Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1883-06-02

with her feathers ruffled, "this thing
has gone on long enough, and l just
mean to hitch old Calico to the cart
and dump every scrap of grandchild
at his own lawful door-I do! It's
downright mean in the girls to impose
on. us in this everlasting way-as if
there wasn't work enough of our
own"
"There, there, sis,' int ,rrupts ma,
pathetically, "they only mean 10 please
pa"
"And nice way they take to do it /.
Pas an old man now, and after pinch
ing and Shaving all his life for us army
of girls, what right have they to Ike p
him pinching and Saving to the last ?
Oh, you needn't look at me like that, ma,
dear; children, like good manners,
ought to be found at home hi, you
Tom, Dick, Harry, etc.. etc. p and
when at last [ have packed tn in in
the wheezy old cart, and we go laugh
ing, scratching and squalling down the
road, l feel like the pied piper Of Ham
| in, only there's no hill with wide,
greedy jaws waiting at the end of the
trip-more's the pity
When / have impartially divided
their bowling household gods between
the eight sisters who live so uncom-
fortably near, the sun is sinking be-
hind tine trees in blaze Of glorious
yellow. There is long real with
many leafy turningi, tlat Cali o
knows as well as 1, and while she
dawdles along it with languid ele-
gance that suits us both, I sit, tailor
fashion. in the bottom of the cart,
thinking, thinking, needless Of whip
or rein.
/ read a story once of a devil-fsh
crawling over the roof of pretty cot
tage by some southern SEA. l don't
suppose there was word Of truth in
it; but, some way, ever since pa made
a clean breast of his troubles, [ can't
get that shiny black monster out of
my thoughts night and day. | should
say, indeed, that mortgage like ours
was trihe the worst of the two, be-
cause there's only one weapon to fight
it, and where in the world is pa to get
the first red cent of that terrible
$1,000.
Echo answers where
If pa had only told me in time, per-
haps 1 might have done something
heroic with my poultry-a tiocks OF
gray geese did grand things for his
tory once on time--but no, he kept
as dumb as Cheops. until l found it all
out for myself, and no thanks to ally
body.
The way of it was ma started me
down to the meadow one evening last
week to see what ia meant by keeping
supper waiting, and when found him
leaning against the barn there as quiet
and gray as the shadows, l think the
One who doeth all things well must
have put it into my heart to wake
him up and tell me the matter.
There is no woman in all this big,
glorious world so weak as Samson
with his head shaved, and so he told
me between sobs--I don't ever want
to see my father cry again-how the
big family had gobbled up the small
earnings. how at last there was moth
ing to do but to borrow money on the
ueaa, ,",sn on' h;,I nf 90 so,pa sort was coming
due.
o,ono 80 to sumner. % ri oct YOU out of
alons ~ pP
l don't think pa realized at the min
,,ta an and am snre + did not-that 1
uS5 uSe-" Gnu. : con CON GO co mnch as ! hundred
1a,iaro 1a1 netui ~ oil % NV life tooether for he
9Illars e,l ~ r"a M = bome mo- co7tente1lv nut
ioliomeu i;a Seod % noder the snout while /
nls ad neau sad tt.en with bis hard on