The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-08
GOLD MR.. BINNEY."

All their friends had said, When Mrs. Binney
died, Now, what a good thing it 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 a brave heart, and carried a smil-
ing face, and had a thankful spirit within her,
striving always to remember her blessings, and
how much they o~utnumbered any evils she was
called upon to bear.
Indeed, to listen to Miss Brights showing, you
would have counted her as one of the luckiest
persons ever born. She had had the kindest of
friends, the most comfortable of situations, and
the girls she had taught We're endowed with an
amiability of disposition which made it a
positive pleasure to be with them. The only
accusation she could bring against them was
that they were all in such a terrible hurry to
grow up and get married, and then Miss Brights
occupation was gone, and she had to step out
into the world and find a fresh field for her
labors.
As years rolled on, each one adding to the
score of Miss Brights age, these hunting grounds
of instruction became more and more narrowed.
Children of eight began now where girls of
eigteen used to leave off, and history and geog-
raphy, to say nothing of the parts of speech and
grammar, We're all so altered that poor little
Miss Bright had to acknowledge that at times
she really did feel quite confused. Very soon
l shan't be left with anything to teach" she
would say pathetically, and then Mr.. Binney's
nephew, Joe, or some other good fellow who
heard her, would declare she should set up a
school for wives, for there never were such.
wives as 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 when
ever she was seeking employment, she always
returned to the house Of Dr.. Brendon, their
father.
When Mr.. Binney dropped in, as he frequently
did, to inquire after his old friends, the Bren-
dons, he from time to time found Miss Bright
there, and happening on the occasion of one OF
her visits to bring the news that Mrs. Binney
was i'll, with no one whose business it seemed
TO be to look after her, nothing was more natu-
raj than that Miss Bright should volunteer, and
a great comfort they found her.
SO sprlghtly yet unobtrusive was the CHEEKY
little woman that Mrs. Binney herself was in
fuenced in her favor, until, with an eye to their
mutual comfort, Mr.. Binney proposed Miss
Bright staying with them altogether. why
notF he said. w could well afford to pay her
a salary 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 alto
gether, NO she would not give her consent to
that: she had always objected to having in her
house a third party. 1t was then that Miss
Brights 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 l have come to my
last ebb an opening has been made for me, so l
am not going to despair now
And she said this all the more emphatically
because, in spite of her confidence, she could not
| haln fnpInR That q Np1.n which cfla pOull mt
still kept repeating: What viii 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 happened quite
suddenly about a year before, there had been
some talk as to Miss Bright going to Mr.. Binney
as housekeeper, but this proposition had been
made without the knowledge or consent Of the
principal person concerned, who, as soon as the
hint was given, negatiyed it.
Mr.. Binney thoroughly appreciated Miss
Bright, but he had lost his taste for matrimony.
He remembered that he had spent forty excellent
years without a wife, and, notwithstanding that
he was now q widower, he could not conscien-
tiously say that he felt his state to be so very
unhappy.
Susan, the cook, respectable and staid, would,
he felt sure, manage his household properly, and
if it proved that she should give way to eXtrava-
gance, as people seemed to say, Mr.. Binney fan
cied 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 Brendons had
cherished for Miss Bright, were ruthlessly dashed
to the ground. Evidently Aunt Is. was not to
have a successor.
IF we could but have got her there as house
keeper" said two of those arch conspirators,
the rest would have been easy" But though
they returned to the attack several times, no
good came of it. Mr.. Binney shared L in their re
greet at the loss of Miss Brights pupils, wondered,
as they did, what would become of her, and, his
visitors gone, to make his sympathy apparent.
he sat down and wrote a kind little note, with a
check for f10 folded within it.
Hes an old stupid, said Sally, land 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 a
widow; her health was as delicate as her heart
was kind, and when she made the proposition
that Miss Bright should come and spend the re
mainder of her days with her it was not entirely
of her own comfort she had been thinking. Miss
Bright had readily accepted her offer, and she
had written to tell Sally that the next week she
should come up and see them.
She could only stay a few hours with them
when she came. The farewell visit was to be
paid later. 'But l think, she said, as she was
going. Il will call on my way home and say
good bye to Mr.. Binney in case 1 might not have
another opportunity"
DO said Sally, and away she went.
Mr.. Binney was at home. He had not been
quite well lately; nothing more than a cold, but
it had kept him a prisoner. To-day he might
have gone out, but he had not felt inclined to,
and he gallantly said he was glad to be in, as he
should have been sorry indeed to have missed
seeing Miss Bright.
And so you are really going to leave usl" he
said, and almost regretfully, too. ''Well, you
will be very much missed. l don't know what
the Brendons will do"
''They will not miss me more than 1 shall
them, and the brave little woman made an effort
that her voice should not sound shaky: ''but you
know, AE. Binney, L am not growing younger,
am n"
NO he said; "that is true. was saying the
same to myself of myself only to-day"
Yes only with men m 1t does not seem to mat
with a little shudder that when we get old and
want quiet and rest and a comfortable arm chair
by the fire, there is a doubt whether we shall be
able TO pet them"