The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-05-29
MISS MAHONEY'S LACE.

THEY were having very good time
at the Farm, as pleasant party of gay
girl graduates as could well be put to-
gether, when Miss Mahoney arrived
upon the scene of action, and her APP
pearance was certainly like wet blank
ct on all pleasure.
The Farm was on a mountain-side,
high up in the air; all below it a great
amphitheater of lesser hills, mellowed
in distance and vapors till they looked
like the waves of 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 jutted 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 dress? And she had
a collie dog, and 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 90. "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 60 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
prettler one; for he had quite taste in
beauty; he seemed to know that there
was not a 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 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
shawl which she knotted up round her
throat as they sat on the piazza looking
at the sunset more underneath than
above them, Gas if it had been Shetland
WOOL" said Jane, "when it was price.
less Brussels metz
"But she has oceans of lace" said
Miss Meyer. 81 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"
"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
parvenue, bringing such things to such
place. said Jane.
"She's not a nOuUeGu rtcle, at any
rate" answered Miss Meyer. For
she isn't rich at all. Mrs. Pierson
knows about her. She inherited all hel
fine things from some relation or other,
and has only enough money to live on
onI ruhnt1 hn fn IL ~
eXtravagant, like coming to the noun
tains, for instance, she sells pearl or
a bit of lace
"Well, shouldn't care how I came
by it, SO long as had it, said Adele.
"Why, Adele Montrose!" in chorus
"Oh, | mean, of course, you know, ]
shouldn't care who left it to me. She
may, if she wants to- said Adele. "It
there's one thing more heavenly than
another, it is lace!"
Miss Mahoney, of course, became al
object of study to the girls, and was al
ways accompanied in her progress by
some awe ard more ridicule-the former
as the possessor of finery that somehow
went to their hearts every time they saw
it or heard of it, the latter as a woman
past forty, tall and angular and ugly anc
ignorant, aping the appearance anC
manners of young girls. 81 wonder
how she came by Ladder" said Adele
one day. :.
"She gave q jewel for him." sale
Miss Meyer, laughing, $50 as to hav'
something to protect her other jewels
I'm sure it's no wonder how she cam'
bv Jack. That magpie will drive us al
out of the house yet. "
"See him now" said Jane Hunt, "ol
the limb of that hollow oak. Doesn'
he look like limb himselfP"
"Thcre certainly is something demo
riac about jack said Adele. ri
c4lnc tapping 1t my window last night