The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-06-30
PHYL.
CHAPTER 1.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE.

InylllS, Sdlu my SbepllOIueTJ MI 81
Maria, looking up from the letter she was
reading, with a tinge of excitement on her
drab face, "my sister, Lady Janet Ponson'
by, writes to say l may expect to see hel
any day this week, and l do hope, for all
our sakes, you will tone down your appear
ance into something approaching ecency.'
You will never alter Phyl, Maria," sale
my father, polishing his bald head impa
tiently, $50 why can't you leave the girl il
peace! Her appearance is very pleasant
one to her old father, isn't it pussW And
the dear old man pinched my cheek affec'
tionately.
" Fancy" he continued "Janet coming
to see us after all these years! Dear me
what wonderfully pretty woman she used
to be, with the neatest foot and ankle L ever
saw! How time flies why, she must be
sixty. That reminds us, Maria, thatwe are
getting old"
" Speak for YOURSELF" remark, laugh.
ingly; Mrs. Maria cannot bear to be told OF
the fact that she is getting old and fat"
My step-mother remarks, looking out into
the old-fashioned garden, where my pretty
sister, in a bright morning dress, is busily
tending her roses: "No need to beg Rosie
to do us justice; she never fails us. | wish
you were more like her, for your own sake
as well as ours.n
L answer holly that 81 would not be like
my commonplace, weak-minded sister, for
all her beauty"
My father, shifting war in the air, asks
me to follow him, as soon as l can, to the
surgery, to write some labels and roll some
pills. "And," he continues, entreatingly,
''if you don't mind, Phyl, | should be CRATE
full if you would run into the village with
few bottles of medicine. That wretched
errand-boy Bob has been fighting again
with Frank, and has two such beautiful
black eyes. When does that boy return to
school, Maria? Soon, 1 hope, for all our
sakes. He keeps the house in an uproar.''
so, don't say you wish Frank gone, dad, %
l say, for my step-brother is the plague and
pleasure of my life.
Phyllis always encourages all his
tricks" complains my step-mother; and
seeing the deluge returning in the shape of
tears, my father and | make our escape.
am considered like my dear old dad,
but, then, as Mrs. Maria says: "What
makes handsome man makes an ugly
woman;" and, catching sight of myself in
the old green-shaded glass in the surgery,
as busily roll my pills, [ confess she is
not far wrong; for the glass shows me
tall bony girl of twenty, with a sallow COM
pleXlOn, immense dark eyes, and a head
running over with crisp dark curls, giving
me the appearance of boy; wide mouth,
fnli OF strong white teeth and pair T Of
am attired in a plain dress of rough dark
-
and round my neck is boys plain turn
down linen collar.
My sister Rose is my direct opposite; a
small, fairy-like creature all pink and
white, perfect bunch of roses, only she
insipidly lacked their sweetness. She had
always been my step-mother's favorite
since she first came from her frosty spin
sterhood to set my poor old dads house to
rights, and be its mistress, when Rose was
a pretty doll of child, easily managed
through her very stupidity. | was then a
tiresome, ugly, spoiled child of seven, with
a fine high temper and sharp shrewd
tongue, and, therefore, the very bane of my
step-mother's life. Unlike my more tract
able sister, l would not call her mamma,
but saucily named her Mrs. Maria, an APP
pellation she bore, as far as l was con-
cerned, from first to last.
L believe | should have loved nv sister
better had she not always been dangled
before me as a model. AS it was we were
well, nearly Indifferent to each other;
but my dear father and handsome unman-
ageable Frank l loved dearly.
A few days later, returning from a row
on the river with Frank, L found seated in
our parlor, as though she had been there
all her life, cooed over by Rosie and adj
mired from distance by Mrs. Maria, Lady
Janet Ponsonby, a handsome old lady, who
looked every inch what she was, a high
vi WOllldnOl Uu6 WOIlu. ne lIa0V Jane
was tall and slim, the Lady Jane was
fair" and was dressed in somewhat too
young fashion, making the most of her
well-preServed looks; for when can a
woman forget that she has been beautiful
She gazed at me through her gold-rimmed
glasses; then remarked to Mrs. Maria, as
though L were not present: ''If this is the
ugly duckling, 'pon my honor she does not
strike me as so plain as she has been
painted; and were she not habited in a
costume fashioned by a Goth, she might be
made to look something better than a bath
ing-woman."
"Will your ladyship be good enough to
remember L am in the flesh" | ask land
not figure from Tussaud's? If this is the
breeding OF the town mouse, give me that
of the country"
With little laugh, she answered, still
toying with the annoying glasses: "To
jolly rude.''
could hardly help smiling at her cool
ness; so threw off my hat, and taking a
book, sat down on the sofa to read.
started up again with little scream, for a
shrill voice close to my ear said: Course
your impudence! dare to speak againl"
Turning round sharply, / beheld on the
little table at my elbow, sheltered by the
thick lace curtains, a gilded cage, and
within it rakish-looking parrot, who is
LlC doOCuulNSly Wlbu OHe ROUND,
bright eye.
Don't be startled" said Lady Janet.
sits only poor Poll, from whom l am never
parted. She is a most amusing bird, her
only failing being that at times her Ian.
guage is too pronounced for polite ears.
You will soon get used to her, and not
notice her naughty tongue"
That afternoon the rector's wife called ia
invoke our aid to assist at fancy fair
and upon the good lady saying she had
twisted her ankle over stone, Polly
shrieked out: "Serve you right, thick
headp' After that Polly was banished tc
her mistress bedroom.
After the rector's wife had departed
Mrs. Maria begged hard that [ would give
up all idea of attending at the fancy fair
She was so urgent in her entreaties that
her sister asked the reason, and was in
formed that at former fair, held in hot
July, had made an exhibition of mvsel1
by keeping penny-ice stall, with Bob the
errand-boy and Frank dressed up a.
walters.
She was honest enough TO confess that
did the best in the whole fair. "But," she
added, with eyes and hands turned up, ''tC
see the crowds Of young men, boys anc
fast young girls that crowded round, gorg