Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-12-10

was an expression Of admiration, she
pursued the same strain,
"Just fresh from Paris. / am sure
your wife would like that. Shall try
it on for youP"
"Wa'al, yes, / can tell better how it
will look then. Now it looks Just like a
dish.n
"There, II goes this way" and Josie
pitched the little thing over her rosy
face, tied the strings In a big bow-knOt
and swept down the length OF the room.
"Don't you like itP"
"Waal it's kind o. purity, but It's awful
queer; amt II Johnp"
John thus appealed to could only an
swer that he "knew nothin' In the
world about women's bonnets," and
took up his revery, whatever it was, Just
where 1t was broken off. But looking
idly in the long mirror opposite, he saw
Josie making signs TO another girl, aud
he soon found that they were amusing
themselves vastly at the perplexity OF
their customer. he saw, too, that a
pale quiet girl, with smooth brown hair,
looked up from her work Indignantly,
and he rather saw than heard her say,
"For shamel" and grew crimson as she
spoke.
His own face flushed a little as he be-
came aware that Uncle Abel was being
made the butt of their iokes-good
Uncle Abel, who was looking so admir-
ingly at the fabrics incomprehensible to
him, his old heart only full of the
thought how he should make his present
worthy of the patient soul for whom it
was intended.
Then John was greatly perplexed;
for as he said truly, he knew nothing
about all that mysterious and bewild-
ering arrangement of dress that he saw
every day.
Still he knew that Aunt Betsey's
spare locks, thinly sprinkled with gray,
were not dressed in modern style, and
he could not for the life of him see
whereabouts on that dear old head any
of those gypsies would rest. He re-
membered that long ago Aunt Betsey
was wont to twist her hair with the
same energy that distinguished all her
movements and that this operation re-
suited in hard knob at the back of her
head like door handle, which certainly
would not harmonic with these cape
less head dresses.
just as his brow was overcast with
this thought, the pale girl came near
Uncle Abel, her cheeks blushing as she
did so in defiance of the other girls,
holding in her hand plain Leghorn
bonnet, trimmed with violet ribbon.
She wore mourning dress, and the
plain brooch at her throat held lock
of gray hair.
Il think this might suit you, SIR"
she said. "If your wife don't dress her
hair in these fashions, these bonnets
would not do at all. This is rich and
plain, and covers the back of the head
and neck"
"Wa'al, now, tell me, for l have got
so bothered with these things that /
don't know one from t'other. l want
to get bonnet for Betsey, and mean
to. Now jest tell me if you would like
your mother to wear one like thisP Oh,
1 beg your pardon, ma'am. didn't
see," and no touched the sleeve Of her
black dress. "I-I-am sorryl"
The young girl brushed off a tear
quickly as she said, SCI have no mother
now; but if you will trust me, sir, l think
this will suit"
She had stood, hitherto, just out of the
range of John DRre's vision, and had not
seen him at all. Something in the sound
of her voice attracted him, perhaps, and
when Uncle Abel called,
"Here, John DareI" he stepped
hastily enough toward them. The girl
thrust the bonnet into Uncle Abel's
hands, and would have been out of sight
if her dress had not caught on one of the
branch stands and held her fast. "a.
"Amyl" and John Dare, with a hot
flush on his face, caught her hand and
so detained her. "Amy Egbert, have 1
found you at lastP"
The girls face grew white and red by
turns, and the words she spoke came so
low and broken that only John could
catch their meaning.
Uncle Abel pushed his spectacles up
on his forehead, still holding the hat in
his hand, looking open-mouthed from
one to the other.
"I guess you must have knowed this
young woman afore, didn't youl" he
said but John was too busy with eager
questions, and Amy was trembling and
flushing as she tried to speak calmly,
and so his question was unanswered.
Pretty Josie was dividing her attention
between new customer and the
strange scene beside her, and between
anger and modification she looked in
no need of help from rouge, as she
tossed her head and muttered various
uneourteous remarks in regard to "that
Amy Egbert and her beau.n
Uncle Abel held the hat a while lon
ger quite patiently, but at last despaired
of the interview being ended, so he
coughed, and then said:
"I'n take this bunnit. Twenty dol
lars is good deal. Betsey's worth it,
amt she, JohnP"
John need not have started so, or said
"very," which wasn't sensible an
swer at all but Uncle Abel laughed a
little to himself, and said softly, "Oh,
boys will be boysl" and he was obliged
to tell Miss Egbert the direction over
twice, too, and felt quite uneasy lest it
should not arrive at his hotel in time.
Outside the door John turned to leave
his uncle, and looked as shy as a girl, as
he said, "It's all right, Uncle Abel.
You've found new bonnet, and I've
found an old friend" t..
Uncle Abel held his hand fast, and
looking moment without speaking, in
the young mans eyes, said, "She is q
motherless girl, john"
"Uncle Abelln - and John turned an
grily away, or would have done SO if
the OBTAINING hand had not held him
with a grasp which sixty years had not
weakened. ''Look here, my boy, /
meant no offense. None of my blood
turn villains" he added proudly; ''but
you see she's young and purity and for