Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-30

heI uthIl uhu gone lutO n uhppy Hultof. OuB !
had bought the pearl-colored silk then.
Years after, her heart had futtered again, |
a little less wildly this time. David almost |
asked her another Sunday night Then she |
made up the pearl-colOred silk. She used to |
go and look at II fondly and admiringy from |
time to time once in while she would try |
it on and survey herself in the glass, and |
imagine herself David's bride-a faded |
bride, but happy and a beloved one.
She looked at the dress occasionally now,
but a little sadly, as the conviction was fore.
ing itself upon her more and more that she |
should never wear it, But the sadness was
always more for Davids sake than her own.
She saw him growing an old man. and the
lonely uncared-f for life that he led filled her
heart with tender pity and sorrow for him.
She did not confne her kind Offices to the |
Saturday baking. Every week his little
house was tidied and set to rights and his
mending looked after.
Once on a Sunday night when she spied
rip in his coat that had grown long from the
want of womanly fingers constantly at hand,
she had a good cry after he had left and she
had gone TO her room. There was some
thing more pitiful to her, something that
touched her heart more deeply, in that rip in
her lovers Sunday coat than in all her long
years of waiting.
As the years went on il was sometimes with
a sad heart that Maria stood and watched the
poor lonely old figure moving slower than ev-
or down the street to his lonely home but
the heart was sad for him always, and never
for herself. She used to wonder at him a lit
tie sometimes though always with the most
loyal tenderness, that he should choose to
lead the solitary, cheerless life that he did
to 20 back to his dark, voceless home, when
he might be so sheltered and cared for in his
old age. She firmly believed that it was only
owing to her lovers incorrigible slownes5, in
this as in everything else. She never doubt
ed for an instant that he loved her. Some
women might have tried hastening matters
little themselves, but Maria, with the delica-
cy which is sometimes more inherent in q
steady, practical nature like hers than a more
ardent one, would have lost her self-respect
forever il she had done such thing.
So she lived cheerfully along, corded her
boots, though her fingers were getting stiff,
humored her mother who was getting feebler
and more childish every year, and did the
best she could for her poor foolish old lover.
When David was seventy, aud she sixty
| eight, she gave away the pearl colored silk to
cousins daughter who was going to be mar
ried. The girl was young and pretty and
happy, but she was poor, aud the silk would
make over into grauder wedding dress for
her than she could hope to obtain in any 9TH
er way.
Poor old Maria smoothed~he ustrous folds
| fondiy with her withered hands before send.
ing it away, and cried little, with patient
| pity for David and herself But when a tear
| spasned directly on to the shining surface OF
the silk, she stopped crying at once, and her
sOrrowful expression changed into one of
careful scrutiny as she wiped the salt drops
away with her handkerchief, and held the
! dress up to the light to be sure that it was
/ not spotted. A practical nature like Marias
is sometimes great boon to its possessor. 1t
is doubtful if anything else can dry a tear as
| quickly.
| Somehow Maria always felt little differ
emily toward David after she had given away
the wedding dress. There had always been
a little tinge of consciousness in her manner
! toward him, little reserve and caution be-
| fore people. But after the wedding dress
had gone, all question of marriage had dis
appeared so entirely from her mind that the
! delicate considerations born of it vanished
| She was uncommonly hale and hearty for a
woman of her age there was apparently
much more than two years difference be-
tween her and her lover 1t was not only
the Saturdays bread and pie that she carried
| now and deposited on Dayid's little kitchen
table, but openly 0nd boldly, not caring who
should see her, many warm dinner. Every
| day, after her own house-work was done
David's house was set to rights. He should
! have all the comforts he needed in his last
| years, she determined. That they were his
last years was evident. He coughed and now
walked so slowly from feebleness and weak
ness that it was matter of doubt to observ-
ers whether he could reach Maria Brewster's
before Monday evening.
One Sunday night he staid little longer
than usual-the clock struck ten before he
started. Then he rose and said as he had
I Inpa sunday ayapip nf cp ma
well, Maria, guess it's about time for me
to be goin'."
She helped him on with his coat and tied
on his tippet Contrary to his usual habit
he stood in the door, and hesitated minute
there seemed to be something he wanted to
say.
Maria"
"Well, David p
I'm gittin' to be an old man, you know,
an I've allus been slow goin' l couldn't
seem to help it. There has been good ma.
ny things haven't got around to- The old
cracked voice quavered painfully.
Yes, | know David, all about it you
couldn't help it, 1 wouldn't worry a bit
about it if l were you
You don't lay up anything agin me- Ma
ria Z"
no David"
Good night, Maria"
| GOou-ulBul, DdNlu. Will lelCu you over
some boiled dinner tomorrow"
She held the lamp at the door till the pa
tient, tottering old figure was out of sight
She had to wipe the tears from her specta
ces in order to see to read her Bible when
she went in.
Next morning she was hurrying up her
housework to go over to David's-somehow
she felt a little anxious about him this morn
ing-when there came a loud knock at her
door When she opened it a boy stood there
painting for breath he was David's next
neighbor's son.
"Mr. Emmons is sick, he said, an wants
you. l was goin for milk, when he raped
on the window. Father and mothers in
thar, an the doctor Mother said tell you to
hurry"
The news had spread rapidly people knew
what 1t meant when they saw Maria hurryng
downthe street, without her bonnet her gray
hair flying. One woman cried when she saw
her Poor thing :" she sobbed, poor
thing"
A crowd was around David's cottage when
Maria reached it. She went straight in
through tue kitchen to his little bedroom, and
up to his side The doctor was in the room,
and several neighbors. When he saw Maria,
poor old David held out his hand to her and
smiled feebly. Then he looked mploringly
at the doctor, then at the others in the room.
The doctor understood and said word to
them, and they filed silently out. Then he
turned to Maria BE quick" he whispered.
She leaned over him. Dear David" she
said, her wrinkled face quiyering, her gray
hair straying over her cheeks,
He hooked up at her with a strange wonder
in his glazing eyes. ''Maria" "a thin, husky
voice, that was more like wind through dry
corn stalks, said Maria, Tm--dyin, an
alters meant to-have asked you-to-mar-
ry me-"
If you should happen to want your ears
pierced, just pinch the baby,
Astronomers say the "red spot" on Jupiter
has mysteriously disappeared The old fellow
must have sworn of.
young child in Oregon died from the ef-
fects of swallowing the leaves of an almanac.
We always held that dates should be eaten in