Democratic messenger., 1881-10-29

1orgoG tne Will, an that all expenses has
got to be equally shared by the three,
or as many as lives. It'll be a leetle
hard ON Chloe, but then she's used to
your imposin' on her, and grain more
won't make much difference"
'Sisters," said Chloe, in an agony
of tremulousness and apprehension,
for mercy's sake Oh dear how can
you? Why don't we each have teapot,
an why didn't / think of it before t?
There's one for each, and caddy piece
too-the little ones grandfather brought
home. Oh, don't look that way, Dianthy,
an Althy too To think that we're all
sisters, and all alone in the world For
PHYS sake!''
''Be stillp' said Miss Diantha, impera-
lively. can now, Althy Templeton,
you hear my last word to you. When
you say you're sorry for this mornings
work, I'll say back, an not before. The
Wills fixed so't we can't split nor di-
vide, an long as we live there's got to
be three in the house. Well, I would
not split if / could. Folks IL ask, an
you kin tell. I'm DONE"
Done, truly. Eight years had passed,
and not one word had Miss Diantha
been heard to speak. If direction was
needed, she wrote it on slate and
handed it to Miss Chloe, who acted as
mediator and interpreter. Confident
that day would end it, Miss Althea
had gone her way, missing more than
she would have told the war of words
which, after all, had been only words
family privilege never destroying a
certain family feeling holding its place
under all assaults. But as day after
day went by without sign, she, too,
grew more and more determined, and if
an occasional spasm of desire for the
old state--or perhaps better state--of
things visited her, she put it sternly
away. Daily the two faces settled into
harder and harder lines; daily Miss
Chloe's eyes grew more apprehensive.
The three caddies she had filed at
once, the time for some decisive action
on her part seeming to have come at
last beyond any question, and daily she
took down the three ea-pots, hidden for
years in the recesses of the upper shelf
of the china closet-one old blue,
the last piece of set long ago scattered
or destroyed; one tiny Wedgwood, q
SiSSU- aunt . PIOpS1ty, anu 1dot, tHc
bronze-colored earthen their mother
had sometimes used. The three had
each its own place ON the stove, and Gu
rlous neighbors, who had heard there
was something beyond the common
goin' ON at tho Templetons looked at
them with suspicion as in some way ac-
countable for the difficulty, and at last
with shake of the head as the silerce
refused to yield. The minister argued
and pleaded, the deacons came singly
and in body, exhorting and threaten
ing suspension of church privileges, and
the parish, was in ferment, till a new
cause for discussion arose in another
quarter, reverting to this, however, with
surprising constancy.
By degrees Miss Althea had grown
almost as silent as the elder sister,
whose life seemed black shadow, dark
ening even the sunshine of summer, or
the golden light of autumn on the hills.
Miss Chloe grew more haggard every
day, and her forlorn blue eyes, red
trimmed with much crying, brimmed
over for months, as she looked appeal
ingly from one to another. Anything
was better than this hard, grim silence,
and the two faces always with averted
eyes.
"Oh, why didn't I ever think of these
three tea-pots before ?" Chloe moaned
to the old minister. "Such an easy
way out of all the trouble; an there
let it go on, an now shall always be
responsible.
No argument availed against this con-
clusion, and no length Of time proved
sufficient to overthrow it. Months ran
into years at last, but time seemed
never to deaden the continuous self-re-
proach of this Templeton, who had ab-
sorbed the conscience of the whole gen.
Grafton, and who sought vainly to
reconcile irreconcilable forces.
"When an irresistible wave encoun-
ters an immovable rock, what is the re-
suit ?" had questioned Leander Lam
son, home from Dartmouth, and over
flowing with Sophomore logic; and old
Lamson, after a pause for reflection,
answered, "Tarnal smash for whatever
comes between"
Miss Chloe had come between, and
her looks indicated something equiva-
lent to "tarnal smash"
Lucinda Wetherbee, once the owner
of small but profitable farm, had
"signed" for her brother, luckless
scamp, who fed to the West when the
final crash came, leaving Lucinda at
sixty to face it as she might. The end
was the town farm, where the poor
creature went for life. too crushed by
the sudden cessation of all the small
activities that had made her world to
think of other methods. Her mind
failed partially, and she appeared peri
odically at houses she had been accus-
toned to visit, complaining that the So
ciety at the town farm was not what
she had been accustomed to or expected,
and that "she'd come to stay a spell.
an git the taste out of her mouth"
When Miss Chloe had made the ar
rangement and agreement to exchange,
she refused to tell, answering every in
quiry in the same unvarying words:
"We thought we'd each have change.
She took up her life on the hill as If
born to the place, and, to the astonish-
ment of every one, Miss Diantha ac-
cepted the change with no break in the
immoyable silence. But when the Sc
lectmen appeared, and appealed to her
to end the scandal and go in person for
the sister, who had banished herself
in the hope of bringing about peace,
she listened till even old Lamson had
said his last word, and then, having
written for a few moments, laid the
slate on the table and left the room.
HSha'a cot a 6unoh 1avil - oo;d nao