Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-12-07
her, till she should be informed of the

| pho thieohoiu VI tHe CuuTCll, anu quite u
good us those that were within, since i
was only as n matter of time that the,
had been before her and she held her
self up to the duty-mark by having tn
; 'wash" out before breakfast every Mon
day, and sprinkled and hnlf-ironed befor
bedtime /; by turning loose n perfec
whirlwind in the house every Tuesday n
she swept it from garnet to cellar b,
washing all the windows inside and out OF
; Wednesday, and 80 continuing till TIN
, undelayed weeks work came around agail
to Monday.
When Parson Keene should send he
notice of that vacancy, she would be OIL
hand, but till he did, through some sub
tie and wholly inexplicable process o
thought, she did not feel herself Gale,
upon to go to meeting as church member
were called upon, and found enough t,
do Sundays. anyway, in having dinner
for the old ladies on their return, and il
receiving the Sunday call of Job Ransom
who always helped her shell the peas, o
pick over the beans, or make kindlings
on that forenoon.
Job, also, had his own reapons for no
attending meeting, which made the morn
Jugs with Tidy Tillingust comfort t.
him. During the same season of reviva
that had affected Tidy, his father and hi,
brother and himself had felt the common
impulse, and had expressed the same
wish that Tidy had expressed. There
was special meeting held to rejoice ovel
the conversion, with that of several 9th.
ers, and Parson Keene, far too we'll nc
4uainted with human nature not to know
that, although we sometimes like to cal
ourselves sinners, we never like to have
other people call us 30, but whose articu.
lation was not particularly distinct, I'M.
suspiciously gave out his hymn and
coming to the line
Welcome, ye ransomed Sinners. home
saw to his CONSERVATION old Mr.. Ransom
seize his hat, throw open the pew door,
DecKon TO his boys, and stree ont of the
church, fullyun new conviction now,
which was conviction that Parson Keene
Ind pointed the finger of scorn at the
Ransom sinners.
Naturally enough, job did not 20 to
church, and did go to see Tidy I'illin-
gust. And Tidy, although she some.
times wondered why Job contented him.
self week after week and year after year
with Just coming to see her, doing odd
turns for her, and looking at her askance
in pauses of whiting OF conversation.
felt nevertheless not exactly as she did
about the church-that is, that she was to
wait for vacancy in Jobs affection, but
there was an understanding between them
which. II 1t did not amount to an engage.
ment OF marriage, was of the same ma
ture, and depended in some way for its
dcnoucment on first this mysterious con-
tingency and then that.
For one day she had persuaded herself
that Job was bashful, and if it ever came
to anything she was the one who would
have to put the previous question and
presently she had forgotten that, and
held to the theory that Job thought it
proper to wait till she should hear from
Parson keene or again quite an oppo-
site notion possessed her, one that job
had hostility to the church and hesita-
ted to unite himself with one who only
awaited the first vacancy in order to be-
come church member and on another
day, without any conscious meddline of
mind with matter-with this matter Mt
any rate-she was rs sure as she had been
OF all the rest, that Job did not like to
speak till the doctor raised his wages.
Again, she would have reason to believe
that Job suspected an intention on the
part OF the Misses Mowbray of deciding
their property to Tidy and himself on
condition of being taken care of for the
rest of their lives, and that he waited
prudently for the fact and then again
she would be plunged in despair on hear
ing that he had taken Susan Lowe to
singing meeting, sure now that he had
never meant anything any way, and 90
ing about with a tear on the end of her
nose, which constituted all the resem-
blance there was between herself and
the flower called the crown-imperial. BIT
when on Sunday Job put in his weekly
Tildy's face broke into smiles
again, and with no more reason for that
than for any of the others, she required
to her first impression that she and job
belonged to each other, and, when their
positions warranted, they would proba-
by marry, and till then there was no use
in saying anything about it.
IL must be admitted now that Tildv's
dtuty-mark on Mondays made the poor old
ladlss, whom she took care of, lose two
good hours OF their morning sleep, as she
ratified and banged about with doors and
tubs and stove and boiler, after putting
her head into their room to see If there
were any uncollected contributions to the
wash, and occasionally rousing them
summarily by taking sheet of their
PED, having forgotten to remove it the
day before.
IL is also to be admitted that in letting
loose the Tuesdays sweeping whirlwini
through the whole house at once. as sbc
did, the two victims were often Obliged 10
go out and sit in the porch for the liberty
81 breathing, where they invariably took
cold, so that there was ALWAYS an infIu.
enza or neuralgia pain on hand or
else they choked and stifed with the tiust
and coughed all the rest of the day.
And II they did not catch cold. by anv
lnterposlfion Of Providence, on TUESDAY
by gong out on the porch, they were snye
to do it on Wednesday, when the win.
aows were washed and. being set wije
open, allowed all manner of draupbts ~
career like evil spirits from room to room
And if they had had any loopbole NJ
escape from the draughts, that danger
itself Thursday when T;i1r
Iillingust roasted the coffee md baLa5
the gingerbread and made n pandowJv
and was sure to burn one or the otboryy
them so thoroughly as to fiji the bonse
with smoke and an insufferable oJor 81
sweet cinders, which accustomed onotbor
opening of windows and careerin% If
lraughts. Vi
Nor was Friday without its special uses
N the catalogue of admissions. for on
mat day the burnt things were ALWAYS 10
De eaten up, which Tidy insisted on be. |
'anse she could not have anything wasted |
and II she, who had right to good boarj |
rs part OF her wages, and well earned too
could eat burned crusts, certainly the |
owners OF them could, and besides thew
'weetened the breath while Satu,doy
was always day of perils, as then Tildy |
scrubbed the bare floors Of the kitchen
md shed and porch, and the oil-cloth If
me n entry, and did it, not foot by foot but
altogether and all over, with slopning
pals I OF water that were so long in being
nopped up thoroughly and in driving M.