Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-12

written In one of his frequent letters had
! touched her heart at the time she read
! them first, and were still dearer now as she
recalled them. Her mother, too, Annie
remembered that she had never complained
| of doing 30 much hard work, and OF so
! dull and tiresome 8 life. Old Aunt Har
riet was the bugbear of the family, and
! dreadfulIy hard to live with, but Annie
could not remember that her mother had
ever been cross or unkind. Then there
were the boys, and she meant to be kind
sister to them. 1t was plain enough that
! she was needed at home, and she thought
of many ways in which she meant to carry
! some new brightness and happiness into
! these lives that were, after all, nearest hers
| Her mother had urged her to go with
her uncle's family to Europe, il she liked
| for a letter had been sent to her Just
before school closed, begging for Armies
! company-but our friend had at once re-
! fused. Mrs. Hollis had said that she was
afraid it was going to be a great change
for her to come back, and that they did
not feel that they ought to take her from
such pleasant associations, and make her
give up SO much for their sskes but the
answer that came back decided the ques-
ton for once and all Il feel sure that
YOU have given up q great deal for my
sake, mother" said Annie, 'you and
father both and | have made up my mind
that would rather be at home with you
than to do anything else. II l am used to
better things than l shall lind in Brook
field, shall try to make you share all my
pleasures, and to give you half of every.
thing | have gained. 1t has been of no
use to me if l can't be of any use to you"
And when they read this letter, one spring
evening, Mr.. Hollis said, brushing tear
away, "Annie's good girl.
But still they were uneasy about her
coming home, and as her father took the
big trunk and the little one out of the
wagon, and left them on the grass, and
ledsthe old horse away to unharness him
the boys having at last remembered
the cows that were raising loud walls at
the pasture bars-he thought how differ.
emit she was from all the girls in the re-
gion, and he suddenly felT unlike her, and
as if he were rough and countrihed. 81
wish | had had a chance when | was a
boy to 60 off and see something's should
not have been like this" 1t seemed to
him, for minute, that all his own posi-
BILE success and refinement had been really
given him, after all, in the pretty, well.
bred daughter who had come home to him
1t was a cruel thought that she might be
ashamed of him, and that, at any rate, her
home life and city life must always be kept
apart. I'm afraid she'll be lonesome
when it comes to be winter, he said to
himself, sorrowfully, as he took off his best
coat and carefully laid it over the low
branch OF an apple tree before ne went in
at the barn door.
In the meanwhile Annie had gone in to
see Aunt Harriet, whom she had always
hated when she was a child. Nothing
could be seen of the old lady but her nose
and the frill of very prim cap, but, in
answer to the girls greeting, she said, in a
faint tone, that she was much as usual
nobody knew what she suffered, and she
seemed to be left in the world to be bur
den to herself and everybody else.
"Oh, no, Aunt Harriet" said Annie,
cheerfully, don't say that I've got
great deal to tell you-they all wished to
be remembered to you at Uncle Henry's.
Aunt Fanny sent you very handsome cap,
with her love. I'll get it out of my trunk
after supper"
~ expect she thought it would do to
lay me out in, said Aunt Harriet, indig.
nantly, and forgetting to keep to her whin-
ing tone. What good did she think
handsome cap would do me, bed-ridden as
be l should much rather ha' had some.
thing to tempt my appetlte-"
" Here's good supper Tor you as could
get, said Mrs. Hollis, who just then came
IN with tray, and she and Annie caught
each others eyes, and found it hard to
keep from laughing.
If anything had been needed to make
our friend sure Of tle welcome that was
given her, the sight OF the tea-table would
have been enough, for it was evident that
her mother had done the best she could to
make it pleasant. She even had put
little bouquet in front OF Annie's plate.
| know you spoke once about there being
flowers on the table where you were" she
myself, but thought perhaps you would
like 1t You always did like sweet briar
it's late this year.
Annie knew at a glance that her mother
had put on the very best table. cloth, and
somehow she could hardly keep from cry
ing. The boys had seized lunch in the
pantry and had gone away again to milk,
so that there were only three of them at
the table. cit does seem good to have
you home again, her father said, looking
away from her and flushing lit lie, and
it seems as if you liked to be here after
all. Mother and l are sort of afraid that
you won't like our ways"
And Annie told them, laughipgly, that
perhaps they wouldn't be pleased with
hers, but she did not see why they should
not get on well together, if they all tried
hard. She gave funny glance at Aunt
Harriet's bedroom door, and her father
shook his head solemnly, as if that ges ture
conveyed more than any words could of
the difficulties of the old lady's disposition.
d" do not see how you have got along with.
out anybody to help you, mother" said
Annie
The boys had remembered that there was
a company tea in progress, and they re-
turned presently, their sppetites getting
the better of their shyness. The two COWS
never were MIXED so quickly as they were
that night, and the boys listened to An
me- assurance that she had brought each
Of them a Jack.kuIte, a white. handled one
aud black handled one, with great pleas.
ure.
Annie felt tired ont when she went to
her own room that night, but she sat down
a little while at the window and thought
about her coming home, She SAID to her
self that she meant to be a help and a
comfort and pleasure to them all. God
would not have made it her home unless
she could help them more, and they could
help her more, than any body else. IL
would only be her own blindness and sell
tishness that would make her coming home
a mistake.
II were to follow out her life in the
country farmhouse for even week it
would make too long story. | know my
self she made every body happier, and that
instead of thinking how forlorn the house
was she set herself TO work to make it
pleasanter in every way she could. She
was often impatient, and was net perfect
by any means, this heroine OF mine, but
she tried to learn from her mistakes. She
was surprised to find that after being sus.