The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-10-15
ON A BLACKBOARD.

-ScrDners Brte-a-Brac.
ON A BLACKBOARD.
MILDRED PARMENTER sat in the little
parlor beating her foot impatiently on
the striped rag carpet. The August
sun peered into the windows. and at
the sides of the green paper curtains,
perforated with pinholes and Tapping
in the breeze, she caught occasional
glimpses of the mountains and the
clouds which made a marvellous picture
in front of the old Vermont farm house.
Two neighbors had dropped in to see
her aunt, and the three ladies, with
knitting-work and occasional resort to
their black paper nsache snuff-boxes,
were discussing the probable fate of
dissagreeable farmer in the vicinity
whose theft of a '.yearling" was the
chief topic of conversation in all the
farmhouses within the radius of hall a
dozen miles.
can they dew say."-was one of the
passing remarks that caught her ear
''that they haint never had no idee up
to Goshen what sort of critter twas
he stole, till ole Mis- Stevens. she said as
haow she seen him agoin-''
Miss Mildred's attention wandered.
she found the conversation dull, but
she looked at the women with q new
curiosity. 'sAnd this is their life," she
was thinking, ga clean apron, a pinch
of snuff, and a neighborly call after the
dinner dishes are done up;' q dis
cussion of old Mrs. Browns paralytic
stroke, Deacon Stebbins' third wife,
Matilda Hines success with her sage
cheese, and the new bell on the town
hall"
One of the thin, monotonous voices
began again, "I'd jest sot out to 60
with Mary Ann. you know she lives two
miles from that there -'
Miss Mildred caught up her hat and
sauntered out of the front door. Only
few rods away were the pine woods,
cool, still, fragrant. She seated her
self at the foot of gigantic tree, and.
leaning her head against the trunk,
went off into one of the reveries which
lately seemed to fill the waking hours
of her life.
A wagon came rafting along the
crooked, sandy road. Her uncle was
returning from trip to the village,
and as he drove into the shed he called
to her, Letters, darter.''
1t was always his name for her. she
was so like daughter he had lost. She
waited for the letters, not very impa-
tiently, till he came by on his way to
the house. There were only two of
them. The one from her sister she
opened first.
"And MIR. Elson came yesterday"
ran one of the paragraphs. "We told
him of your fancy to bury yourself all
summer in the rural districts, but
assured him you would join us for a
week, at least, before we returned to
New York. OF course that is the only
thing that prevents him from leaving
the Springs at once. By the way, he
heard before he came up that it is all
over between you and Oscar, and that
Oscar is engaged to that cousin of his,
Ella Hunt, who was always held up to
us as model of all the virtues. IdOn't
doubt that she is exactly suited to HIM.
Mamma is delighted that Mr.. Elson is
going to stay with us. You know,
Milly, what she has set her heart on,
and of course you won't disappoint us
all. He has grown little stouter than
he was in the winter"
She threw the letter aside, unfinished.
and sat perfectly still, her hands tightly
clasped in her lap. Oscar Brant en-
gagged to his cousin Ella! Well, that
was according to the eternal fitness of
things. Ella had an amiable DISPOSE
ton, was dignitied, serene, ladylike
ALWAYS. She never acted on impulse.
never gave way to quick temper, and
had never done or said, in her whole
life, thing she had reason to be sorry
for. Yes, Mildred reflected, she was
altogether the proper person for Oscar
Brant, and with queer little laugh she
thought of the hopeless difference be-
woman. But the laugh was so nearly
akin to g sob that she dared not trust
herself to 60 on thinking. She caught
up the other letter from young lady
sojourning at Saratoga. 1t was, adj
dressed in large, dashing hand, cover
ing the whole envelope. "Why will
she use violet ink?' was Mildred's
thought as she opened it. 1t was as
dashing inside as out.
"You are certainly gay deceiver,
my dear. To think that your health
required rest and mountain air, so that
you could neither give your family nor
me the pleasure of your society! l I'M
derstand it all now. and really l can't
blame you. Oscar Brant is more enter
tanning than hotel full of people, and
handsomer than ever. l saw him for