The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-08-23

and o. don't know what she didn' do.
Z" If we don't find them 1 shall have
to tell Cora, shan't I?'' said 1.
And she said yes, I'd have to tell her,
but l needn't do it yet, not till we'd
hunted little longer.
Then she kissed me, just as if she
loved me after all, on both cheeks; and
I sat down and read ''Wonders of the
Deep" and cried.
How hOmely Lena's face did look to
me when l met her in the halE How l
did despise her! 1 despised her so l
couldn't eat hardly any supper; and I
didn't want to drink a drop of water,
because I'd been reading ''Wonders of
the Deep" how water is all full of little
live things. l never used to know it,
you see. fused to swallow EN- and not
think ar INE4fsk .T,tsH
Oh, well, / won stop to talk about
insects. l despised Lena, but you don't
know whether shet was bad or not.
grandma. / mustT9t. tell YOU yet, for l
want to make IL sound Ikea story, = -
Well, there was something very queer
| happened next morning about Liar;
there certainly was. He didn't come to
fix the fire until it all went out; and
then he didn't come; it was another
man. Auutie asked where Liar
.
the lookup" He said he had been
put in for stealing. Aunie was very
much surprised, for she used ITO talk to
Liar, and liked him. She asked what
he had been stealing, and the man said
I it was gold watch and chain.
perhaps it isn't true, though said
auntie. But [ remembered about his
touching things and laughing to him
self when l was asleep, and l began to
think all in minute that he took those
rings. -. ---
So 1 didn't wait for the fireman to go
away. l jumped right up and told
auntie Just what | thought. | said
was so sorry now that I'd s'pected
| Lena, for l k11eW Lena was good girl,
and twas Liar that stole.
! the President said /, t'and ask him to
I make Liar give back those beautiful
rings?"
But she never stirred. She said:
Little Mary, you don't know any more
,labout Biiar than yen knew yesterday
about Lena, " said shes you're hasty
again.
! f'IsdoH' think Il m hasty at all, /" said
4 /. ssIiiar is a horrid, dreadful man. or
4 what did they put him ins the leek-up
for?g If he'd ssteal aebig Walsh he'd steal
! little ringsla If he, 'd steal one thing
he'd steal everthingP' said l. -stA
But auntie didn t pay the least atten.
ton, only laughed. 4 It's so nice for
ladies to be- grown up, SO they know
thow to keep still and think. They never
do queer things such as little girls do.
| was glad afterwards that auntie
didn't write. to the President, for the
President was sick that day and cOuldn' t
20 sc
he had gone -welE Just YOU be patient,
grandma! Auntie curled my hair and
sent me down to breakfast with Cora
and her mamma. . You needn't say
anything vet to Cora, said she, for
I'm going to persevere a little longer. "
So l didn't say a word to Cora, and
auntie hunted. l thought she was a
very queer woman to keep persevering
when she b71e1U it was no use. / came
back after breakfast feeling very bad,
for it seemed as if COra's mother had
been looking at my hands the whole
time l was eating. l opened the door
of our room, and what do you thinkp
There stood auntie, and she had both
those rings on a knitting needle, hold
ing them up for me to see.
. Look at yoursFunaway rings said
she. Why, I never 8CGS SO happy. |
thought of course Liar had brought
them or else Lena. But no, auntie had
found them in that room, and you can't
guess where. r.rE
She had~hunted in that bureau five
hundred times and it hadn't done anv
good. But this time she took out one
of the drawers and sat down on the
floor to look it over. 1t was next to
the upper drawer that she took out, and
she happened to look up at the empty
place in the bureau where it belonged,
and there she saw something shining
through q crack. 1t was both those
rings. They had got pushed into the
crack and stuck there. Stuck on a
splinter. 1855.
Auntie said of course l had put them
in the upper drawer instead of the box,
and / suppose | had. 1t was because
was so sleepy. | don't see how she
ever found them, for theywere sticking
to that splinter very tight and might
have stuck there for years and years il
she hadn't happened to look up and see
them shining right in her eyes.
q grandma, l tell you there wasn't a
feeling in me that wasn't happy! l
| went right down to the second floor to
Cora's room and laughed right out.
. She didn't know what meant till l gave
| her those rings and told her how dread
, fully they'd been lost. And / said / d
never borrow them any more. l didn't
want to be an expensive girl, and my
{ papa such poor doctor, and Mrs. Girls
void said: THAT is right"
, There, that's pretty near the end. On
ly met Lena in the hall as went back
and she smiled the pleasantest
, smile, and told me: 81 did beer
to your room, Miss Mary. Yes
, grandma, "she did been there and
| left me a bunch of violets. You see she
never thought 1 coatId s'pect her OF
/ stealing or She wouldn't have done it.
: Why, it made me feel so Unkind and
: ashamed to smell those viOlets!
, Oh, yes, l thought there was more
forgot Liar. He hadn't stolen {
( watch at all. He hadn't done a specB
, of a thing. 1t was another man thai
was put in the lookup. Liar haC
broken his leg, and that was all tina
allied him.
Auntie went to his house to see him
and l went with her 1t was queer
old house full of children, oh! ever SC
many children. Liar was in awful
pain, so auntie said, but he didn't groaT
any and you know he could not looE
+ pale. He thanked us for the oranges
J and his wife said he was always gOoC
| and kind, and she d rather be hurt her
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