Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1882-09-05
AUNT POLLY'S ROOM.

"Love in cottage, stuff and non.
sense" said Mrs. Meredith, in the curt
petulant tone which denoted years of
grinding poverty. petty annoyances,
and blighting cares.
"Mary, think you ought to know
better"
"But, aunt Polly, why shouldn't peo-
pie love one another AS well In kitchen
as palace ?" pleaded Mary Meredith,
bright eyed girl of nineteen who was
plating up new trimming for the old
cashmere dress which had already been
turned" twice.
They don'tr' drily retorted aunt
Polly. "That's all know about it"
'When poverty comes in at the door,
love flies out of the window"
"Tben it can't be real love-" said
Mary, very decidedly.
II know that 1 should be happy with
Charley any where, even if we hadn't q
carpet on the floor. or a curtain to the
window"
Fiddle de-dee," said Mrs. Meredith.
''That's ali you know about it. That's
just exactly what 1 thought when I
married your uncle Cyril. Folks say
| that old Benaiah Meredith was a rich
miser, and that, sooner or later, your
uncle Cyril would inherit all his proper.
ty. So he did, such as it was-this old
| tumbled down house, half-a dozen or so
of sterile acres, and the Genealogical
Family Tree mounted on parchment
and emblazoned in different colors. But
didn't think of that. I was foolish
schoolgirl in love, and, like all the rest
of them, married i'm haste and repent
ed at leisure. And here am, at forty,
broken-down old woman with your
uncle Cyril helpless and bedridden ups
stairs. To him am slave. There, do
you hear his cane rapping on the floor
upstairs? That is signal for me to
drop everything and hurry to him at
once. Get married, Mary; do, if you
want to enter into just such wretched
slavery, at once"
Mary Meredith was silent.
Aunt Polly had never spoken her
mind quite so plainly before.
Was it then true that aunt Polly had
once been rosy, dimpled young thing
like herself, with heart full Of vague
anticipations, a soul half unfOlded like
the convolvulus bu IDS?
Would life treat b er with the same un-
relenting cruelty?
- Would Charley Franklin ever shrivel
into a snarling old bundle of skin and be
like uncle Cyril in the great bed up
stairs?
And as she pond cred aunt Polly came
briskly duvnstairs again W ith a cruel.
cup in her hand.
Don't 1 hear the ragnlan's bells p"
said she, peering out of the white cur
tained window. Eyes, it's Abram See
ley, with his old grey horse, just com ing
up the road. Get the white rags, Mary,
quick, and I'll yun for the old newspa-
pers and books"
"But uncle Cyril didn't want any of
the old books to be sold, aunt Polly"
demonstrated Mary Me eredith.
"Your uncle Cyril never wants any
thing to be touched" sharply retorted
Mrs. Meredith. He'd let the old trash
of the house accumulate half. ceiling
high, if ne, had his way. And as for
those battered old Rollins Histories ,
he never has so much as taken them off
the shelf since old uncle Benaiah died.
ana l mean to turn the m into money
to buy good stout yarn for his wi nter
stockings. Are the VIII ite rags res ,dy,
Mary? Then call to Alb e Seeley W bile
go after the books"
And Mary stood ty, scarcely die an
proving, yet powerless to remOnstr ate
while the mildewed old volumes Of
Rollins Ancient Hist ory' were sold at
three cents.
!Cs shame." said she, ito sell those
books for such sum ls that"
"I'd like to know what possible use
they can be to u.s." sa id Mrs Meredith.
tartly.
Books is books" ,aid Abe Seelev. q
philosophical individu al with a leatherv
complexion and only one leg. But tf, be
sure. folks prefer po etry and romances
nowadays. They al MT just partial to
ancient history, as fa r as nv e.xperience
goes. Fifty dollars, that there last lot.
Mrs. Meredith"
And three~quarters," cried Mrs.
Meredith. "Three-quarters at the verv
least, Abram Seeley."
"Call it fifty dollars" said the. one-
legged intinerant. Its the Gov, era of
the books as weight heavy, Mrs. Mere
dith, and that's where the paper mills
don't allow fellow anything"
"You're cheating me-" said the lady.
severely.
"I'm cheating myself, Mrs. Mere ditb. -
said Abe seeley. fervently. IL and of
gracious there's days as I don't fairly
make my expenses"
This was in the sultry glow of the
At sunset, the rag-wagon stopped
alongside OF deacon Frankiin's old mill.