The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-01-18
BY HER OWN FAULT.

| SOU ol1SCS "CIO llSI.
She had good reason to weep, poor
soul, for she had lost her only friend on
earth.
'She died SO suddenly, too," thought
| the hapless spinster, ''that she made nc
provision for me. l know she would
have left me something, and how thank
ful l should be for even trifle year.
Here I've had everything, and Pm just
cast on the world as helpless as baby.
"For years I've just made her caps,
and read aloud to her, and walked out
with her, and driven out with her, and
poured the tea, and made the puddings,
and been like her daughter; and how
often she has said: Theresa, I'll not
forget you She knew what it was to
be single herself, but we neither of us
counted on apoplexy. I fear she took
too much old port and lived too high. i
fear she did-poor thing! was so fond
of her.
Gracious me! to think that dreadful
cousin of hers will get it all! The house
all her money, and all the furniture,
and the dresses.
''Everythiug is sealed up, and the
china, and the ornaments! That nice
cabineti l declare, when think of that
pretty hanging cabinet! She d have given
it to me. Why, she meant to give me a
legacy. Why, if could ask her now,
she'd say, Take it, Theresa can hear
her good old voice. She'll have that
too, for the lawyer said, If no will was
found, her next of kin would have ev-
erything.' l declare,'' said Miss Theresa
Curtis, wiping her tears away, 81 mean
to lnE thnt ,,of "a
will just go into one of my trunks. Miss
Dillingham; would say was right, and
I'll do it,
Miss Curtis having said this, arose
and crept softly down into the dressing
room next the bedroom, where all was
now so still and terrible. She took the
cabinet from its nail, and crept upstairs
and hid it in her trunk with feeling
that some one might be at her heels
ready to call ''stop thiefr'
To be sure, she knew well enough
that old Miss Dillingham; would gladly
have given her the cabinet; that her
cousin Spear was not favorite, that the
old lady would have preferred that she
should take all she possessed to giving
it to the person of whom she always
spoke distastefully as ''that Sally
Spear"
But all the same, that silent creeping
over the stairs, past the door where the
watchers sat together that moment when
she laid the cabinet in her trunk and
covered it with folded garments, gave
Miss Theresa Curtis a sense of having.
been thief. She never forgot the ac-
ton. or ceased to feel ashamed of it.
Time stalked away, using his scythe
as usual. The funeral was over. Search
was made for the will. Mrs. Spear was
declared heiress to all, and Miss Curtis,
who still occupied the house. was noti-
fed to leave.
Fat Mrs. Spear waddled about the
house and talked of the changes she
would make; and Theresa Curtis sought
a cabman to convey her trunks to a
cheap boarding-house.
She was five-and-forty, and had lived
with Miss Dillingham; for fifteen years.
Her wages as companion had allowed
her to accumulate few pounds, but
she had had expectations"
In her kind heart she never reproach-
ed Miss Dillingham; for having left them
Unfulfilled. And sometimes as she trot-
ted about answering advertisements and
failing to please, it occurred to her that
when they met in heaven they would
have great deal to talk over.
Il know she's sorry she didn't make
n WILL" thought poor Theresa, "and l
shall tell her just how Sally Spear took
on herself. I'm sure she'll be glad hid
the cabinet"
And vet the deed troubled her.
A. l,c c;E
nursery governess. They were five
children to teach, dress, and walk out
with. They had been used to cherry
checked, light-handed girl, and teased
the serious 'middle-aged woman all day
long. Still she bore it, until at last
mamma declared that she had no disci-
pIine, and once more she went in search
of an employer.
She found an old lady who wanted q
companion, but, alas! someone unlike
good Miss Dillingham; fashionable
old lady who desired to have her hair
dressed in the latest style, and to have
her lap-dog curled and combed; who
went to balls presumably to chaperon
her granddaughters, and returned in
the early morning expecting to find her
companion" wide awake.
Dress:making, embroidery, and lace
making were required; reading until
any hour of the night when the old lady
by chance retired early. And all ended
in an ignominous reprOof and dismissal.
After this a school received Miss The
resa in its bosom.
She endeavored to teach the English
branches, and received no salary. Fl
nally. sheriff appeared on the scene,
and the poor lady fled before him with
her trunks; and so from yearto year i'll
. luck pursued her, until, in the end, il
occurred to her to ego out nursing"
Having q kind heart and q light step
she managed to live at this. 1t was q
hard life, but she kept it up for years
and all this while the cabinet still re-
manned where she had put it, in the bot.
tom of her black trunk.
1t was the yellow one that she carried
about with her; the black one was
stored in the garret-room in which she
slept when not engaged. Sometimes
she looked at it, and always with shame
and contrition. Scrupulously moral al
| her life before, she had at last broken 6
moral law. Religious rs woman coulC
be until that day, she hal atleast crack
| ed commandment.
The cabinet was square and made O
ebony. 1t had a central receptacle
with a door which remained alway:
locked. The key had not been in i
when she carried it upstairs. There
were also several shelves and drawers
and it was very handsome; but wher
Theresa had a room to put it in, sht
feared questions; aud when she haC
none, naturally cabinet was useless
This garret was a mere abiding-plac'
for dav or two at time; and for thi
clio hah lost hGr clnar cOnScinnno-fn