Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-08-28
TRUE DARLlNG'S DEBTS.

True sat IN the deep window ledge,
with her cheek in her hand and her eyes
following eagerly down the page Of her
book. Presently when she had turned q
leaf. with a little eager rustic, a faint
voice came from the easy chair at the
other side Of the room:
True. dear. do you not remembsr 7
what said about reading between day
light and dark =
"Oh. yes, mother, but | wanted to
see what happened to Florence Hill.
She did not die after all. and True gave
sigh of relief and curled herself up in
the window. Ii was coy place with
the red curtain dropping about her. She
liked TO sit there and watch the day light
fade out of the world She was glad
that Florence Hill did not die, and be-
sides that she had some pleasant things
to think about. 1t was the beginning Of
the long vacation-nearly all of Septem-
Der and October just to have good time
in it, for it was country village where
True lived, and the long vacation did not
come In summer.
She had been that day TO visit her lit,
tie friend. May Rivers. who had been
quite i'll with fever all the summer
long, JUS, as Trues own brother had
been, and 50 it happened that True had
not seen her nearly so often as she had
used TO do when they were in school to-
gether. But now that the vacation had
come, and May was so much better, they
would be sure to have happy times again,
for Mays father had bought her pony
and phaeton, aud she was to ride olt ev-
cry day SO that she might grow strong
again.
And you must go with me almost ev-
cry time" May had said.
Can /, really, May Rivers: Oh, |
DO just think it must be beautiful to be
you. so as to do things for other people
you know cannot, because We are poor;
that is, not so poverty poor like beggars,
but then we cannot have horses and
things like you, nor mother cannot have
real beautiful things now she is sick:
and it seems as though there is nothing
| can do for her. or you, or father, or
Oh. sometimes it seems as
though l owe debts and debts to every
body and could never, never pay"
"Oh, Gertrude Darling, just stop;
how you talk. Why, no one besides
father and mother ever, ever did so much
for me as you have. Mother knows it,
to. Why, l just think should have
died, if you had not been so good to
come and cheer me up when ! was 30
bad. You know all the other girls were
afraid of the fever. | used to say to
mamma, if only it were not wrong ]
would wish to be you; for you have
nice way of doing things for people and
never seem to know it. Then, besides,
you could keep right on in school. and
you are just splendid in arithmetic, any
way, and here I've been and lost it all,
so we cannot keep in the same class any
longer. Oh, dear! if it wasn't for arith-
metic Id try now to study up, because
we have always been together, only | was
80 stupid in arithmetic"
"Oh, May, did really do you any
good because if I did I'm so glad. for
ever so many times I've thought | was
having good times when | had no right
and could never make good times back
again for other people"
Nov, there is mother; we did not
have girl hardly ever before she was
sick, because she said she could do the
work easily enough, as there were only
four of us, and in that way she could
save a little rainy day money, as she
calls it, and che would not let me do
anything hardly; why. never sewed on
the machine, or baked bread or things.
4 I'd when spoke about it sometimes,
s ,turdays, mother would say, Not yet,
child; you are studying hard now, and
when you are not studying | want you
N be out-of-doors as much as possible,
and you cannot be Oat-of-doors and do