The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-01-14
TIE NEW CINDERELLA.

When the widow OF General Spicer
married my father she swore that 1, his
only child, should he her first eare. Un-
fortunately, promises before marriage
arc provcrbially unsound, perishable as
pie crust. Those made by tho Widow
Spicer were singularly light pastry; be-
fore the honeymoon was over she forgot
che had mado any, and thenceforth her
maternal care of me was dead letter.
My father was an embarrassed man.
Mrs. Spicer brought him nothing but O
ready-made family-one son, Jack
Spicer, already in the army, and two
daughters. When they first joined our
domestic circle Cornclia and Adelaide
Spicer looked to my juvenile eyes full
grown women; and yet it was curious
fnct that five years later, when had
changed from child to missy of
twelve, they were still in their teens and
five additional years only seemed to
have the effect of making them younger.
The Spicer girls were no beauties.
They took after their mother; they
were large -nosed, shrill-tongued women
like her; they spent their lives dressing
and dreaming of q possible marriage,
but each year seemed to make the
struggle more hopeless. Between them
they led my poor father miserable life.
He had always been meek little man,
but from the moment he fell under the
yoke of the Spicers he seemed to lose
1t was quite enough for Mrs. Spicer to
say in her stentorian voice: "My girls
must have q season in town, William.
Cindy's schooling must stand over for
another year." and so it stood over
altogether. How I picked up desul-
tory education heaven only knows. The
only branch that received any attention
was millinery; the Miss Spicers con-
ceived that 1 had o nice taste for
trimming, and kept me pretty busy,
add by-and-bye Clementine, the French
maid, transferred her work to mel She
could not stand the temper of ices
vielles files" she said, and after she
left il was not found convenient to fill
her place. The constant drains made by
the Sp GERS generally on my fathers
purse were beginning to empty that
long enduring article. The seasons in
town were becoming matters of great
difficulty and each took slice out of
tue poor residue. My stepmother was
killing the goose with vengeance, and
the golden eggs were spent for no good.
Each season saw the return of The Miss
Spiccrs crosser, older, thinner sourer.
Sometimes they would bring with them
some man who was supposed to have
taken q fancy to either Cornelia or
Adelaide, and it was hoped that country
house life might fan tho languid flame
into u healthy fire; but the old saying:
Opportunity and importantly" seemed
TO have the contrary effect on the Miss
Spiceis' admirers; they made great in
roads on the larder, but no progress to-
ward matrimony,
During these visits had strict ordern
to remain in my own room. My step
sisters had strong dislike to any oi
their so-called admirers seeing me. Men
have, unfortunately, preference foi
fresh young faces, and, i'll spite of all
the nostTums that the Spicers spent o
little fortune upon, each day increased
the difficulty of keeping up the fiction
Of girlhood. To do them justice they
worked hard. Ii they had been a little
kinder to me L could have found it in
my heart to pity them, for surely no
laborcrs put in severer days toll.
Morning, noon and night they were
digging in ungrateful soil, and the
harvest seemed never ripe.
Adelaide, being the youngest, was the
most gushing; she adored dancing.
wn-tennis, picnics, and billiards.
Cornelia, on the contrary, was, as her
mother remarked, steady as church.
She haunted the rectory, whore the Rev.
Alfred Pringle dwelt, solitary widower.
She made his life burden to him, and
marriage with her almost q necessity; it
was miraculous how he held out.
"My eldest girl is such help in the
pari,h," my stepmother would say, her
wide nostrils smiling the air; "she leads
the choir, AID teaches the infant school,
and is president of the mothers meeting,
the coal bag, and the Christmas dinner;
you'd find it hard to get on without her,
Mr.. Pringle.
:" It's wonderful how the children obey
Miss Cindy," the Reverend Alfred says,
shyly.
"Do you mean Sir Williams unfortu-
nate daughter, Mr. Pringle? That girls
n hoartbreak," answers my amiable
second mother. Gan tho pains my
girls take seem 10 do her no good"
Shes perfectly incorrigible," saws
oornelia with the air of martyr.
Adelaide "
"A horrid little bear" continues
Corneiia with more ncrimony than be-
lore She has mn iniuitive feeling that
the rector docs not agreo in these STRIFE
lures. Something in his expression
iouses the jealousy which is always
burning IN sucn natures as hers. No