge cage with mag
PiC III otu uiHSHtc INV
the confusion of tongues. Miss Mahoney
stopped at the door, opened the cage, and
let the magpie go. '.He comes back at
call.' said she to Mrs. Pierson, our land
lady, who hardly looked with Kindness on
the bird of evil. "lIc likes to have his
liberty and make his nest. and so let him
have it all the summer-city life is so con-
fining. And Laddie keeps aneyc on him."
R,,t o11 n,,,h,annl .I al 80 ,a
as he put up his pretty nose and tender
brown eyes to our faces. and the collie be-
came the best friend of all the young girls
for he had quite taste in beauty he
seemed to know that there was not gal
liant about the place, and he might be es-
he presently attached himself so pcrtina-
ciously to Adele Montrose that Jane Hunt
said she should have to show him Phil
lips picture next. and tell Laddie that
Phillip was comingin month.
Miss MahOney came down to tea in re-
gal array. No such garments had ever
been seen at the Farm as her purple-strip-
ed velvet gauzes, with their satin under
stuff. As for her string of pearls. perhaps
they were only Roman but if they were
itdi, tuVN WCIC WVi tiistiI UiC ItIu
and then the lace shawl which she knotted
up round her throat as they sat on the p-
azza looking mt the sunset more under
meath than above them, las ifit had been
Shetland WOOL" said Jane, '.when it was
the priceless Brussels net
''But she has oceans of Lace said Miss
Meyer. IL opened her door by mistake
as she was unpacking, and there it was,
;,1k knx ID u,,l
chairs. What with laces and Jewels, the
room looked like the Milky Way"
''She'll think we are a set OF barbara
ans" said Adele. with her quick blush,
with hardly so much as tucker"
"And we shall think her vulgar par
venue, bringing such things to such y
place." said Jane.
"She's not a nOnrean richie, at any rate"
answered Miss Never. 'For she isn't
rich at all. Miss Pierson Knows about
her. She inherited all her fine things from
some relation or other, and has only
enough money TO live on; and when she
wants to do something cxtravagant, like
coming TO the mountains, for instance, she
sells pearl or a bit of lace"
"Wcll, seouldn't care how came by
it, so long as had it," said Adele.
'.Oh, | mean. of course, You know,
shouldn't care who left it to me. She
may if she wants to- said Adele. "If
there's one thing more heavenly than an
other, it is lacc.''
| Miss Mahoney, of course, became an
object of study to the girls, and was al
ways accompanied in her progress by
some awe and more ridic,ile-the former
| g hat. l.
went to their hearts every time they saw
past forty tall and angular and ignorant.
young girls. 81 wonder how she came by
Laddic ?" said Adele, one day.
"She gave u jewel for him." said Miss
Meyer, laughing, $50 as to have some
thing TO protect her other jewels. I'm
sure it's no wonder how she came by
Jack. That magpic will drive us all out
OF the house vet"
"See him now," said Jane Hunt, 'on
1.-THE limb Of that hollow oak. Doesn't he
look like a limb himself?''
There certainly is something demoniac
about Jack" said Adele. He came tap
lping at my window, last night, and when
saw those eyes of his they made me
Sn1Ver So
"He was after the cake in your closet. -
.'Do you suppose he was? ?" she asked,
as she was going off with Laddie.
They didn't any Of them suppose SO
flor all the animals about the place secmed
to have a fondness for Adele, cows and
!horses, eats and doves: even the wood
birds had way of flying low round the
!charming head as she called them. Some
said it was her beauty, for she was thu
lovliest little brown.haired, blue-eyed
white-browcd. damask-cheeked piece o.
flesh and blood one could imagine other.
said it was her gentle ways; and the res
fancied it was some nearness i'm nature Il
her. or some secret attraction like that o
| the Indian snake-charmers.
THAT is the same way she tanned Jane!
brother Phil said Lucia. Every on
knows that Phil was the haughtiest AM
most high-strung man in existence, an,
rather despised women. And now he jus
adores the ground she walks on"
"As for me-" said Miss Meyer, I"
should be afraid that that sort Of love va
a glamour, and would break up som
| ldav.''