The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-03-11
From Temple Bar
'sOI.D var. HBQNNEH

From Temple Bari
''OH.D VAR. BINNEY.'-
All their friends had said, when Mrs.
Binney died, Now what a good thing
1t would be if old Mr.. Binney would but
marry Miss Bright"'
Miss Bright had not been without her
troubles, and very hard ones they had
been, too, but she bore them with n brave
heart. and carried a smiling face, and had
thankful spirit within her, striving al
ways to remember her blessings, and how
much they outnumbercd anv evils she was
called upon to bear
Indeed, to listen to Miss Bryht's show
ing, You would have counted her as one
OF the lucklest persons ever born. She
had the kindest of friends, the most com
Portable situations, and the girls she had
taught were endowed with an amiabilitv
OF disposition which made it a positive
pleasure to be with them The onlv accu-
satlon she conld bring against them was
that they were all in such a terrible hurry
to grow up and get married, and then
Miss l'right's occupation was gone, and
she had to step out into the world and
ind fresh field Tor her labors.
y AS years rolled on. each one adding to
the score of Miss }right's age these hunt
ing grounds of instruction became more
and more narrowed. Children of eight
began now where girls of eighteen used
t" leave oft, and hi,tory and geography,
to say nothing OF the parts Of speech and
grammar, were all SO altered, that poor
little Miss Bright had to acknowledge
that at times she really did feel quite con
fused. Very soon shan't be left with
anything to teach" she would say pa
thctically, and then Mr.. Binney's nephew,
Joe, or some other good fellow who heard
her, would declare she should set up
school for wives, for there never were
such wives az the girls whom Miss Bright
had brought up. She had taught .Joe's
wife, Sally, and her sister, and though
since then she had had other situations,
at holiday time, or whenever she was
seeking employment, she always re-
turned to the house of Dr. Brendon, their
father
When Mr. Binnev dropped in, As he fre-
qnently did, to inquire after his old friends
the Brcnlons, he from time to time found
occasion of one of her visits to bring the
news that Mrs. Binney was i'll, with no
one whose business 1t seemed TO be to look
after her, nothing was more natural than
that Miss Bright should volunteer, and
great comfort they found her.
So sprightly vet unobtruSively was the
cherry little woman that Mrs Binnev her
self was influenced in her favor, until, with
an eye to their mutual comfort, Mr.. Bin
ncy proposed Miss Bright staying with
them altogether "Why not ?" he said.
" We could well afford to pay her a sal
ary." But this word salary, acting like
magic on Mrs. Binney, seemed to bring
her to her senses Immediately. She
would be very glad to have Miss Bright
as a visitor as long as she liked to stay,
but as TO living with them altogether
No." She would not give her consent
to that she had always objected to hav-
ing in her house a third party. 1t was
then that Miss Bright's friends pulled
very long faces indeed. What would she
do? they asked her.
"Oh, something is sure to turn up,"
she would say hopefully. Whenever |
have come to my last ebb an opening has
been made for me, 80 am not going to
despair now"
And she said this all the more emphati-
cally, because in spite of her confidence
she could not help feeling that a voice
which she could not still kept repeating :;
"What will You do when you grow
older? Teaching will get harder than
ever That was true enough, but what
else was there for her to do?
When Mrs Binney died, which hap
pcned quite suddenly about a year before,
there had been sor,e talk rs to Miss
Bright going to Mr.. Binney as house
keeper, but this proposition had been
made without the knowledge or consent
of the principal person concerned, who,
az soon as the hint was given, negatived
it.
Mr. Binney thoroughly appreciated
Miss Bright, but he had lost his taste for
matrmonv: he remembered that he had
spent forty excellent years without wife,
and, notwithst Anding that he was now
widowcr, he could not conscientlOusly say
that he felt his state to be so very un-
happy.
Susan, the cook, respectable and staid,
would he felt sure manage his household
property, and if it proved that she should
give way to extravaganza, a. people
seemed to say, Mr.. I'inney fancied he
could better put up with that evil than
with too much of the economy from which
he had suffered already.
So all the hopes that on the death of
Mrs. Binney, Joe and Sally and the Bren-
mons had cherished for Miss Bright, were
ruthlessly dashed to the ground. Evi-
IDENTIFY Aunt B was not to have a success
sOr.
of we could have but got her there as
housekeeper," said two of those arch-con-
sprators, "the rest would have been
easy" But though they returned to the
attack several times, no good came of it.
Mr.. Binney shared in their regret at the
loss of Miss Bright's pupils, wondered as
thew did what would become of her, and,
visitors gone, to make his sympathy ap-
parent, he sat down and wrote a kind lit
tie note with a check for ElO folded with
in it,
"He's an old stupid said Sally, "and
now she is going away altogether, ever so
far for Miss Bright had had another
piece of news to tell. An old pupil of
early days had been recently left widow,
her health was as delicate as her heart
was kind, and when she made the propo-
s;t;on that Miss Bright shOuld come and