, 1884-02-10

1A1A@J
out pitiful to hear. u
sThey say she Rugged and kissed old DR..
Wintergreen, when no said Cicely ID get
well, an that Wintergreen he Rugged an
kissed back; and they was some talk bout
'em maxim a match, him bein' a w~iderwer,
an half cracked to marry agin- But, law
me! l knew better. Poor kahaly was that
grateful over Cicely gettirf well. shed o.
Rugged an kissed q steer; an Wintsrgreen
was like any other crazy old widerwer,
tickled ht to kill IL a woman looked at i'm
tho you could o. heerd i'm beller half a mile
when Mis- Wintergrsen was buried The
doctor he was nllus gettin' up new kinds o.
bitter an intments an TONES an plasters.
an tryin' 'em on Mia Wintergreou first, an
she was gump 'nough to let him do
It; for she thought the doctor knowed
more'n any other ten doctors in San
CANON county. An there she'd go round
with plasters an intments all over
her, an gag over his drops an 'elixirs,' when
they wa'n't a thing under the shinin' Sun the
matter of her. They say she died o. general
debility, an l reckon she did. So would a
boss But Wintsrgreen was a real good
hearted old body. He was as good rs puddin'
to Mahaly when the poor womau's heart was
breakin'.
Little Cicely was nearly 10 years old fore
Mahaly told her that she want hsr own
mother. Folks knowed that Mahaly wanted
it KEEP rs long as he could from the child
But Of course. she had to know 1t some
time, fer children will ask questions, There
was everybody calling Mahaly, Miss Mahaly,'
you know, an a purity goose Of a child It'd
be that wouldn't ask questions, ehf
$50 Cicely growed up to bs 10, an a purifier
girl never danced to an Eldervills party. She
did have the sweetest eyes / ever looked into.
They was big AM blue, with a kind of appealin',
trustful look In 'sm that made one love the
girl. Her yiller baby-hair stayed with hsr
always 1t was as silky and yaller an bright
when she was II as when she was little moron
a baby. She KEEP her inherent, baby-facs
all through her girlhood days never in all
my born days see a more perfectly innercent,
beautiful facet She looked as II the very
thought O. sin was Turin to hor heart l used
to think to myself that IL ever they was an
ondefiled heart and a pure soul. that heart
an soul belonged to Cicely Doolittle. l allus
felt a kind Of n reverence, so to speak, for
her girlish purity an innercence- 1t did
seem to mo as il God had RELY given His
angels charge concerning hor.' He seemed to
have her close to Hisself.
-She had a smile an a gay word for ev'ry-
body, no matter where or when you met
her. How she did brighton up Mahaly's old
home, an what a joy an comfort she was to
heri Many's the time I've seen Mahaly put
her arms round Cicely, an, with the big
tears rollin' down her cheeks, kiss an bless
her; an Cicely seemed Jest as much wrapped
| up in Mnhaly as Mahaly was in her.
@When Mahaly was SO an Cicely past II. a
funny circumstance happened. 1 was sswin'
at Mahaly's at the time, a-makin' Cicely a
mighty purity buff shally delaine, with a tiny
bit of a pink figger in it and a raised green
silk Leaf. mind 1 made it with a Garabaldi
waist an six rows of black velvet ribbon
| frOnnd the akirf Thara UNA 0Ovvinf alaayaS
lined with green silk, an white Swiss under
sleeves, That didn't plum hide Cicely's purity,
plump pink arm.
at was her first real long dress, an she
didn't like it / mind how she put her arms
round Mahnly an kissed her, sayin' she
couldn't feel like she was Mahaly's little girl
any more in that dress.
u know Mahaly told her she must begin
to be q woman now, but when Cicely d gone
~a-singin' down cellar after a mince pie fer
dinner, Mahaly coma an whispered to me to
run some little tucks under the broad bands
o. velvet, an turn the skirt in a little more at
the top.
"Well, while / was stitchin' away at the
dress, there comes a knock at the door, an
fore Mahaly could open it, in comes a tail,
bearded, hne-lookin' man of bout 40. Mahaly
WINS u~nrollin' the velvet from the pasteboard,
an when that man comes in, she turned as
white as a sheet for a second, an seemed
ready to faint Then she tried to say some
thin, but couldn't; an in another minnit her
an that Teller had their arms round each
other, an was huggin' way like sixty.
" had sense 'nough to know that my room
was better'n my comp'ny bout that time, 20
1 grabbed up my work, an put off out into
the kitchen, whore Cieely was settin' the
table fer dinner. She ID got q sight o. the
doin's in the front room. an l mind how I
bust out latin whom size said 80 inherently:
"'Why, Miss Dorcas, who on earth IL that
man kissin' my mar
W didn't know for half an hour that
that man was Dave Bascou.
at was q long story he had to tell bout
how he'd been clean crost seas, an into fur
rim parts. He got word while he was In Cal
aforny that Mahaly was dead. She was
mighty low Of a fever for a long time, just
after her folks died. There was several times
when it got out n Elderville that she was dyin';
an some busybody couldn't whit till the poor
girl had clean gone, but had to write to David
that she was RELY dead. He said hs'd writ
three times fer perticklers, an got no answer.
Letters got lost oftener them days than they
do now, an Mahaly hadn't got hisn'n. Elder
VILE was u little, out-of-the-way place; with
only one mail a week, an Dave he had to
send his letters nearly a hundred miles to
post 'em. The Iujuns got away with many
a mailbag, too. Neither Mahaly nor David
was great hands for scribblin'. Then they
was promised to each other, anyhow, an
l reckon they thought courtin' by mail
didn't' mount to much.
aAn' SO, tween letters that did go, an let
tiers that didn't, David an Mahaly'd been
KEEP apart fer nigh onto twenty
years; an neither of 'em had seen 1T to
marry anybody else. They 'pearsd to set as
much store by each other at 10 as they had
when they was half that old; an the way
they went round thete like young lovers was
enough to make one split lafHn.t
Everybody was glad on 'Haly's'count that
Dave had come back gin, sound in body an
mind, heart-whole an fancy free.
"Both Of 'em boin' well an healthy an In
their right senses, an likely to live many a
year yet, they didn't seem to be no good rea
son why they shouldn't marry, an enjoy the
rest o their lives together. It seemed to
me that the Lord had brung 'sm together for
that purpose. I'm sure they wa'n't 30 KILN
old either, after all
"David hadn't come back with a gold mine
in his pockets. ] guess he was nigh bout as
poor as when he left, through havin' the ups
an downs Of a miners Life.
But mercy on usi Dye reckon
Mahaly Doolittls ever asked whether
the man was rich as Cresus or poor
as Jobs turkey, which poor critter hadn't
but one feather in its tal-pot shell She
never thought o. that He'd coma back true
and faithful; his heart was hsrs, an hsrs was
his forever. That was all a woman like
Mahaly Doolittls cared to know. Riches an
this worlds glory counted for nothin' with
her. II the man had come home blind ar