Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-04-19
THE LIFE SHE SAVED.

Round and sparkling, like q crystal
globe of dew, the big tear rolled down
Bessie Barton's cheek, and FLASHED up.
on the faded ingram carpet of the dreary
fireless hall bedroom, in which she sal
upon her own shabby little trunk, the
red shawl drawn tightly around her for
warmth's sake, the roar and rattle o1
the avenue below rising up to her eaI
like the howl of distant demon.
For Bessie was a country girl, and
better acquainted with the gurgle OF
alder-shaded brooks and the hum OF
bees than the rush of omnibus wheels
and the whizz of trains over the elevated
roads.
Besse's visit to New York was prov
ing rather disappointment
She had committed the not unnatural
error of taking her city cousins entirely
at their word when, after month at
Bluebell Farm, they had invited her to
come and see them in the city.
So she had indulged in new violet
cashmere, made by the village dress
maker, little straw hat with wreath
of daisies and new boots and gloves and
taken the eight o'clock train to the city
one fine morning. 4.
But Mrs. Milton Munger's house, in
stead of the elegant mansion on Fifth
Avenue, which she had limited at, was a
big domicile over shoe store, where
she kept boarders, and expended most
of the profits in snowy dresses for her.
self and her two daughters. Medora and
Adeliza
And she stared blankly enough at Bes-
sic Barton when that dimpled young
damsel presented herself smilingly at
the door. '
At first she could scarcely recall hel
face, but presently she remembered who
it was.
"Ah," said she, ''its Cousin Barton's
girl from Bluebell Farm, isn't itP Deal
me, what on earth has brought you
herep"
''Medora and Adeliza asked me to re.
turn their visit" said Bessie, feeling as
if her heart was plunged into q cold
bath. And-and I didn't know thatyou
kept boarding-housen'
at isn't boarding-house,' sharply
retorted Mrs. Munger. .If | choose tc
share my expenses with few refined
friends, don't know that my establish.
ment need to be called a boarding house.
But I'll call the girls. Medora! Adeliza'
where are you?''
Me,lorn Munger emerged from the
parlor whe",' she had been hammerine
away on wrctched old skeleton of
piano. .a...
Adeliza came up from the uncongenial
occupation of polishing red apples for
dessert in mouldy smelling dining
room where the boarders ate their din
ner by gaslight, and there issued forth
q whit of blackbeetles every time the
cupboard doors were opened.
And together they escorted theircous-
in Bessie up to the chilly hall bedroom,
whose atmosphere seemed to strike like
frozen k life to her heart.
''Oh, of course we re glad to see you,n
said Medora, adjusting the frizzes be-
fore the misty little looking-glass framed
in cherry wood. "But it's unlucky that
you should have come just now, when
the house is so full, and the waitress
has gone, and there's such deal to
do. But you can sleep with me and
Liza, in the dark room off the linen
closet, and l dare say we'll get along
very comfortably"
But this style of speech was SO differ
ent from the gushing cordiality display
ed some three months before at the
Bluebell Farm by these ladies, that Bes-
sic Barton could scarcely believe her
ears.
And she was just making up hermind
to propose return to the country after
three days of chrysalis existence in the
dark dining-room and gloomy back
parlor, which were SO widely different
from her pictured anticipations of city
life, when Mrs. Munger broke out with |
totally unexpected proposition.
':I'll tell you what, Bessie" said she,
"I'm troubled for help just now, and if |
you'll stay and lend a hand with the |
glass and china. and dessert-I know
you've got good taste about such things, |
for your table out at the farm was al |
ways as pretty as a picture-rn give |
you a dollar a week"
anu 10 tne little country damSa who |
had never earned a penny of her own,
dollar week appeared like wealth, al.
though this realisation of the New York
dream seemed so unlike her fancies of
Fifth Avenue, the Central Park, the
glitter Of Broadway, and the kaleido-
scope splendors Of the Academy of De-
sign.
Moreover, after all that had been said
throughout the simple country neigh
borhood about her visit to the city, She
was little ashamed to come back at a
weeks end with the confession that her
aunt hadn't been especially glad to see
her. l.
So she acquiesced in Aunt Munger's
project and remained. although she was
! little afraid of the boarders.
There was the fat man with the flow
ng coral-colored beard, who was a /
newspaper editor-and the passee Wild