The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-07-05
POLLY,s BURGLAR.

POLLY'S BURGLAR
Gray and ice-cold the twilight had
darkened over the Stone Tower, until
the ruddy glow of the fire became Insult
ficient to dispel the creeping shadows,
and Mamie broughtin the lamp.
1t was a great, low-ceiled room, with
an antique-carved cornice and a wainscot
of oak which reached above Mamie S
shoulder room where the faded Grim
son hangings shut out the dying day
light, and the pattern of the carpet had
long become indistinguishable.
And the three blooming. bvight-eyed
young girls in this ancient room seemed
as much out of their element as cluster
of rosebuds would have been lying on an
Egyptian sarcophagus
But Colonel Copely liked seclusion
and antiquity. Moreover, he liked econ
Omy. And when he brought his three
motherless daughters down to the Stone
Tower he grimly gave them to under
stand that they too must teach them
selves to like these three aspects of life
There's one thing Colonel Copely
who was q man-hater, added to himself
they'll get no beauX here! No girl
ought to dream of a beau until she is
twenty-five years old, at the very least. s"
Which was rather hard on Amy and
Mamie, who were nineteen and seven
teen, and had their pretty heads fun OF
vague visions of love and lovers. And
even little Polly, the youngest, who had
barely turned fifteen, had an imaginary
ideal in her brain, with dark, melancholy
eyes and brow like ivory, which she
hoped one day might be realized in a
suitor.
And upon this windy March night,
when Colonel Copelv was in the city,
and Miss Baird, the governess, was con
fined to her room with an attack of in
flammatOryrheu Amy and Nan
ME were going to a surreptiuous party.
"Of course papa wouldn't let us 90 il
he were at home, - said Amy.
''And we couldn't manage it if Miss
Baird wasn't laid up, either" sagely
added Mamie.
''But everything happens for the
best,n said Amy. ''Do- look at this
lovely, gold-colored silk. Nan Wasn't
it good of Mary Sinclair to lend us the
three dresses to choose from? I think
I'll wear the gold-colored silk, with this
black lace mantle"
''And 1, said Mamie, who was pink
and plump, with china-blue eyes and
radiant, bronze-brown hair, "shall weal
the white, all brocaded over with pink
rose-buds, and the rose-colored satin
slippers. o, Amy, darling bouncing
upon her sister with little, ecstatil
kiss-''we shan't know ourselvesr'
"Couldn'tF 60, too?' pleaded Polly
whose gipsy beauty cleaned in between
the apple-bloOm faces of her sisters like
JacqueminOt rose among white moss
pink. "Couldn' wear the pretty car
net silk that you've neither Of yor
chosenpn
"Nonsense?' cried Amy. you ar,
only a childr'
81 shall be sixteen in nine months, "
urged Polly. "And I'm almost as tai
as you and Mamie. And ] never, ileUsi
was at a grown-up party in my lifen'
''POlly," said Mamie, with autocratiC
severity, 'hold your tongue! It's quit
out of the question You are to star
here, with Miss Baird"
But Miss Baird is always asleep il
the evenings!" whimpered Polly.
$50 much the better for you,n pro
nOunced Mamie. ''And to look afte
the house.
"The house won't run away" poute,
Polly, still re0ellious.
"Ihat ism t the question under discus
SION said Amy. 'Getthe work baske
now, like a darling, and help MS tuck u
these dresses a little, for Mary Sincai
is at least half a head taller than we are
And there is no time to lose!'
Polly drew q deep sigh and Obeyed
"Why was it, she argued within her
self, "that she must always be put dow
and snubbed, and kept in the back
ground, because she was the Youngest
and wore short frocks and her hai
braided in two Chinese tails down he
back. If ever she was q grown-u
young lady, sbe'd d show themn'
But Polly got a little better nature
when she was allowed to make waffle
her ownself for tea, in the absence q
Mary Eliza, their sole domestic, who's
brother had bethought himself to fall &
of fever half q mile or so up the NOM
tain, at this auspiCiOus time, of a
others, and to select Jar Of raspberr
jam, by way of Accompaniment.
For Polly, tan though she was, had nc
quite outgrQwn the AGE Of teasets an
Aid She arranged the tea-rose buds i
AlNL aAatNla -llhAl y hLAAl AaNt lllt ldsL QtlLlL
touch to their dresses Polly was a Dor
lady s-maid, the girls declared, laughin
and looked regretfully after them, az
with their splendor all shrouded in blac
serge cloaks, they hurried down Il
frozen road, two merry, feeting shaC
ows.
30, dear, oh, dear, said Polly, alouf
chow | wish was going, tOor'
And she winked the tears down. an
ran back into the oak-wainscoted room
where the lamp stin glowed, and Id
logs blazed and snapped on the heartl
so hurriedly that she never once 4,
membered Amy's farewell caution as
the locking and dOuble-locking of til
outer door
Miss Baird was asleep, after her suppC
and her medicine. There was no us
going to her for companiOuship; for sh
snored and slept with her mouth opeI
and was not in the least an ideal slun
berer. And the kitchen was very Ion,
some without Mary Eliza, and even th
cat was too drowsy to purr OF froli
with a ball of knittng-yarn
''What shall I doPo said Polly &C
taHI Hsrrr Al. 90 IN l..