The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-10-21


tragical, dear Amy. Aunty used to say
that accidents sometimes turned out
blessings in disguise; and perhaps this
will. though l confess don't quite see
how"
She little guessed how truly she
spoke; and neither did Amy, as she
shrugged a pair of incredulous shout
ders and muttered: Optimism! Nom
sense!'' ttsF
Mays optimism, if that it was which
gave its serene coloring to her hopeful
nature, sustained q severe shock when,
going to the cupboard, five days later,
for the fragments of the jar, they prov
ed to be missing. Bridget was inter-
rogated, with this result.
"Sure, ye said they wuz all to be
throwed away"
YES. the broken lamp-chimneys;
but not"
"And how wuz I to know? They
wuz all broke alike; so I in wild them
to the dust-bar'l."
"Do you mean that you put that par
Gel of broken china that was done up in
paper into the dust-barrel?''
II didn't know you wanted any OF it
saved. l just cleared out all the broken
things"
ooh! Bridget! Bridgetr' despairing-
ly. Then, with sudden hope: "Where
is the barrel?"
"Sure, it was emptied the day before
Yesterday. That's the regular time.
It's very sorry am, Miss"
"Do you know who empties it?'' in
quired May.
''lt's cart that comes along. A
man drives it. I don't reminder his
name beyant that it's Mike. Twice a
week it comes. He'll not be here agin
till Saturday.
II wonder if Ben couldn't find out
who the man is and where he empties
his cart?' suggested Amy.
could. We will ask him, if he happens
to drop in"
Ben was rather given to " dropping
i'm in those days. He was deeply in
love with Amy Ise!in, if truth must be
told; but prudence and honor had so
far sealed his lips on the subject. A
young lawyer, fighting for practice
among crowd of eager competitors,
he could barely calculate on a subsist-
ence for himself. To ask a girl to
marry him, with no better hope to offer
than an interminable engagement, was
wrong and unfair, he considered It
was tying Amy's bloom and freshness
to the rack of wearing suspense, spoil
ing the better chances she was sure to
have, he told himself with groan; so
he held back the words which he would
fain have uttered, and restricted HIM
self to the role of friend. But perhaps
Ben did not play this role so successful
ly as he fancied. Certainly. Amy had
of late taken great trick of blushing
when Ben's name was mentioned, and
her hazel eyes met his with a shy con-
sciousness, which said more than they
meant. 1t was hard enough to hold an
honorable silence while the girl he
loved was struggling with perplexities
and worries, which he could neither re-
lieve nor share; and more than once
Ben had muttered wrathfully to him
self: "Confound old Miss Iselin! What
did she mean by pretending to be so
fond of those girls, and then going off
and leaving them without a penny
not even a mention in her will? wish
| knew the rights of the thing. If she
had done as she ought, l, perhaps l."
And he tugged at his moustache wrath
fully. But ill-treating his moustache
did Ben no good, nor did. it serve to
throw the least light on the vexed
question of Miss lselin's lost will.
The question of the city cartman was
much more easily settled. ;. Nike was
found and questioned; but his replies
were not encouraging:
81 dumps on that big Common out
to the East End; but, bless you. Ma am,
it wouldn't be no use for any one to 90
searching there. There's a matter
of twenty carts that dumps alongside
of me, and if your chiny was inside the
barrel, why, there's five or six ton of
rubbish atop of it, most likely, by this
time"
=" But I mean to 60 and search for it,
all the same" declared Amy.
"And I'll 60 with you," said May.
"And l, too, if you really mean it, :"
put in Ben Allen.
"''Twon't be no use," persisted
Mike. But he described as well as he
could the part of the Common on which
he had emptied his loads the Tuesday
before. Then he drove off, still shak-
ing his head and repeating, pertina-
ciously as Poe's raven, his refrain of
mo use! 'Twon't be no user'
The girls really did "mean it," and
next day found them equipped for the
expedition, in their oldest clothes and
hats. Each carried small hoe, and
they kept their wells down in the car,
fearing to be recognized by some &C.
quaintance in this unaccustomed guise.
1t looked hopeless quest, indeed,
when they reached the big Common,
and surveyed the huge piles of rubbish
with which they had to deal. Nays
zeal gave out at once, and, though she
made a pretense of using her hoe, the
strokes were rather a pretense, and
she shrank fastidiously from the dusky
cloud which they evoked. Amy was Of
more vigorous stuff, and, choosing her
spot, she plunged in, regardless Of dirt
and its consequences, and had soon
make a considerable excavation. Such
extraordinary rubbish as she turned up!
Old shoes, hoopskirts of antiquated
patterns, battered and rusty tin pans,
broken glass, broken china. broken
everything, tomato-cans always a
speciality of dust-heaps). covcrless
bowls, scraps of calico, odds and ends
of every description. One old andiron
was discovered, bearing it's brass knob
above the ashes, and was pounced on
by Amy as lawful prize. But its fellow
was not to be found, which made it, as
Ben suggested, about as valuable as
half pair of scissors. 1t was dusty,
dirty. depressing search; but Amys
zeal defied encouragement, and she
delved and dug with energy worthy of
a nobler cause, finding considerable
amusement meanwhile in the motley
articles which her search revealed.
''And just to think that all this is less
than a years accumulationr' said May.
THE man said this Common would be
filled up by the end of the year, and
they would have to begin dumping in q
fresh place.