Frostburg mining journal., 1882-12-23

mind havin' of him, I'll get him here.
You know l calculated to buy some
things"-here Hitty blushed again, with
a droop of the long, dark lashes on her
rosy cheek, that made Mat interrupt her
in very natural way.
"Oh, Mat Well, you'll like me just
as well, won't you, in my old blue
merino, as if had new gownd?"
"Like your There was no more to
be said; or if there was, Mat left it un-
said. He was afraid to tell this saint
how sanity she was, and so fell back on
the silent conviction that he, himself,
was an unworthy sinner-a wholesome
state of mind, no doubt, but not likely to
be too enduring.
But Miss Platt, the lady with whom
Hitty boarded, and to whom she con-
fided her plans, in hope of some help
about getting a secondhand bed and
bedding to set up in the front room,
had no adoring scruples to prevent the
full expression OF her mind to the girl.
"Well, il L ever did |" she exclaimed,
every scant hair on her tall, narrow head
seeming to crisp with Indignation, and
her black eyes swapping. "Ef you amt
the most of gudgeon [ ever see, Hitty
Blake, then I'll give it up That house
amt bigger'n nothin' now-a settin'-
room, an kitchen, and lean-to, and
only one up-chamber, under the ruff at
that. Eff you he'd grain o sense, eff ye
could spare that front room anyhow,
you'd sleep there yourselves. It'll be
colder'n Greenland's icy mountains nd
Indy's coral strands put together, up
stairs. But, for the lands sakes to set
up q pauper to begin with 1 b'lieve
you're little luny, and Mat he thinks
the sun rises n sets i'll your face, OF he
wouldn't never give in to no such non
sense And the old mans poorer'n Jobs
turkey, 1 expect.
eff he wasn't, we shouldn't need to
help him, Miss Nancy" said Hitty,
gently.
"Well, fools will be fools to tn eend O
the chapter. s'pose shall have to set
by and see We put upon by some helpless
old feller, till you can't call your soul
your own, and all for nothin."
Hitty thought tenderly of certain words
that had echoed in her heart over and
over, of late. Inasmuch as We have
done it unto one of the least of these, ye
have done it unto Me; but her religion
was Of the silent type, that uses no
language, but is active as the still forces
of Nature, as the benignant dew, the
quiet sunshine, the wooing breath and
voiceless growth of spring. Her silence,
and the lovely CLEAN of her look, pro-
voked Miss Nancy Platt's practical soul,
and she went on:
You don't know nothin' what chore
tits, neither, to take care of an old man.
They're seventeen times worse n old
women be. I know it, for I've wintered
and summered 'em both. wonder mt
Matthew Hallett for lettin' ON ye
do it; but I expect he'd get the
moon for we if you was sot on it,
an he could. 'Twon't last he'll peter
out just like other folks, and then there'll
be this old feller to wait on besides. Well,
if willful will to water, willful must
drench, Gran used to say, and so It's 7!
She bounced out of the room, and
Hitty sat down to write her letter, which
she took to hartford next day, and,
drawing her money from the bank, |
bought draft with it, which she in
closed and mailed, and then went her
way back to West Dartford, with serene
Joy in her heart, that Miss Nancy Platt
neither knew nor understood.
This was the last answer to his circrl-
lar that reached John Turner. He had
not heard from Loren at all, and his pre-
conceived opinion of human nature as
large had been strengthened in its bit
terness by the tenor of the three letters
he had received.
He opened this in q langrlid, uninter-
ested fashion, but read it with eager and
deepening interest as it went ON. This
was Hitty's note:
"DEAR COUSIN JoHN:-I don't remem-
ber you, of course, but Mother did, and
almost up to her death talked to me
about you, and learned me to love you
because she did. Now I want you to
come right here to West Dartford. I am
going to be married to Matthew Hallett,
New Years Day, and he wants you, too.
We are going to fix up real pleasant
room for you, and we will take such good
care Of you, perhaps you will get well
right OFT. Come as soon as you can. |
will get you place to board till we
move. | send some money for the jour
ney, for know you won't refuse to come
for mothers sake; she set so much by
you, aud she would have been so glad to
do for you herself. Write and say when
you are coming, SO we can go or send
team to hartford to fetch you out. Your
loving cousin with Mats best respects),
"HIrrY BLAKE"
There were verbal faults enough in the
little school-ma'am letter to have called
down the censure of any school visitor;
but to John Turner it was us voice
from heaven. He dropped his grizzled
head on the table where he laid it down,
and thrill of genuine repentance ran