The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-02-17
THE ANTIQUE DESK.


advertisement: = ina s ,...,tis
! WANTED-To buy an antique desk A liber-
al price will be paid for one satisfactory in every
! respect. p. q 3&as as.i y :s"a $40 III i
'Oh, Lucillev' I cried, ttthis.is your
chance. You can now retrieve your
fallen fortunes" And tossed the
newspaper across the breakfast table.
| 4 Lucille read the advertisement again,
and looked over with sigh to where,
between the windows, an old desk, such
as the newspaper described, occupied
the.post Of honor. 'gaa
II should feel as if were selling my
grandma's bones," she said decisively.
"Well, I don't believe your grand
mother" | began, would blame you if
she knew :,
Here Ruth stopped me witt a look,
and began telling something that had
happened in the store that day. Ruth
was saleslady in the cloak department
in one of our great city establishments.
1 taught school, and Lucille had been
French instructor, 10 a young ladies'
academy. We kept house together
until quite recently in two rooms in the
third story of New York house. We
had our own furniture, and cooked our
own meals over a little gas stove. To
girls who had been lmotherless from
childhood, and to whom the word
"home" was word with no meaning.
such q life was very pleasant.
Lucille was a dark-eyed, graceful
French girl, who had once seen better
days, though she was quite reticent, ex-
cept to us, about it. She was so inno-
cent and beautiful that Ruth and i
loved and guarded her. if she had been
our younger sister. Ruth was sturdy,
independent, and New England born,
and SO true. hearted and brave that we
looked up to her in everything, and
felt safe under her protection. AS for
me, I was Mollie, born in the sunny
south, wilful, high tempered, but capa-
BILE of deep feeling, they said. The
war had ruined the fortunes of my
family, and my life had been full of
hardship ever since.
lido not think three girls could have
been more unlike. And yet we led q
very tranquil, happy life, until a month
or two before the evening of which I
write, when cloud had appeared on
our horizon.
That night Lucille came home flush
ed and indignant. It took but little
questioning to discover the cause. The
assistant principal of the school had
long annoyed Lucille with his atten-
tions, and her studied avoidance of him
did not seem to make any difference.
He dogged her steps, wrote her notes,
and sent her flowers until the poor girl
was nearly crazy. At last, unable to
endure it any longer, she refused him
lperemptorily. Two days later she re-
ceived her dismissal, and that. too,
without a recommendation
"Never mind, !" said Ruth, encourag-
ingly, "you need q rest and Mollie and
need a h h1usekeeper. This is your
home, you know" 's ~
The girls dark eyes filled with tears.
"You are very kind" she sobbed
out. '.But, ali! it is this that makes
me think of the old days in France,
when grandma was alive. We lived in
the country, you know, in such beau
tiful little chateau. And the neighbors
were so kind, especially those in the
next place. All! what pleasant days /
had" she added. recalling it with .
sigh, "playing in the meadows with
their son, Henri; and what pretty
fetes they gave. But then grandma.
lost her fortune; and she was too proud
to stay where she was known, and she
came out to America and died. You
know the rest. Oh, you are very
kind"
We tried after this to get her another
situation, but were not successful. Fl.
nally, found two of my scholars who
wanted to take French lessons, and
this kept up her hopes.
That night after showed Lucille the
advertisement, she left the table and
went to the desk, passing her hand low
ingly over it. It was quaint, old
fashioned thing, inlaid with different
kinds of wood, in the style Of the early
part Of the last century. II had be
longed to Lucille's grandmother, and to
the family before, and was the only
relic she possessed of her happy child
hood in France.
knew what her feelings were when
suggested the idea of selling it, but I
knew still better that she needed the
money sorely. There was an unpaid
doctors bill that haunted her, which
Ruth and I dare not pay on account of
her pride. Ttsl
The next night was New Years eve,1
ard when Ruth and 1 came home the
desk was gone. There were no traces
Of tears on Lpcille's cheeks, but she.
made no complaint. We laid nothing;