The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-18
IN .LoWLY GUIsE.

'1eafcu aDetlt the o1u DultOhNoON
Place a-bein' soid?' inquired Mrs. Spar
rowgrass. who VAS spending the day
with the Widow Snapwell-
The Bnttonwood Place? mol Wal
that is news! Who's bought itp'' queried
basted a frill of Spanish lace in the neck
of her new polonaise.
'Why, a man named Flowerdale,
thef say And he's a-goin' to repair il
up, Nathan Scudder's wife says. Must
be awful rich it he does, for the old
house is pretty well run down. It's a
good farm though. -
The new purchase furnished suffi-
dent subject of conversation till supper
was over. and Mrs. Sparrowgrass had
rolled mp her knitting, donned her shawl
and Worsted hood, and taken her de-
parture, with many injunctions from her
hostess to be sure and ''come back
again. After which Mrs. Snapwell
fell into a brown study over the new
po1onaise, while her pretty niece Eli
stechia gathered up the tea-things, and
gaze Hedges, the hired hand, his supper
in the kitchen.
YES, it must be him that put in the
advertisements for board, said the wild
ow, going back to her sewing. ITS the
very same me-Flowerda1e- he
wants to git board som ers in the neigh
3orheod OF course it's himl
A bachelor, the advertisement says.
Prob bly, about forty-five or fifty years
old. Wall, I'm on the shady side of f
thirty myself, and / think I'll answer it.
It's about the only chance for lone
woman like me to turn an honest pen
NY" she added, her grey eyes brighten
ing at the prospect before her. I'm
answer the advertisement right off, she
declared; land if he comes, / can fix
the spare bedroom fur him to sleep in.
And I'll hev Hedges put up some more
shelves in the buttery to set the milk
and butter on. TIN take up too much
OF Eustachia's time to be a-runnin' out
to the spring-hOHse after en-
Whatever may have been the Widow
Snapwell's faults, representation was
not one of them, and her plans were
soon carried into effect
Mr.. Flowerdale had engaged the
room. paying month 5 rent in advance,
and Hedges had put up shelves in the
buttery, for the accommodation of the
milk and butter.
Hedges slept in the little loft, or attic,
at the Top of the house.
Its mighty cold up there, these
nights. he conlided to Eustachia as he
stopped at the stove one morning when
she was baking griddle-cakes for break
fast.
But the widow was in the pantry in
specting the plum-preserves, in honor
of the expected boarder, and her sharp
ear had caught the man ) words,
Mighty cold, is it?" she snapped out
tarIlY. Il IL warrant faint d patChin
to what Won We been used to, Hedges,
and 1 don't want none OF your sass!
''And YOU are as much to blame as he
is, miss. she continued. as Hedges
slippol ont Of the Kitchen door with the
tin nilk-pail in his hand You are al
ser satory. verandah, lawn, and kitchen
garden; the well, the octagon parlors.
and the cupola; the tiled halls and fres-
coed ceilings, as though he intended to
buy it for himself that afternoon.
Then he cast his eye upon an account
of how Mr.. Mullen had beaten Mrs.
and been arrested for so doing;
and then he found himself reading "a
paragraph to the effect that the heirs of
Bloom, of Lancaster, If living,
might hear of something to their adVan-
tage by applying to Jones and johnson,
my name, p" thought Mr. Bloom, at
first. Then. with a start, he remem-
bered that he had heard his grandfather
was named Timothy. Certainly, he
came from Lancaster. His father,
David Bloom, had been an only son.
He was an only son himself. Well, |
then, he was Timothy Blooms heir, if
it should prove that the Timothy Bloom |
inquired for was really his fathers
father.
But. oh, pshawi' said Mr. Bloom !
This sort of thing couldn't happen to
me. It some other Timothy, not poor |
Did grandfather And he copied the |
address of Jones and johnson into his
oocket-book, and went back to his coun- |
5er quite calmly, though he wrote tot
Jones and johnson that night.
However, wonders will never cease. |
When Tim Bloom, the meekest of all |
Toung statesmen, went home that Satur-
lay evening with deducted salary and |
/ scolding, be found Mr.. johnson him
self in his boarding house parlor, and /
IN examination of the family Bible in |
ais possession, and of a certain bundle |
If yellow letters that Mr.. Bloom had
more than once decided to burn, but
lad, fortunately, spared, settled the mat
er.
Half million of money had come to
lim in the regular course of nature, and
he was richer not only than Mr.. Crabbe.
put than any of his most fashionable
customers.
1t was a wonderful surprise to little
Tim Bloom, and he scarcely grasped the
dea at first.
Even after he had told his chief con-
idante, his Iandlady's pretty grand
daughter, Mehitable White-a pretty, |
pink-cheeked, capable damsel, called |
Hetty, for short-he only went SO far as
to think of pair of patent-leather boots
and diamond cravat pin.
Hetty awakened him to full realiza- |
ton of his changed condition by saying |
rather seriously, and looking away from
him:
t.Of course grandma's won't suit you |
any longer, Mr.. Bloom, and You'll |
never have to go back to Crabbe and
Co. $ again
by George! l never thought of it;
so / shan't, said Tim Bloom; mo more
eounter-jumping for me, and if Mrs |
w hite will let me hire the back par1or, |
I'll take that. Go away? not rs
Not yet, 1t 5 too soon, y said Hetty to |