Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-12-21

sunshine from out MargafeFs peafl,
and presently the girl went YEARLY oal
of the room and down tho stairs
Thomas. the ioolman, was Just
gathering the letters from the table iaI
the purpose of mailing lhemi but Mar
garet's voice arrested him.
Thomas, there Ia u letter % my
mother amongst those will you kindly
hand Il to meT
The letter, with all is words oflov'
Ing cheer aud glad aaticipaiior' for the
lonely, widowed mother far away wa
laid quietly upon the Goals and burned
before MOrgaret's eyes ere she lighted
the gus and penncd, with trc@bline
hand, another which must 80 Ia III
place.
The tears were dry, and the patient
heart had grown yet more patient a'ler
the following lines were written aud I'D
dressed to Mrs. NJ. Arnold~~~ -
Conn. !
Ny DARLING MOTHER; ! thought
TO spend this Christmas with you, but
Mrs. Granger has decided that ny SER
vices arc needed here. am paid for
those scrviccs---what right have we to
grumblo? In fact, what right have
the poor at any time, mother' Does
this read bitterly? Well, my heart
has vcnlurcd to rebel against fate lit
tonight, for one hour ago, ! vas SO
happy / fairly sang, and my heart was
so full of plans for you and myself that
| even regretted the few days intcrvsn'
ing between now aud the time Of my
expected homcward start. Oh, mamma
dear, help me to be patient, and, above
all, help inc to look on the bright side,
if there be such side, to our lives.
yours, MARGAReT.'
This letter was sent at last, and
Margaret now awaited ChristMas as
though it were only the usual Sunday,
which would give her one days rest
from study. She turned the light
down low, replcnished the fire, and
drew her chair close beside the glow
ing Goals. Down stairs the cbildreI
were romping with their father, lsabc
was singing at the piano, and Mrs
Granger in her DoudoIr, was reuaini
the last novel. Dinner would uot be
ready for an bour longer, and Narga
ret could have that hour all to hersel
if.she chose.
So her thoughts went back to tn
past, and though in doing 50, the.
opened II wound which time bad no
quite healed-a wound which CAUSED
her to shivcr and moan-yet ther'
were threads of joy and happlues
which she could gather up and way
backward and forward until the ole
days, when she lived in sunshiue an
clover, were made whole agaih an
she lived them over in memory till sh
grew calm add quiet, and the old pail
deadened somewhat.
There had been such happy Christ
mas times for her long ago, when sh
was the idolized daughter of her wealth
parents. And there had been tru
and noble hearts laid at her feet ere sh
had seen her twenty-frst birthday
but her woman's heart had chosen onl,
to Weld itself and its love to Howar
Winthrop, q young book-keeper in he
fathers firm. Without the mean
sufficient to marry, he yet dared to fal
III love with his employers daughter
and, despite the amazement OF friend
and relatives, Mr.. Arnold had choscl
to sanction the engagement, AID as
only that Howard would wait fey
years ere he claimed Margaret as hi
bride.
"A fine young fellow he said pri
vately to his wife; 'and if the chill
chooses to marry him, when she nigh
have a choice of dozen rich fellows
why / shan't hinder, so long as he is
good fellow and honorable
So they were engaged, and every
thing was going on well, Until on
morning letter addressed to Marsare
ili the well-known handwriting O1 Wln
throp was found to contain the follow
ing lines, evidently inclosed by n,istak'
in The wrong envelope:
wait a while, Jack, my boy; tn
money will be mine in good tiule' An
then Won will see how much love count
for in my opinion. A fellow can
live without money. and if prett
girl must be thrown in to boot, why
so much the better, maybe ! l can stee
my boat as we'll as the next ohe, yo'
know. Keep dark about this. Don
keep this letter a minute; burn 1t, an
wait patiently. I'll pay all l owe il
n rood time,