The Worthington advance., 1881-02-24

H.
pleasant looking old lady sat at the
door, knitting, but there was no sign
of Polly. rather astOnished frame
of mind, Mrs. Clephane accosted the
old lady and inquired if any one had
called at the house for some milk
within an hour.
Yes ma 'am,'' was the reply, land
1s'pose you're the lady she come with.
She said you was a-waitin' but aint
she wonder, though? She come in
here and she SEQ what Il condition we
was III. You see my sons wife died
two year ago, and since then we've
had to depend on hired help, and
the last girl left three days ago, and
I'm dreadful lame in rheumatic, 80
can't get around, and 50 things is in Il
| pretty bad shape, and she's just took
hold and began to straighten up. and
She S at it now down in the cellar. l
don't know when I've seen anybody 50
energetic like, and 50 kind.hcartcd in
her to think of tloin' it. If you'd like
to see her, the cellar steps is round on
| the other side of the house,
Mrs. Clephane walked around the
house and down some extremely dirty
| steps to the cellar, where she found
| Polly, with a very rcd face, battling
with might and main with the
dirt on the floor. When she saw
Mrs. Clephane, she stopped with II
| jerk, and explained matters bv say
ing:
swell, Is'posed you was a.waitin,
but reely / never see nothin that
vr-SNp rasIn Co no1s =,
ton of this house. You see come to
the door and asked the old lady if she d
sell me some milk, and after Il little
talk, when she told me about their
havin to depend OH girls 50, she told me
to so to the pantry and get somcthin
to dip with, and go down cellgr and
help myself. Well, you never see such
Il lookin pantry. That was bad
enough, but the cellar is enough worse
The outside door was wide open, and
the sun a 'shinin right there in, sourin
the milk, and right there on the milk
table, SO us to be handy to the cream,
sat a cat and two kittens. They looked
at me as if they thought l was
| intrudin !; they wasn't used to bein
disturbed. And think the dog come
out Of here when he come to bark at
me, and the milk hadn't been skinned
since the girl went away, I should
judge. and SO much milk had been split
| on the floor and the steps that they was
fairly slippery, and just felt rs if l
shouldn't sleep for week i'll didn't
take hold and leave things III Il better
| condition; SO here be and now you
jest go and talk to that old lady until I
get through.
Mrs. Clepllane obeyed, as usual, and
socially visited Mrs. Parker, as she
found her name to he, for half hour,
when Mrs. Plrker's son returned from
an unsuccessful search for Il hired girl.
lie had his mothers good. .natured face.
but lie looked very downcast from his
failure to find help. and the thought
OF his cOmfOrtless home. He seemed
pleased and much struck with Polly's
kindness when his mother told him Of
the Transformation going on in the
cellar: He tried to express his thanks
to Polly, and added
"This must have interfercd con.
siderable with your pickin' berries,
but III see that you don't lose nothim
by it,
Mrs. Clepllanc and Polly soon re-
turned to their lunch. and then, when
Polly was satisfied with the quantity
Of berries picked. Billy was hitched to
the wagon and they started for home.
\ few days later, Mr.. Parker had
occasion to 60 TO town, and pail Of
berries found it's way to Mrs. Clephane's
kitchen. Mrs. Clcphane felt abund-
antly satisfied and hoped matters
would stop there. and that they had
seen the last of Mr.. Parker. But tho
next time he drove down he brought il
basket of apples, and things continued
to go OH in the same manner. until the
final result. which Mrs. Clephane had
foreseen and was dreading. was
reached which was that Polly walked
into the parlOr one morning, and in.
formed her that she was to become
Mrs. Parker in week time.
"You see.' she said. II never
should have thought of it for Il minute
if that house WASH in such an awful
condition: and then did you see them
white agate buttons on that black vest
of his! / fairly achcd to git the sc;s.
sors and rip en- off. suppose he put
en- OIL himself
"Well," said Mrs. Clepllanc. IL
never before knew of Il case where
dirt and general forlornness were Of
any great advantage to anybody. hut
they seem to have been to Mr.. Parker.
But Polly. he ought to be extremely
grateful to me. Just suppose that
when we had reached that place where
the road branched. The day we went
pf ffx,,. I 1,n. RI Il
you had taken the other road as you
intended, he never would have seen
you. and l shouldn't havo lost You.
How l wish had let you have your
own way, rs usual: can't blame any
body but myself
Said Polly:
"lt seems to me that's the way it
is all through life! We're constantly
coming to places where the road
branches, and we can't tell notl,in'
about where they re goin' to and things
won't turn out to suit everybody
which ever one we take. But I
aint goin' to leave you ulpervidcd for:
I've spoke to sister IIuldy's daughter,
to take my place. She's real handy,
and a tirst-rate cook, Susan Jane is.
l don't think her mountain cake is
quite as good as mine, she gets leetle
too much soda in it, and when she
makes layer chocolate cake she gifts
the chocolate most too brittle. so it's
apt to break to pieces when you cut
it; but then she does fair for girl.
And Ill sec that you always have all
the berries you want
And with this Mrs. Clcphanc was
obliged to bc content.
Some British Hereditaments,
The duke of Richmond pniOvs an