New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1881-06-15

O1 lou acres OF land, With all Improve
ments of whatever character, his inn
plements and machinery, two horses.
two COWS, ten pigs, and tho years
CROPS
TAKING BoARDERs.
1T was a Scandal the neighbors
said. ''that Miss Della should be obliged
to take boarders, after all she'd been
through; and heaven knows boarders
did not help q body to work out her
salvation. And so much money in tho
family, too, taking it by small and large.
Wasn't her Uncle Eben, over at Dover,
well to do, and not chick of his own
to care for, except the boy he had
adopted, who was no credit to him It
was odd, now, that a man with poor re-
lations should take to a stranger, when
his own flesh and blood was needy; but
sometimes it did seem as if folks had
more feeling for others than for their
own kith and kin. Then there were
cousins in the city, forchanded and
fashionable, who were never worth a
row of pins to Della, and there was her
Great-uncle Johns widow a larking on
the continent, gambling at Baden
Baden, and trying the waters of every
spring in the three kingdoms, for no
disease under the sun but old age.
She'd been known to say that her folks
were too rich already. and probably she
would endow some hospital with her
property" Plainly, wealthy relations
were of no value to Miss Della. To be
sure, she had never seen her great aunt
since she was child, when her Uncle
John had brought her into their simple
life for a months visit, with her French
maid and dresses, her jewels and fallals,
which won the heart of her little name
sake. Since then Uncle Johns widow
had become a sort of gilded creation,
always young and always beautiful !;
for, though Della had received little
gifts from time to time across the seas
for the last fifteen years, she had Meth
er heard nor seen anything of the being
who had inspired her youthful imagina-
ton, and was quite uncertain if such a
person as Mrs. John Rogerson was in
the land of the living. Dead or alive,
she seemed to have made no material
difference in Delia's humdrum life. At
ter having nursed her father through q
long sickness, Della found that he had
left a heavy mortgage on the home
stead, and her mother and herself on
the high road to the poorhouse, unless
they should bcstir themselves. AS her
mother was already bedridden, the STIR
ring naturally fell upon Della, and she
advertised for summer boarders:-
Good board in the country, by the
river side, at seven dollars week.
Large chambers, broad piazzas, fine
views, berries, and new milk. One mile
from the station. Address.
DELLA ROGERsON,
Croftsborough, Maine,
"Cheap enough - commented an ell
derby lady, who happened upon it.
Della Rogcrson. An old maid, I sup
pose, obliged to look out for herself.
I've good mind to try her broad piaz-
zas, and new milk. If I don't like it,
there'll be no harm DONE"
And so Dclia's first boardcr arrived
an old lady, with false front of hair,
brown, wrinkled skin, faded eyes, a
black alpaca gown, and hair trunk.
had been duchess; lighted wood fire
in Mrs. Clements room, as the night
was damp, and brought out her dam
test cup and saucer, with the fadeless
old roses wreathing them.
wonderfully kind" reflected Mrs.
Clement, as she combed out her wisp of
gray hair and confided the false front 10
a box. Wonderful kindness for seven
dollars q week She's new to the trade!
She'll learn better. Humane nature
does not change with latitudes. She'll
find it doesn't pay to consider the COM
fort of q poverty-stricken old crea-
ture,''
But, in spite of her worldly wisdom,
Mrs. Clement was forced to confess that
Della had begun rs she meant to hold
out, though other boardcrs came to de-
mand her attention, to multiply her
cares. The fret and Jar of conflicting
temperamcnts under her roof was a
new experience to Della. Whcn Miss
Gresomc complained of the mosquitoes,
with an air us if Miss Rogerson were re-
sponsiblc for their creation; of the flies,
as if they were new acquaintance of
want of appetite, as though Della had
agreed to supply it, along with berries
and new milk; of the weather, as if
she had pledged herself there should
be no sudden changes to annoy her
boarders; of the shabby house and the
Anticipated furniture, ''too old for COM
fort and not old enough for fashion,
then Della doubted if taking boarders
was her mission.
''What makes you keep us, my dear?''
asked Mrs. Clement, after day when
everything and everybody seemed to 20
wrong. ''Why didn't you ever marryp
You had q lover, daresay?''
eyes; q long, long time ag0r'
''Tell me about him-it?''
''There isn't much to tell. He asked
me to marry him. He was going to
Australia. couldn't leave father and
mother, you know-they were both
feeble--and he couldn't stay here.
That was ALL
''And yOu-yOu-"
''Now all men besides are to me like
the dead!''
since?"
eyes. He wrote; but where was the
use? 1t could never come to anything.
1t was better for him to forget me and
marry. I was a milestone about his
! neck. I didn't answer his last letter"
''And supposing he should return
some day, would you marry him?''
Il dare say" laughed Della, gently,
as if the idea were familiar, t:1et the
neighbors laugh ever so wisely. I've
thought of it sometimes, sitting alone,
when the world was barren and COM
mon-place. One must have recreation
of some kind, you know. Everybody
requires little romance, a little poetry
to flavor everyday thinking and doing.
I'm afraid you'll think me silly old
maid. Mrs. Clement.
.:No. The heart never grows old.
The skin shrivels, the color departs, the
eyes fade, the features grow pinched;
but the soul is heir Of eternal youths
as beautiful at fourscore as at sweet
and twenty" Time makes amends for
the ravages of the body by developing
the spirit. You didn't tell me your Low.
er's name. Perhaps you would rather