The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-05-25

/" had fun " with her little friends.
But Peggy did not notice anything
of this. She was thinking: 81 don't
feel like singing; but I can't, 'front.',
give up my splendid ring. If / tell of
it, Grandma will tell all the neighbors,
and the owner win be found and claim
it. 1t is not the owners any more.
They should not have lost it. / found
it, and now it is mine. don't care if
1 can't sing. / can look at my ring
whenever / please" Upon this she be-
gan to cry as though her heart would
break, just to prove how happy she
was in doing wrong. But in a few
minutes she brushed away her tears,
for she was a resolute little girl, and
went down stairs.
"Why, Peggy, you must be sick,
dear. You have been crying, / am
sure,' said her loving grandmother,
Immediately. "Or, are you unhappy?
Come to me, child, and tell me all about
it. Do! | know can help my little
girl
Grandma said Peggy, pettishly,
81 have only headache | have
nothing to tell.'' ('.That was not
true" she added to herself, with the
justice and severity of a judge.) Peg
gy was no ignorant wrong doer. She
knew as well as you and 1 do, dear
reader, that she was going away from
all the pure and good things which she
had ever been taught. just then
neighbor came in. Her name was Mrs.
Smart. She always knew all the news
of the neighborhood just as soon as it
happened before!
They've had great time up to the
boardin' house," said she.
Now, grandma did not like to listen
to the stories which Mrs. Smart was so
apt to tell She knew that very often
they turned out to be false, and in any
case they were gossip. Every school
girl and school-boy knows what gossip
is. When you grow up | hope you will
not get to be like Mrs. Smart. If you
do, you will pry and peek
and ask questions, and hint around
until you find some little thing
that you can twist into a story
against somebody never for anybody,
be sure of thatD-and then you will go
from house to house to tell the evil
thing you have imagined, thus doing in
jury to innocent people, and meddling
with matters which do not concern
you.
EYES," said Mrs. Smart, "they've.
had great time up there. One of the
fine ladies has lost her diamond ring
1t was stolen from her by chamber
maid. Poor gyurl / do pity her, if
she is thief! There she sits a-cryin'
The lady knows it was that gyurl, for
she was the last person in the room,
and the lady is sure that she left her
ring on the bureau, and when she came
up to breakfast it was gone, and the
gyurl herself said nobody else had been
in the room! They've searched her
trunks and can't find nothin', but they
made such fuss that Mr.. Laird has
the poor thing, and she's
agoin'. 2
"What lady was itP" questioned
Grandma, for she was quite interested.
"'Twas that Miss Dulcimer that was
down here a-tryin' to buy your chiney
t'other day. She feels very badly, too!
Twas her mothers ring, and folks say
twas worth four hundred dollarsr'
Peggy trembled with excitement, but
her voice was pretty calm as she said:
(Which way did she 90 home from
here, Grandma? Was it while l was at
school?h
!" Yes; it was day before yesterday,
in the afternoon. She went up to the
clearinghouse through the orchard,
because it was cooler, she said.
"Well," said Mrs. Smart, II must
go, for | want to see that guilty gyurl
off. She was a-sittin' in the kitchen
cryin' as + her heart would break, and
a-tellin' how she never done no such
thing; but you never can tell! Those
gyurls are so deceivin'. presume she's
got the ring somewhere about her
clothes now. At any rate, she won't
get another place very soon. I kinder
pity her, and yet it serves her right. y
" Is she going away?" asked Grand
ma.
8 Yes; in the stage-why, | hear it
goodbye. I'm agoin' to see how
she takes it when she goes!''
Peggy sprang upstairs like deer.
She went straight to her chest.
Through the window came the rumble
of the stage, nearer and nearer. In a
minute OF two it would reach the board
ing-house, and go on. Peggy looked
for the key 1t was not under the mat,
as usual. Where could It bep Peggy
tried to think, but her head seemed in
a whirl. What could / have done with
the key?" she sobbed. Putting her
hand up to her neck, she happened to
feel a little ribbon. s'Oh, yes," she
sighed in relief. She had tied the KEY to
a ribbon, and placed it about her neck;
for now that she had diamond ring
in her chest, she would have to be
more careful, she had said to herself.
But the ribbon was tied in hard knot,
and was too strong to break. The
ominous rumble had stopped; the stage
had reached the boarding-house. ''What
ShattI do?e groaned Peggy, her heart
beating with fright and anxiety. "Oh!
| must get into my chest.' Then she
saw penknife on the table. In an in
slant she had cut the ribbon and I'M
locked the chest, caught up the ring,
and run downstairs. Her grandma
called: "Where are you goingPn but
she dashed like whirlwind through the
kitchen, cleared the two steps at a,
bound, and went up the road like a
flash. How she ran! Her heart beat
like trip-hammer, but her ears were
wide open to catch the sound of the
stage. Round the corner, by the end of
the orchard, she still kept on; but lust
as she came in front of the trim croquet-
ground, she saw the stage start off from
the door.
After it she sped with all her MIGHT.
The summer boarders were all collected
in front of the house. Mrs. Smart was
by the road, watching the last tears of
the unfortunate maid; some fashionable
city children, whom Peggy had always
feared, and almost disliked, because
they were so s'airy,n as she called it,
were right in her path; but she
went after the stage as if her
life depended on it. "Whoa!n
she cried. ''Stop! Whoa! Driver!
Driver! Stop" ("Oh. deari" under
her bYeath-s'I can never make him
hear. can; / Witty "Stop.m she
screamed, this tin,s with all her little
might, and, as she had alaast reached