The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1883-11-10
THE OLD OAK CHEST.
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.
She was all alonel

She was all alOnel
1t was quite new experience to
Dotty, this housekeeping business. She
had theorized q good deal over . Handy
Housekeepers, g Comprehensive Cook
Books " and . 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
alone.
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
walled garden, where ripening currants
hung like 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 fiat, with the milkman yelling,
the hand organ droning, the everlasting
clouds of dust. And to-day, when Aunt
Themis wanted TO 60 to hear her favorite
elder hold forth at camp meeting, DOtv
volunteered to stay and get the dinner
for Reuben and Rankin, her two tall
cousins.
''La, child" said Aunt Themis.
"you don't know nothin' about cook
IN.
''But, indeedI DO. "asseverated Dotty.
= can make a chicken fricassee as well
as yOu, Aunt Themy. I watched the
way you dId it last Saturday; and I
know l can turn out a tirst-class cherry
tart
"Well," said Aunt Themis, 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 thIeviugest
creetur you ever did see.
"Oh, tn 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 misgIviDgs, Dotty drew a
long breath of rapture, and executed an
impromptu dance in the middle Of the
kitchen floor.
Only think" she said, addressing
the cat III the corner the whole house
al to myself Won't / get a superb
dinner for Reuben and Rankin I'll
make a meringue tart, and ice cream,
and vanilla puffs, and chocolate cake,
and I'll try my hand at mock turtle
soup, and cream candy and black coffee!
An /
for boiling the doors, how utterly ridIC-
ulous it would be to shut out the beau
titul sunshine, and the butterflies and
the sweet scented airl This house
always smells like blue mold when Aunt
Ihemis is around; and Of course no
body could get IN while | am herer
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 a
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 landings
"The old oak chesti' cried Dotty,
who was as full of romance as a white
clover bloom is of sweetness. "And to
think that Aunt Themis never let me
look into it before =
There was nothing very particular,
after all, in it. Only stutfy-snelllng
blankets, moth-eateu gown or two, the
brass buttOned military coat IN which
Uncle Amaniah-dead these ten years
had been wont to ." rally on training
days.
"'Pshaw - said Dotty. There ought
TO have been a forgotten will there, or q
skeleton, at the very least. It's a hum
bug, that old chest y
Just as this reflection passed through
her mind, whining, nasal voice sounded
ut 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
vlctuals for poor man?"
He was a stalwart, black proved fell
low with vlllainous, slit like eyes. aud a
tattered yelveteen suit; and Dotty'
heart stood still with terror for a second.
Oh, If she had only obeyed her Aunt
Ihemis aud locked up those doors
Mo-" she said, shortly. $50
away
Don't be hard on a poor fellow,
miss whined the man.
And Dotty was quite certain that she
saw the spout Of Aunt Themis' old solid
silver cream Jug protruding from the
flaps of his ragged velveteen pocket.
At the same moment he began ascend
ing the stairs with insOlent dehbera-
ton.
In an instant all the doubts, the
breads, the possibilities, the horrors of
the situation, glanced across Dotty' 5
mind.
Reuben aud Rankin were in the dis
tant meadow cutting grass; the tin horn
by means of which she usually sum-
moned them, was hanging up down stairs
at the back of the kitchen door.
Not a neighbor lived within sight or
call. And here she was at this stealthy-
faced brute's mercy. Would he gag
her? What was to become OF Aunt
Ihemis' gold beads and Reuben's new
breast pin, besides the nice old silver
which had descended to them from
Grandmother Buffet
No, said Dotty to herself: 4" for my
self | do not care. But the silver shall
be protected /"