The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1884-03-28

her wits end.
Of coarse she could have sold
the farm, but she conld no. bear
the thought of living elsewhere.
Finally she hit upon the plan of
giving up the entire property to
some man, on the condition that
he supported her Tor the remainder
of her life. This might have an.
swered very well, if it had only
been given up to the right sort OF
person but Aunt Rhoda was fool.
ish enough 10 make it over to.an en-
tire stranger who had won her
heart with pleasant words. His
wife vas young and pretty, but
she was vixen, and he was at
once shiftless and crafty. The
farm ran down steadily through
the two years that he managed it,
and at last he mortgaged il heavily
aud decamped. Aunt Rboda had
always been a very conscientious
person, and when she was left alone
in her old home, she considered
that it belonged to her no longer.
1t made no difference to her that
the man had violated his part of
the agreement. Not Que of her
chairs and tables, or the cooking
utensils she had used SO many
times, would she claim as her
own.
"No," she would say, ~ don't
care what Mr.. Foster has done, I
know he hasn't done as he said he
would, but l am going to do as /
said Il would. These things and
this home amt niue now, an Tm
gong to leave them. It's pretty
hard, for I've lived here all my life,
an think most as much Of my
things as l would OF folks For me
to sit here now, an look at that
clock in the corner that my father
bought me when | was married,
and my cooking stove, an my
chairs, an table, an my dishes
there in the cupboard, an l think
they amt mine-I only wish Anne
Carpenter Mather was here. But
she amt an I'm goin'.n
"But where will you 20, Aunt
Rhoda n said one woman. There
was quite a knot of them in Aunt
Rhoda's kitchen the day after the
Fostor's left.
AMY plans arc all laid," replied
Aunt Rhoda, sturlily.
"You'll have to 90 to the aims.
house, remarked one, bluntly.
"No; aiu't goin' to the aims.
house, an / ain't agoin' to stay
here, in a home that aiu't mine,
more'n Que night longer; I've got
property eslewhere.'
"Do you suppose she has n
whispered one woman to another,
and they all stared ut each other
incredulously.
"But where, Aunt Rhoda y ven
tured one.
"No matter where; I've got it,
an that's enough; my plans are
all laid"
That was all the information
they could obtain, aud they bad to
leave with their curiosity unsatis-
fed. That was Saturday, aud the
mystery was solved.
The church in Camden was quite
new, and remarkably fine Tor such
a small country town. Indeed, 1t
was rather too nice for the purses
of the community, for the parish
was largely in debt. Those beau.
tiful, easy.backed, black walnut
pews, with their plumb, crimson
cushions, were pretty expensive
affairs for the small farmers there
abouts, but they had come forward
manfully with their coin money
and their work money, and bought
the privilege for themselves aud
their families of u more luxurious
seat in the Lords house than they
ever had in their own. And 1t was
literally money given to the Lord,
too, tor the parish was so small,
and the debt so heavy, that there
would in all probability be no
chance of disposing of q pew in
time of need, or even of renting it.
Nearly every householder sat In
his own pew, and his two or three
hundreds hard-earned dollars, ex-
cept for the privilege Of sitting
once week in solemn state in his
best clothes and listening to the
Word, was sunken from his sight
forever.
Aunt Rhoda's husband had
bought pew with the rest, aud
paid $500 for it, the year before
his death.
It was to this pew that Aunt
Rhoda severely walked up the
church aisle the next morning. It
was rather late, and the congrega-
tion we're nearly all assembled.
| They all stared wonderingly at
her; not that they were unused to
seeing her walk up the aisle; she
was as regular about that as the
minister, but she carried to day a
large carpet.bag, aud that was Ger.
tainly unusal.
People nudged each other and
whispered and Uttered; quite a
little breeze of excitement spread
over the church, and heads twisted
backwards and sidewise, and
craned forward toward Aunt
Rhoda's pew; but she set there
quietely, and listened to the sing
ing, with her carpet-bag on the