The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-05-31

me congratulate YOU both, and beg par |
don for this untimely interruption, but |
Jennie made a mistake, and told me !
you We're waiting to see me-" And |
with a mock-playful courtesy, and a
smile that didn't wholly conceal her
chagrin, Kate laughed and ran out of
/ the room, humming an air, but this time
it was not a love-song.
DIR. Cook and Jessie started, appalled,;
and then, the situation being absurd,
after a while they laughed, and sitting
/ down on the sofa, talked for a long time
I in whispers, holding each others hands
/ And when they parted it was as betrOthed
/ lovers.
/ But Kate Macfarlane's assumed spir-
/ its only lasted long enough for her to
/ gain the privacy of her own room, and
was then quickly replaced by the rage,
+ jealousy and despair which was consum-
/ ing her, for she loved Clarence Cook
with such passion and intensity as she
was capable of feeling, and just in like
proportion she hated Jessie, and at that
! moment she could have killed her happy
4 rival
When Jessie's engagement and APP
1 preaching marriage was announced,
/ Aunt Picnic felt a keen pang at the
prospect of losing her pet; and this was
! increased almost to bitterness by what
seemed to her Jessie's unseemly haste
/ to leave the home which had sheltered
/ her since her childhood. She could not
know that Kate's hate and jealousy
made Jessie's life a torture while they
continued under one roof; and Kate
took pains to augment her aunt's feel
/ ing toward her favOrite, and would have
succeeded in causing a lifelong breach
I between Aunt Picnic and Jessie but
for the latter's unfailing sweetness and
gentleness As it was, she fastened
the young girls departure, and in her
absence did everything that deceit
and malignity could suggest to under
mine her power in the heart of her aunt.
Aunt Picnic was very lonely after
her pet went away, and if Kate had not
| been so ingenious in her malice it is
quite possible that the old lady would
have followed Jessie into her new home;
but, as it was, she had been made to
feel that she would be an unweleOme
guest to the girl she had befriended and
cared for 50 many years, and therefore
she continued to abide with
her real nieces, and to long for
her absent and only adopted one.
Perhaps it was because she was so
lonely, and so anxious to be loved and
cared for that Aunt Picnic lavished
her affections even more than was her
wont on her own kith and kin. Certain
it is that she grew more kind and induI-
gent to their various whims day after
day; and never did she hear any of them
express wish but what she listened, if
possible, to crafty it without delay.
Very likely she became too indulgent
and too anxious TO please them, for they
took advantage of their generosity in
many ways, and encrOached so much,
indeed, that even this most generous
and atfectiOnate relative was, at times
surprised, and once or twice even Won
dered in her secret soul if they really
cared anything about her at all, for her
own sake, or only made a show of affec-
ton for the sake of such profit as they
could bring to themselves. You see, it
doesn't do to be too kind, too unselfish
even toward ones own nearest and
dearest relatives.
1t was about this time that a curious
phrase made use of by her niece, Jane,
was accidentally overheard by Aunt
Picnic, which set her thinking and
wondering more than ever. All her rela-
+. tiyes were chattering together over the
breakfast-table one morning. She had
left it a little while before, and they
didn't know she was within hearing.
These were the words she heard Jane
! say:
,, Il tell you what, good people, if you
! take friends advice you will be care
full not to kill the Golden Goose. /
have noticed her grow little FESTIVE,
, once or twice, lately"
''Pshawr exclaimed Kate. ''What
: is the use Of a Golden Goose if she no
longer lays golden eggs?''
Precisely; but she does lay golden
eggs, and with tolerabIe regularity. 1t
l is your indecent haste to get too many
golden eggs at once that threatens the
1 whole edifce with destruction. That
request of yours, Mary, for a complete
new suit of furniture, when your room
1 is Just as comfortable as need be now,
r. was going little too far. You know
e all that she has must come to us at the
4 last if we only practice patience"
2 Aunt Picnic passed on out of hear
4; ing, and gained her own room some
Y how-she never knew how, indeed, for
y her mind was all in a whirl. She felt
y as if she were the victim of some hOr-
rible nightmare, and moved mechanic
l. ally, like a person walking in sleep.
n what did it mean? Who was the
:, Golden Goose?' " She remembered
# that Molly had asked for new suit of
y furniture and had shown some dis
e agreeable traits of temper on being re-
h fused-fOr Aunt Phemie was not rich
Z -
: though she would have liked to do so
+ Was it on her, then, that her niece had
e bestowed that not fattering appellation
n and what was the significance of iii
S Could it be that they cared no more fol
r her than the amount of mOney-valuC
d she represented to them?
: She stayed a very long time in he
:. own room that morning; and it must b,
n owned that she had never before 81
e valued its seclusiOn, for she shed many
> bitter, scalding tears, although her face
It looked pale when she came down t
: dinner, and she felt very, very sad.
It She feared that her nieces would have
e noticed the change in her looks anC
+ manner at once, for she was naturally
e cheerful, chatty old lady; and the fac
II that no one appeared to see anything
5 out of the way was but another proc
re how very little they cared about her
re Well, Aunt Phemie grieyed and wept il
81 secret a good many days; and in tn,
N light afforded by that iippant speech o
1t her niece Jane, she observed man,
I, things that otherwise would have haC
no meaning to her. And it can not b.
1t denied that bitter and resentful feel
r ing for a time took possession of he
r gentle bosom; and then she took a Ger
IA tain resolution referred to in the begin
i ming of the story, and adhered to it wit
IS the answering steadiness that was
5 part of her character.
lie Aunt Picnic continued to look pale
II and something of the sadness and bitter
a ness within showed in her face, till a
/ last her inattentive relatives commente
i on the fact, and even made a show O