The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-09-10

! Altcr Tue Iailure, uncle got SITUATION as SUI
pcrntcndent Of one OF the many departments
| IN the large establishment of the gentleman
who sold pms and needles by the paper. aud
| lace 10y the yard" (he was now head of the
firm, and had pretty, lady'like wife ana two
children), aud we dismissed one OF our sery
| ants and moved into u much smaller house.
| Bat IN spite Of all our efforts at economy our
income proved vastly inadequate to our cX'
penses, and this was the cause OF so much hc-
waiting aud bemOlulng that our house seemed
| to bc hercft Of all gadnGss and sunshine. Aud
one evening after Ethel our youngest daughter,
had burst into tears because aunt had declared
it would he impossible Ia have ice cream, me.
| ringues, wine jellcs, and similar dclIcaces
every day for dessert, for the two sufficient rea.
sons that we can't afford them and our present
cook couldn't make them, ] veniured to sug-
gest to the weeping damscl that II she found
! life positively unbearable without the above
mentioned luxuries-all the Egberls, blythe
by, were extravaganuy fond OF good things
70 eat-she might knit and crochet some Of
the worstcd articles she was in the habit of
making 80 artistlcally Tor herself, and sell
them to-Nr. Lee. uncle's employer, | was
about to say, when | was interrupted by a
shrill shrek.
"Work for a s,ores" she cried. 'l'd Stare
| first"
You wretched GIRL" added my aunt. "How
dare you even think OF such IL thing, Ethel,
my darling calm yourself"
us 1t not enough that strangers should pre-.
sumo upon our poverty" joined in Clcanthe,
also frowning upon me, but one bound to us
| by ties of blood, though it must be confessed
more alien than many stranger would be,
must advance ideas that shock and wound us.
Imagine" turning to her brother Roland who
| lay on the only lounge IN the room, compla-
Gently regarding himself IN the mirror on the
opposite wall, that impairment Mrs. Brad
shaw coming here tins morning, with the air
of doing a kindness, too, to offer me "a position
in her academy"
Great heavens!" exclaimed Roland spring
| ing to his icet-and the cause must be great
one that brings Roland TO his feet. "One Of
mn sisters a teacher! Great heavens!" and he
went stamping about the room in the new suit
of clothes aunt had just paid Tor by parting
with her handsome pearl ring.
"Whatever is done, ace can do nothing" sob
bed Ethel.
"Of course not" replied Roland, grandly;
"the women of our family never work"
thought to myself, "NOr the men either,
except poor old uncle, who Is tagging at II
desk from morning until night
but our Income must be increased" said
| Alethea, looking up from her novel, and join
ling In the conversation for the first time. Ale.
thea was our eldest, and still wore hair in the
fashion of her youth, loose curl dangling ov-
er each cheek bone, being fully persuaded that
no other fashion was half 50 graceful or be
coming
! discharge the chambermaid," proposed
Ethel, land let Dorothea q am DorOthea) do
her work 1t is about all she is fit for. She
never had bill of fine feeling or style about
her"
mo, she never had, she always would bite
her bread, sighed my aunt, land she has seem
ed sadly out of place among my children. She
comes of working race and her Ideas and
tastes smack of trade-trade-tIade." l dis
covered IN after years that my aunts grand
mother on the maternal side made q fortune
out OF tobacco.
But discharglng the chambermaid won't
help very much" said Alethea.
ut will not" agreed Roland. what is saw
ed thereby will no more than find me in the
little extras no society man can possibly do
without"
Dear dear" aunt took up the burden again,
Gould have foreseen that your father would
have come down in this way, | never would
have married him. l really don't know what
is to be done, unless we emlgrate to some coun-
| try place, where we are unknown, and where
! II don't matter how we live"
"The country" screamed her children in
chorus. Better death at once"
| | can't imagine where got the courage to
do SO after my late sharp rebuitS but at this
moment | blurted out something tina. had
been in my mind for several weeks: why
could not Alcthea and Ethel room together,
and Aethca's room, which is the pleasantest
in the whole house, be let to lodger, one
who would"
But here paused abruptly. Alethea had
tainted IN the arms of my aunt, who, glancing
at me over the top of her eldest daughters
head, commanded me in her deepest tone aunt
has rather bass voice. TO leave the room, In
stantly."
But in short time, during which things
had been getting worse and worse, and we had
been reduced to rice buildings for dessert on
week days and apple tarts on Sundays, was
allowed to prepare an advertisement for the
morning paper, IN which was Offered to ian
elderly gentleman, who must have excellent
references, a fine room in the house of fami
lly of refinement, who had never before taken
a ledger, for the privilege of occupying which
he would be expected to pay liberal cquiva-
lent"
| disapproved highly of the wording OF this
call for help, but my aunt and cousins insisted
upon its being couched in these very terms,
and so was compelled to yield, Inwardly con-
WINGED that it would bring no reply.
But 1t did. The very afternoon OF the morn
ing it appeared, carriage with a trunk strap
ped on behind drove up to our door. An old
gentleman got out, hobbled up our steps, and
rang our door bell.
"You must see him, Dorothea," said my
aunt, leaving the parlor, followed by train of
her children 1T Is your affair altogether.
will have nothing to do with It,"
r. I'VE none of us will have anything to do
with It," chimed IN my cousins. I'VE were
not born with the souls of lodging house keep
/ ers;" and away they sailed as | opened the
door to the second little louder than the first,
e ring of the caller
lie was a short, slightly formed old gentle
T man, with big, bright black eyes, bushy, white
eyebrows, and n long, white mustache and
=. hoard