The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-06-05

SOoUOo uCIs eS HOW wn6Q Anna
. was going to graduate, and it was i'm
possible to induce her father to Weld {
sum sufficient for new white dress fol
the occasion, to say nothing of new
gown for herself that might not shame
the child among her mates.
''You are setting the child dreadful
example of frivolity," said Mr.. Upton
lone would think, to hear you talk,
that there was nothing in the world bat
dress"
81 think this very unfair, Mr. Upton -
said his wife. "You know how ihave''
She wanted to say pinched, and
pared, and saved, but she knew there
would be an outburst from her hus.
band. who, on the principle that two
and two make five, always considered
himself good provider; so she said
"done as you wished, to keep Anna re.
spectacle at school. But YOU know,
too, that | have never let her 90 a single
day without hearing all her lessons my
self, to see that she was perfect in
them"
ut must have been useful to her. es
pecially in trigonometry and chemistry,
and Latin and"
II learned a little of almost all of
them in hearing her-enough to follow
her, at any rate"
"Well, l don't know what that has to
| do with it; and Idon' see WHY she needs
white gown in order to take diploma
She'll get the diploma all the same,
[ suppose, and be able to teach? Well,
then, when she'sgone to work tea ching,
and had her pay, she can buy herself a
white gown if she has any use for it.
L shau't buy her one"
80, Mr.. Upton! I don't see
how
cit doesn't make any difference
whether you see how or not. | guess /
care as much for my daughter as you
do. But think do her much better
turn by saving money for her to use
when she needs it; and so will she,
them"
tBut she needs it now" urged the
persistent mother. "There'll never be
a time when she will feel the want of
anything any more. "
Wont there? Well, we're all born,
but we're none of us buried; and you
needn't say any more about it, Sophia.
You might as we'll talk to the Man of
Null, and should think you'd have
found it out by this time.
She had; she had found it out. For
herself she would not have asked him
for cent of money, to save her life.
She had rubbed the old gown, and
turned it wrong side out and upside
down. and pieced it with new and
rNiaonH - NTH al o.1 lo,.oI -
linked it, till nothing else could be done
with it. The only thing about it was
that she could stay away from the
graduation exercises, as she already
staid away from church. But Anna
could not stay away, and Anna must
have that graduation dress; and
she fell back on her rag-bag.
She was doubtful if she could accom-
plish it. But there was good deal of
time yet. The worst thing in the mat
ter was, Mr.. Upton would have to know |
it in the end, and then he would expect
her always to make as much from her |
sales, and cut down her already meagre
receipts, or he would take it into his |
own hands, and there would be an end |
of the only comfort she had. No; she |
was wrong to say that. Anna was a |
comfort great, an unspeakable COM
fort. How lovely was the pale face up |
which the color streamed if you looked |
at her, the appealing blue eyes, and the |
cloud of soft brown curls above!-lovely |
to her, at least, and dear as when she |
could remember it her babys face. |
She had little else to remember in her |
life, where the changes hardly made a |
tide-mark; she remem bered it all the |
way up-when the little pearls first |
came in the sweet, sweet mouth, when |
the teeth were gone, and a curious |
vacuOus innocence replaced them, till |
the second teeth came, like kernels OF |
seed-corn, pulling down the nose and |
all the features at once.
What pride and joy the child had
been to her in her behavior, at her |
books, everywherei And now, to pay
her for all her endeavor and obedience |
by shaming her in public just when the
shame would be so keen! Mrs. |
Upton felt that if she had to
steal it to do it, as her mind expressed |
itself, yet Anna must have that gown
Not that she had the least intention of |
going so far, only, on the same paral-
lei with which, as some critic has said, |
every woman has seen in herself the |
beginnings o. Becky Sharp, Mrs. Upton
felt herself capable of it. There was
nobody to steal from, in fact; Mr.. Tip |
ton carried no money about him. 1
don't know whether she felt that was |
an outrage on Mr.. Tipton's part or not,
in giving her no chance to pick his
pockets had she been so disposed, for |
doubt if she had ever thought of It.
Her intellect may not have been suffi-
GENTLY advanced. Mr.. Upton often
assured her she was fool; but she had
consoled herself by thinking that if she
was, she was not such a fool as Mr..
Tipton's mother, who, when her hus-
band told her they must in future burn
only one candle in the evening when
visitors called, obeyed him by cutting
one candle in two, so as to burn but
one candle, if two lights. Mr.. Upton
came rightly by his-his peculiarities,
she thought; but then certain peculiari-
ties, such as meanness, for instance,
may sometimes be carried to the divid-
ing line that makes the boundary of
and it was q sort of dis
HOHoSLJ W CHeaC AHA Vi a uFeSS JnaC
she might be said to have earned; and
when she was told that she might stay
at school and graduate. of course the
was that it meant gradu-
ate IS other girls graduate -in white
gown. The white gown might be all
very silly-she thought it was herself
but while the other girls had it, it was
q sin and shame that it should be re-
fused to her. this sweetest and best and
brightest girl of all; the most conspicu-
Gus of all, too, standing as she did at