The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-05-31

uOWn the cover OF neT CNOSb anu NuTneu
the key. al am rich lady; and il l ever
want to sell my beautiful ring can buy
ever so many beautiful things with il
hooks, and pretty dresses, and ever
a necklace like Cora Mays! Hum!
guess if the girls knew what have got
they would not put on so many air
over their little gold-heart rings and
coral chains. should just like t.
show mig lovely diamond once!'
Then she began to sing, but in tn,
very first line of the song she stopped
She turned little pale. and stood look
ing out of the hall-window with 8
strange sort of stare. Before heI
spread the summer scene. The ole
windmill swung its great sails about
lazily. Robins and sparrows chirped
and twittered busily. The old-fash
toned garden, with its troop of herb:
and flowers, its shrubs and bushes, hall
clipped, half struggling, sent up 5
subtle fragrance, and ever and amor
the little brook could be heard rippline
over the stones by the bridge, where
she had so many times waded and
had fun" with her little friends.
But Peggy did not notice anything
of this. She was thinking: 81 don
feel like singing; but l can't, | 'front.',
give up my splendid ring. If l tell OF
it, Grandma will tell all the neighbors,
and the owner will be found and claim
| it. 1t is not the owners any more.
They should not have lost it. l found
it, and now it is mine. l don't care if
can't sing. can look at my ring
! Il 7 ,,1aa.a - ITpnp thiS ha ha
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 resolute little girl, and
went down stairs.
"Why, Peggy, you must be sick,
dear. You have been crying, 1 am
sure" said her loving grandmother,
Immediately. "Or. are You unhappy?
Come to me, child, and tell me all about
it. Do! know l can help my little
girl"
Grandma" said Peggy, pettishly,
a have only headache. l have
nothing to tell" c'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 l do, dear
reader, that she was going away from
all the pure and good things which she
had ever been taught Just then a
neighbor came in. Her name was Mrs.
Smart. She always knew all the news
of the neighborhood just as soon as it
sometimes 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 we're 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 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.
Yes" said Mrs. Smart, they've
had a great time up there. One of the
fine ladies has lost her diamond ring,
1t was stolen from her by chamber
maid. Poor gyurl! l 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 cant find nothin', but they
made such fuss that Mr.. Laird has
discharged the poor thing, and she's
agoin'.'
What lady was it?' questioned
Grandma, for she was quite Interested
TWAS that Miss Dulcimer that was
down here a-tryin' to buy your chimney
t'other day. She feels very badly, too!
Twas her mothers ring, and folks say
twas worth four hundred dollars"
Peggy trembled with excitement, but
her voice was pretty calm as she said:
(Which way did she 60 home from
here, Grandma? Was it while l was at
school?"
Eyes; 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 f her heart would break, and
a-tellin' how she never done no such
thing; but you never can tell! Those
gyurls are so deceivin'. l presume she's
got the ring somewhere about her
clothes now. At any rate, she won't
get another place very soon. kinder
pity her, and yet it serves her right.
as she going away?" asked Grand
ma.
Yes; in the stage-why, 1 hear it
now-good-by I'm agoin' to see how
she takes it when she goesn'
Peggy sprang upstairs like a deer.
She went straight to her chest.
Through the window came the rumble
of the stage, nearer and nearer. In a
minute or 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 be? Peggy
tried to think, but her head seemed in
a whirl. What could l have done with
the key?' she sobbed. Putting her
hand up to her neck, she happened to
feel a little ribbon. ''Oh, yes," she
sighed in relief. She had tied the KEY to
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