The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-05-22

O oA 8Ln - 1OuS
he were switching the air with a cane,
was another form almost as familiar.
The nurse evidently was proud of her
conquest. 1t was not every girl in her
sphere who could boast a lover who
carried a cane.
The maid-o:-all-work turned back
from the window, renewed the fire in
the range, and sat down at the table
with the paper she still held in her
hand. Producing a piece of lead pencil
as long as ones finger, she bent over
the paper.
AS she drew curious lines upon the
paper, her thoughts ran this wise:
1.-THE new suit, the cravat, gloves,
hat and boots must wait Jamie's COM
ing. So long as the main thing-the
moneys provided, I'm noways I'M
easy. There's enough and to spare
it'll be my lookout to set him off so that
no one will call him a 'Paddy,'-al-
though there's no disgrace in it-only
there's nothing lost by putting the best
foot foremost. Many a pain and ache
L would have been saved these seven
| and provided for me beforehand. 1
hope Jamie will never experience what
I've endured, and nobody any the
wiser. There" looking sideways at the
paper covered with curious marks and
lines crossing each other. "That'n be
Mowers mills up there by the dam. I
think I've not got it too near DrexeIs
mills. He'll never lose himself once he
is in sight of either. That's the short
side of the city, too. If he'll get Penn
| a unn1n cnf 70 tr1u in his ro,n1 tho lnnr
side will be as easy to learn. But 1
cut across to the South Side. And the
There's not a mill left out"
"Nelly!!" a voice cried at that mo-
ment. 1t was Mrs. Britt, who stood on
the landing.
"Yes, mann"
"Where are Mary and the childrenP"
'.In the open lot"
sis Mary with them?-the fence is
down now, and they must not be allow
ed to go near the railroad. Tell her to
be very careful. I am going to my
room and must not be disturbed"
Mrs. Britt spoke like a woman &C
customed to implicit obedience. Mrs.
Britt, a well-meaning woman who had
never experienced hardship nor misfor-
tune-one of those people who are born
to ease and plenty, and accept them as
a matter of course rather than as bless
ings-sat down before her escritoire,
waiting for the inspiration which expe-
rience Justified her in assuming nine
times put of ten was belated ere it
reached her pen. The best incidents,
the extraordinary condolences and
| ri 20 m q fic ctfro ions ryorao i xUo VIC xu0rlynH
out by other people. In her leisure she
had written many verses-perform-
ances that occupied her time, were ad,
mired by her friends and dreaded by
the editors of the daily papers of Grits-
burg more than a competitors PROPOSE.
ton to compare circulation. Unfortu.
nately for Mrs. Britt and the editors, two
or three of these performances got into
print. and ever after they were com.
PEELED to do penance. Mrs. BIRTHS life
was as placid as a pool of water in a
prairie, but like many whose lives are
barren of incident, she was forever in
quest of the intense; her disrelish of the
commonplace was so great that she
was in the habit of declaring sit posi-
lively amounted to disgust" Time
and again she began intensely thrilling
pOOLAo SIuu SlOIlOS, Oub IL hCNOI Ro
farther than five or six verses CT as fal
as the middle of the first chapter
Fragments of these performances lit
tered her escritoire and amused her hus
band. Of the tragedies enacted ever,
day about her, she had no conception
: She sought incidents in the new West
in flood and battlefield and in the wax
of lost steamers. The drudgery o
' aunv.u n low, 1ifa non16 mot cr1nnIy har will
heroism.
Mrs. Britt had at last found a thrill
ing situation. All it required wa
great steamer with its machinery dis
) abled, the signal guns firing, a tremen
dous cliff within biscuit-throw of the
steamer, the steamer pounding on thu
rocks, and breakers foaming all aroun'
, the hapless passengers. 1t requires
! some dexterity to reach this point ant
! seatial to Mrs. BIRTHS story after com
uniting the remainder to the waves.
Down stairs Nelly Moore was maxim,
: strange lines and marks on the pape
a that occupied her attention.
Mr.. Britt, who was employed in
, large factory near at hand, ''run in
moment to see how they were doing,
and to satisfy the inner man with apiec
of pie and a glass of milk. He was il
the habit of popping in and out unan
> nounced. AS he returned to the factor
a vision of a curly head, laughing, mis-
i chievous eyes, and blue stockings
stockings that seemed to twinkle in tn
! sunlight, as his youngest, Benny
: scampered from log to log, scramblin
up and down with his brother Osca
and his sister Grace in his wake-ros
before him.
!, The first chapter of Mrs. Britt's ne,
story was half-completed when the loud
shrill and unusually prolonged whist!
: of a locomotive attracted her attention
She glanced carelessly, aimlessly out
z her window. The Noon Express wa
laundering around a curve nea the ope
h lot where the children were al play ha
9 an hour ago. Here and there a hea
r was thrust out of a car window. A or
4 of warning. a piercing cry, followed b
others as shrill and sharp caused Mr.
Britt to rise and advance to the window
Then suddenly Mrs. BIRTHS pulse
o seemed to stop, her heart swelled as
it would burst. She strove to cry GU
but her tongue Glove to the roof of he
3 mouth.
q There, fair in the path of the rushin
locomotive, standing m%otionless &
4 though paralyzed with fright, stood he
g baby boy, Benny.
" Sky and earth were blurred togethe.
o as Mrs. Britt tainted dead away.
p The open lot was not large enoug
d for Benny. His venturesome little lec
d had marked out new territory beyon
nearer the hillside. While the nurs
d was listening to the soft nonsense whic
d flowed from a loiterer's tongue Oscs
IS and Grace heedlessly pursued Benny q
the new ground. When the train sweE
il round the curve the nurse was nowhel
a to be seen. The eldest children wei
g on one side of the track, Benny on tt