The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-02-15
AUNTIE MAYS VALENTINE.

! Mays little girl ever since. Auntic IS
! Just as lovely as ever she can be, with
| big blue eyes, that look so >0rrl' some !
/ times, as ii she wanted 10 cry and the
/ tears wOuldn' come. think t S dread
| ful TO have an ache IN your hear and "A
/ lump in your throat, when you can cry
! and let the bad ont. Auntie LET'S me cry
! when want 10, and sometimes | scream
| like everything, then | feel so much
better afterwards. My papa gone t.
! Heaven, and my mamma, and every
| body ever loved very much-b t
! Just my Auntic Nav. and / know such
| pretty story about her, and she says
| helped to make it so beauti-
fully, that I'm just going to think it all
over again, here by m, self, in my pret-
ty white bed, with the gas making such
a tiny light in the room.
This is Mr.. Archer house, and its a
great big house. aud we don't have to
'cOnomi one bit any more. and aunt;e
wears silk dresses cry day, and her
eyes have lost the sorry look they used
to have, and my valentine did it all
We used 10 be so poor auntie and !,
we lived up ever SO man. stores. in a
tile room at the very top, and when
used to cry because the stairs wcro s.
long and dark, aunt g would tell me
noise and dirt Of the street, and il was
worth the trouble to get even a very lit
tie nearer to God. / guess she SAID it
to make me feel better, but then she al
ways found the bright side of every
thing.
Well, Valentine Day came at last,
and / hadn a cent-nOt a ngle cent
and the windows were so beauti ul at
the shops, with cupids and angels and
birds and everyth ug loyely, and / did
want to get one for my aunte; but the
pretty ones were five cents. and the big
ones were ever so much more.
1t was nice, warm dar, and I'd been
out looking ut the windows, cause
auntie said that fresh air would do me
good. There was n little hole in the
window that | guess the shopman didn't
know about, Just big enough for my
hand TO slip through. and / do really
believe I'd have got the valentine that
lay Just inside If somebody hadn't been
watching. 1t was all blue and gold,
with two hands and two hearts, and
ever so many little ably anges, and
wanted it so much for auntie, but some
one was watching, you know 1t wasn't
the shOpman, nc was awfully busy, flv-
ing back and forth inside doing up the
lOyelest valentines, for people with lots
of money. 1t wasn't the pliceman,
cause he was tending to a drunkard
man down the street. 1t wasn't the
folks who were 90 ng past, cause they
were NIL peaking at their own
valentines, and didn't care one cent
what a poor little girl like me wa
doing; but it was God, aud auntie tod
me all about Linn, and | was afraid that
He'd punish me dreadfully, and so /
didn't dare.
When | went home / thought I'd ask
auntie for q few pennies Someti es,
when we've done lots of sewing and
feel real rich, she gives me some /
put my arms around her neck and kissed
her first; that's the way ! do when / |
want something real bad.
What is it, dcar?' she asked. lean |
ing over her work n little more so that
/ cOuldn't see her face and / thought |
her voice sounded as if she had q cold |
Il want penny, auntie, so bad, OH I
50 very lad" / said, giving her /
5 .Ueeze with my two arms ''The val |
entines are beautifuler than anything, I
only the beautifulest are rs much as five I
cents
"YOu want a valentino" " said auntie. I
her breath quick, like do when
the cry is in my throat and can keen
it back another minute. ''My poor lit
tie girl, there ism a penny left, and
| m afraid that, for the first time, you'll
have to go to bed hungry tonight"
She took me up in her arms, and her
tears kept dropping and dropping on
nv hair and on my face. After awhile
she put me down.
Il haven { a moment even for tears"
she said, as she wiped them away 1T
will be impossible for me to finish this
shirt tonight, and | must try to get
t done before the poor child wakes
up in the morning.
1t was lonesome in the room after
hat, with auntie looking so sad over by
,he window. Besides I was getting
lwfully hungry and there wasn't to be
any supper, 50 ] thought j d run out and +
oOk at the valentines once more. and
nay be / could get "A smell of the bakery
when the door opened.
/ was sta ding half way between the ,
Y ndOw and the bakery door They were ,
uch teenty way ap rt that whenever ,
my body opened the door ] could un | ,
Up close enough to get a good smell,
md, oh my wasn't it splendid. Fol ,
we're eating in the back part Of the ,
DOM, and there was baked turkey aud
,yster soup, and / got the biggest kind ,
# smells. too. Between times / watched {
he valentines 8
While / was standing there a man /
vent past, big, handsome man, with !
lack whiskers and brown ewes :
=" Don't / wish had it," sa d ], and
didn't know that / was talking out !
oud, until he came up 10 me and asked / I
" What is it YOU want so very much,
nv little grip
THAT prettiest valentine, with the
wo hands and the two hearts and the
OTIS Of little angels
'' All. 1 see,' said he, smi ing. "you ;
want il for some little boy friend - I
mo / don {; ] don't like little bows
They make up faces and call names 1 :
ant it for nv darling Aunt;e MAY.
Who hasn't anybody TO love her but Just !
ne. a."
"What is your name, my dearP" SAID ,
e, putting his hand in his pocket /
new that he was feeling for a penny.
nd I'd tout made up my mind not 10
ct the valentine but to buy turkey .
when he asked again:
" Is your name Nav, too?' d
Yes, sir Ny name is lust like aunt'e's, X
ut / don't see how you could tell Both i
{ our names are May Hitler" O
He 81 d something in a quick. sharp s
7av, and turned so white that thOigh
e d cut his hand against his knife in
is pocket. A little boy that lived in
he house with US a WAYS forgot TO shut I
he blade OF the knife into the handle o
tut when he took his hand out o. his j
ocket there WASH { any blood on il. nor b
ny pennies in it either. was dread -