, 1884-02-10
MAHALA D~00LITTLE'S
DAUGHTER.


CiceIy Mahaly Doolittle's girl. No; law bless
you'll Mahaly VAN even married.
at seemed kind O. GURUS to folks at first
when little Cicely commenced to toddle
round, an lisp out N to an old maid
likd Mahaly. But us Elderville folks got used
to II, so tina arfter awhile it sounded as nat
eral as If the child had been Mahaly's own
hesh and blood.
AMahaly's not marryin', cheated some man
out of an amaz.n' good vito; fer she was
sharpsr'n tacks, nm gritty as over they make
EN- An there wa'n't airy woman round
Elderville that could beat her housekeepin'.
/ tell you, Mahaly d KEEP up her end o.
the row long with airy mar that ever
HdFawed the breath % life. They was many a
fellow that d liked well 'nough to shine
up to Mahaly; but it want no use; she'd
turn up her nose at the best of EN- Not that
she was fiirty nm giddy like, for it didn't run
in the Doolittles to be that way.
AYou see, she'd give her heart away once,
an with her they was no takin' it back, not
for the best man that ever went a-sparkin'.
HMRhaly was only 20 whom her an Dave
Bascom promised themselves to each other.
Dave hadn't nothin' to speak of, an was only
turned of 81. an they was sensible 'nough
to think that they could wait till they'd got a
little start. Tho Mahaly's folks was willin'
fer 'em to marry, an live with them, Mahaly
bein' tho only child, an the apple o. old
Simon and Susan Doolittle's eyes.
Dave ho was too high-sperrited to live offn
the old folks, an Mahaly backed him up in
it. Thoy was proud as peacocks, an that's
where they were simpletons, 'cordin' to my
thinkin', fer Dave could O. more n earned his
board any day on the big Doolittle farm, an
would o. done more N two hired hands.
-Then, / reckon, he an Mnhnly thought
folks ID talk an CAB, as folks will that amt
nothin' else to do but 10 run down their bet
ters; SO Dave, std o. marryin' 'Haly of hand,
packs up the few traps be had, an puts of to
Californy. An there he stayed, an only one
or two letters come from him, an than right
after he got there.
"Theu there CONT news OF some awful
Injun massakers in the neighborhood where
Dave was, an a man who nearly got his own
skelp took, writ to some one in Eldervillo that
there want hide nor hair left o. airy man in
the camp Dave was in
mo more letters come; an poor 'Haly had
to think, bye an bye, that the news was true;
ant went hard with her, l know. But she
want The kind to go blattin' round, calm
herself - little bird 'thout a mate, like Han
ner S.nbius did when her DO, Zimie Jackson,
got kicked to pieces by his mule But, law
mel Hammer wrote poetry, an never was
counted right smart She was always gushin'
bout somethin'.
swell, fore Dave d been gone a yoar, old
Simon Doolittle fell dead with apoplexy, an
poor old Susan didn't 1.-Two but ten days after
ward; so there was Mahaly, only 81. alone
In tho world, an owner o the best farm an
stock round Eldervile.
"But, bless your SOUL that snip of q girl
had a head on her like a bank PRESIDENT She
was sharper n q steel trap, an fairly set
back some O. the Elderville lawyers when 1t
come to bizness. She didn't have no brassy
or mannish ways bout her either, but was
modest an nice as a Quaker.
%You can guess that there was plenty O.
young fellers, an old ones, too, for the mat
ter O. that, that d liked right well to O.
managed Mahaly's affairs for her; but none
O. them got the chance.
"Some O. old Simon's help had bsen with
him for years, an they was faithful as peo-
pie could be to Mahaly. Then a great aunt
o. hers, Kitty Plumm, lose her man, an
didn't nave no home nor no children, 80 Ma
haly took her in; but, fore a month, poor
old Aunt Kitty was fat on her back with
the palsy, limp as a rag, an not a mite o.
use o. one hull side O. her.
"Mahaly tended that old woman night an
day like as IL she d been her own daughter,
an the poor mortal hung on ths hull wintor
an clean into May.
4 nus v Dten u COLnlOTI % manhly WQen
Aunt Kitty died. But nobody ever heerd her
say SO; an she had the old lady laii out in as
purity a white merino shroud with white
satin ribbons, an as purity a coffin as ever you
laid eyes on.
II rid to the funeral with Mahaly, an
comm home she cried quiet an pitiful like,
an said how she felt so alone in the world
with even Aunt Kitty gone. She didn't know
Jest h she would do for comp'ny. She
thought some, she said, o. goin' to some
big city where there was so many poor,
homeless, helpless, ~sufferin' little souls tossin'
an tumblin' round In this wicked world
with no one to 30 much as lift a finger to
save 'em from the sin an sorrer before 'em.
Mahaly thought o. gettin' a little boy or girl,
or meboe both, au' raisin' EN- a. hsT owu.
She said she'd never marry now.
IWell, mind you, when we got home, there
was a bundle on the front porch in an old
red an yaller shawl; an Cicely was in that
bundle. She was only, we lodged, bout
three weeks old. There VAN a thing in the
world to give US n hint O. who her pa AN me
wns, no moro N IL she d never had any
Mahaly said right there that she hoped she
never would know more n she knowed then
bout the chihd's kin. She 'dopted her right
off, namin' her Cicely Rose, m was mother
an father an sister an brother to the forlorn
| hbAlC Aulhks
at was so out o. the common run O. things
to see that young girl O. 81 bendin' over that
child's cradle, an CALM herself mamma
an tho child her own dear baby an all
that
1.-THE child was purity as a pink. She'd eyes
an cheeks like q chany doll She stood alone
at nine months, an begun to talk in a year.
She had that yallerish, reddish hair, kind o
curly like, that not one in a thousand has;
an purity, nice, finicky little ways % sayin' an
dom things that showed she Want any com
mon stock Blood'n tell every tune mind If II
don't Good or bad. it'll crop out. All tho
trninin' an inhooence an example an teach,
in goes fer nothin' when they s bad blood In
n child. It'll show itself bye'n bye, an away
goes your child a-snappin' his fingers at pre-
cepts, an all that.
"Well, the folks round EldervIlle, they
all took great int'rest in little Cicely, she wai
such a winnin' little bodyl
Il mind me now, bow I've passed by Ma.
haly's n'many an a-many time, AM seer
Cicely a-standin' at the gate with her nos,
stuck through the palms. an her big eyes a
twinklin'. An she'd say the oldest things in
the funniest way. Shs was a powerful smart
child.
SAN, my landi the store Mahaly Doolittl,
set by that child. she couldn't a. thought
more O. one O. her own, not IL she'd had
twenty-five. She acted as IL the sun rose and
set In that child
'rv seen her cry an carry on Ike a crazy
person when Cicely was sick. 1t beat all
Once the child got mighty low with tn,
"Little Joker'' Isl the best smoking