The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-10-26


In autumn, when the grapes were ripe u
And we, my dear, were wed.
Then blessed be spring, for il first shovel
Your sunny face to me;
And blessed be summer forit heard
You vow my love to be;
And doubly blessed be autumn for
The crowning of my life;
II saw that happy day, my dear,
-Mar9oret Eyfinoe, s' Horpers Weekly.
PHEBE'S COURAGE.
"Not quite as homely as q hedge
fence, ! hope" sighed little Phebe
Palmer, as she took her sewing out un-
der the old elm that hot afternoon. :"
wonder if I shall ever look handsome to
any oneP I wonder If shall ever be OF
any real service to any one. I ought to
be of as much use as Tom-and-Idonh 7
know but / am"
The last words brought q bright flush
to her cheek. She knew she could do
her pSrt in the household, though she
could not bring in the money as Tom
did. Tom was considered bright
handsome fellow; he inherited his moth.
er's beauty, while Phebe was q little,
plain, brown wren, with loving blne
eyes and the sweetest smile in the world.
Your heart would have warmed TO her If
you had seen her on that hazy, August
afternoon, as she sat under the splendid
elm, just on the right of the unpreten-
tious front-door, looking through whose
shaded vista one might have seen two
pretty children playing among the roses
In the cool back garden. lPhebe leaned
back and smiled rs she heard their
merry voices. She felt as If she had q
monopoly in all the pleasant sights and
sounds about her. As far as the eye
could see there was nothing but gardens
and pretty nesting houses. The work
was done indoors. A fresh batch of her
best doughnuts awaited Toms coming,
with his mans appetite; the bread and
pies were baked for the week. What. ID
Miss Magpie had said she was as homely
as a hedge-fencep words which some in
judicious friend had repeated to her
she was healthy and busy and happy,
and Tom and her mother loved her, and
she loved Tom and her mother with an
an-absorbing love, and gladly worked
for them. When she went in to set the
-tahls,-she. -surprised her mother wiping
"Why, mother, what's the -matterf''
she asked.
fhe gray head was shaken, but the
lips said nothing for some moments
then, as if driven by a terrible impulse,
Mrs. Palmer, ssthe widow Palmer" as
she was called, looked up at Phebe with
eyes full of grief, as she said:
Tom IS going to be married.
Well''-and Phebe paused q mo-
ment to fortify herself, for the news was
sudden to her-''we always expected
that he would get married sometime,
didn't we? Jenny is such q good girl,
YOU know We all love hers
Yes, but hoped it wouldn't be for
some years yet. 1t will make such q
difference in the house, for of course
Jenny must come here. Tom hasn't
business enough to support two sepa-
rate families Well, well, We must be
resigned :
1t seemed so odd to Phebe to hear her
mother talk about being resigned, while
her own mind was running upon the
wedding and gay times, on the new mus
lin dress up stairs, which would haveto
be made now, and upon the acquisition
of such a pretty, amiable sister-in-law,
who would fill the house with sunshine,
and make the time pass quickly till Tom
came home, both looking for him, that
she knew not what to answer.
AT any rate" she said, unthinking-
", as she proceeded to lay the table for
supper, ait will be good deal better
than burying him.
How often she thought of those words
afterward, and for how long, particu-
larly as her mother made answer:
Well, don't know ''-and added,
disconsolately- marriages seem TO me
sometimes like funerals. ="
Phebe laughed and chatted away, try.
ing to console her mother, who was Civ
en- to looking on the dark side of things
Then the clock struck six, and they
watched for Tom, whose day it was tc
go to the city for goods-for Tom drove
q wagon and sold the lighter and finel
kinds of tinware-having bought him
self route-when they saw Jenny run
ming up the rose-bordered path to th'
house, her pink-calico sun-bonnet il
her hand, her cheeks pale, her hair dis
arranged.
"Hasn't Tom comeP'' she cried, burst
ing in. "No, of course not-but, oh
dear, heard of an accident, and it SEN
me cold all over. shall be wretcheC
now till Tom comes"
"An accident" exclaimed the Widow
Palmer, letting her needle fall from
nerveless hands. "Oh, deari I've beer
feeling all day as if something was goini
to happen. What did you hearP"
I" I was down at the store, and while
was there two men, strangers, came in
They said they had come from the Fiv'
Corners, and people were talking Of |
train being run into-the very one tina
Tom Is coming in"
The little group sat there speeches
1a1 4l,a -
were hushed as they waited in dreat
suspense for tidings; Phebe put on he
bonnet at last and went down. to tn
depot, only to hear the news confirmed
"There's a smash, but we haven't go
full particulars. Only two or thre'
killed, however,"
"Only two or threein What did i
matter to poor Phebe how many heart
would. beat with new thankfulness OF
the morrow, while her little home wa!
the scene of mourning and desolation
OF the three killed outright, handsome
Tom Palmer was one. The mother wa.
stunned by this dreadful blow so tina
| for time it was feared that she and hel
boy might be buried together. Tom ha6
been the widows idol. She had wartec
him all to herself, she even grudged the
woman he loved the happiness OF being
loved by him, and now God had taker
him. It was weeks before light was ad
mitted into her room and she could beal
to see the pale face of poor plain Phebe
who, had she resembled her brother
more, might, alas, have been more wei
come.
But Phebe was a very brave girl, ant
had known where to carry her sorrows
and her crosses. So she bore her moth
er's complaints with exemplary pa
tience, and to her oft-reiterated ques
ton, "What shall we do without Tomr