Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-11-07
THE OLD OAK CHEST.
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

THE OLD OAK CHEST.
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.
She was all alone!
1t was quite new experience to
Dottv, this housekeeping business. She
mad tn oorized good deal over " Handy
Housekeepers, Comprehensive Cook
Books" end Home Guides" but she
never had any practical experience be-
fore. And now, up in these wild woods,
the helm of domestic affairs was unex
pectedly placed in her hands, and hers
done.
She liked the woods and the river; the
meadows all starred with daisies; and the
long, low farm house, with its red brick
chimney stacks, its trellises all bending
with the weight Of vines; the old stone
vailed garden, where ripening currants
hung ike ruby fingers, and the green
gooseberries seemed to absorb the very
sweetness of the sunshine into translu-
cent hearts.
To her mind it was deal nicer than
the city fat, with the milkman yelling,
the hand. organ droning, the everlasting
clouds of dust. Ard to-day, when Aunt
lhemis wanted to go to hear her favorite
elder hold forth at camp meeting, Doty
volunteered to stay and get the dinner
for Reuben and Rankin, her two tall
cousins.
ola, child!" said Aunt Themis,
"ycu don't know nothin' about cook
in"
"But, indee dII do, "asseverated'' Dotty.
II can make chicken fricassee as we'll
as You, Aunt Themy. I watched the
way you did it last Saturday; and I
know can turn out tirst-class cherry
TART
"Well," eaid Aunt Themis, q little
doubtfully, 'anyhow there's plenty of
good rye bred and new milk, and no.
body needn't to starve on that. And be
sure, Dotty, you keep the doors bolted,
and don't let tramps in, and blow the
dinner horn at twelve precisely, and
don't forget that brood of young tur-
keys in the barn chamber; and don't on
no account leave the milk room door
open, for that new cat is the thievingest
creetur you ever did see"
"Oh, I'll take care!'' said Dotty, with
the reckless audacity of ignorance.
Everything shall be quite-quite
right! You'll see, Aunt Themis."
And after the old lady had departed,
with many misgivipgs, Dotty drew a
long breath of rapture, and executed an
impromptu dance in the middle Ct the
kitchen floor.
"Only think!' she said, addressing
the cat in the corner" the whole house
all to myself! Won't I get superb
dinner for Reuben and Rankin !? I'll
make a meringue tart, and ice cream,
and vanilla pufs, and chocolate cake,
ard I'll try my hard at mock turtle
soup, and cream candy and black coffee!
And now will surprise them! Aud as
for boiling the doors, how utterly rilic-
ulous it would be to shut out the beau
tiiul sunshine, and the butterflies and
the sweet scented air! This house
always smells like blue mold when Aunt
Tbemis is around; and of course no.
body could get in while I am here!'
So Dotty skinned the pans for cream
to make the ice-cream, and stirred up
the vanilla puffs, and grated chocolate
for the cake, and put the two fat, white
chickens into the pot for the fricassee;
an then, feeling herself every inch q
housekeeper, she frisked away up stairs
TO make the beds.
But there was no question OF beds
when once she was up stairs, where a
huge old chest of some dark stained
wood stood open, near the landing;
"The old cak chest!" cried Dotty,
who Vas "a full of romance as white-
clover bloom is of sweetness. "And to
think that Aunt Themis never let me
look ito it before !"
after all, in it. Only stufy-s1aelllpg
blankets, moth-eaten gown or two, the
brass buttoned military coat in which
Uuc!e Amaniah-dead these ten years
had been wont to "ra]ly" on training
days.
"Pshaw !" said Dotty. "There ought
to have been forgotten will there, or q
skeleton, at the very least. It's hum
bug. that old chest =
just as this reflection passed through
her mind, whining, nasal voice sounded
at the bottom of the little wooden stair
way, which wound up like a corkscrew
from below.
"Any old clothes to exchange for
beautiful china vases, lady? Any cold
victuals for poor MANI"
He was stalwart, black proved fel-
low with villainous, slit like eyes. and q
tattered velveteen suit; and Dotty's
heart stood still with terror for second.
Oh, if she had only obeyed her Aunt
Themis aud locked up those doors!
"No!" she said, shortly. $50
away!
"Don't be hard on q poor fellow,
mise !" whined the man.
And Dotty was quite certain that she
saw tho spout of Aunt Themis' old eolid
silver cream Jug protruding from the
flaps OF his ragged velveteen pocket.
At the same moment be began ascend
ing the stairs with insolent delibera.
ton.
In an instant all the doubts, the
breads, the possibilities, the horrors of
the situation, glanced across Dotty's
mind.
Reuben and Rankin were in the dis
tant meadow cutting graes; the tin horn
moued them, was banging up down stairs
at the back Of the kitchen door.
Not neiebbor lived within sight or
cal. And here she was At this stealthy.
faced hrute's mercy. Would he gag
her? WHAT was to become OF Aunt
Ch+mis' gold beads ard R-uben's new
breast pin, besides the nice old silver
which bad descended to them from
Grandn other Buffet?
"No," said Dotty to herself; /" for my.
self do not care. But the. silver shall
be protected
With quick glimpse Of inspiration,