The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-09-13
The Miser's Inheritance.

Miss Sammis was the only daughter
of the old person so inevitably called
Old Sammis in his native town, that no
one called him by any other name, and
until his will was read the fact that he
had been christened Octavius Cicero
Sammis was actually yunknown to many.
He was, however, not so old as some
who were called only middle aged. 1t
was his manner, his long nose, and
sharp chin, the wrinkles in his fore
head, and the sparse grayish hair that
gave him the reputation of age, and he
had none of the vices of young men,
even at fveandtwenty. A prudent,
saving boy, he had gone on to be a
stingy young fellow and miserly old
man. His long, straight brown coat, his
shabby stove pipe hat, his wrinkled
boots, and the trowsers which, always
too long and full, fell over them in many
wrinkles, seemed always to be the same,
and he had worn one glove for five
years, having lost its mate three years
after its purchase.
When his poor wife was i'll the doc
tor had ordered wine and beef-tea,
but he had demonstrated: "Beef-tea
uses up so much meat, and wine is very
dear-and a bad habit also, my love.
Don't you think you could take nice
little piece of fried pork and some old
CiuSI i11atSau Z. IilC pun "Onian all
swered that she would "try." But af-
ter she had tried week even Old Sam
mis- said that something must be done.
He bought the wine and the beef, but
before the tea was made she was past
swallowing.
Her daughter came home from her
uncle's then and cried over what the
neighbors told her, but did not say to
her father what she intended to say;
for in going downstairs to hide, in the
cellar, the bottle of wine his wife had
left as full as VIXEN it came in the house,
Old Sammis tripped and fell; the bot
tie broke and cut his arm, and erysipe-
las set in, of which he died, and the
girl who had washed dishes in her un-
cle's kitchen to save her keep, found
herself worth half million.
Shewas small, thin girl; she stopped
good deal, and her nose and chin
nearly met; but she was neat and prim,
and as soon as the power was hers she
furnished the old house decently and
hired servant. She might have cut
dash and become a fashionable woman,
but the thought did not occur to her.
She felt happy when she thought of the
money that belonged to her, and she
could not bear to part with much of it.
She was not even able to bring herself
to the point of buying black silk dress
for her aunt, who needed one sadly.
Two or three hundred dollars would
have filled trunk over which those
poor little shabby cousins would have
danced with joy; but she could not do
it. She could not have denied any one
food and medicine, or fire or light, or
anything needtul under her own roof,
as her father had denied her mother,
for she was only twenty-one and wo-
man; but she had the old mans blood
in her veins, and the miser's cravings
lurked in her soul. So the interest of
her money was slowly added to the
principal, and she grew richer slowly
but surely.
However she was not yet amiser, and
when certain things in the way of ia
BILE linen were wanted, she went down
to the city to buy them, and to make a
call or two as well, and was hurrying
up Broadway from the ferry, when just
as she passed Trinity Church man
touched her on the arm, and said: "Beg
your pardon, lady, but haven't you lost
a twenty-dollar gold piecea" Now
Miss Sammis knew well enough that
she had no gold whatever with her, but
she hesitated before saying no. ri am
not sure, I must look" she said, feeling
for he portemonnaie.
81 think l seen it drop outen your
pocket when you took out your hand
kerchief," said the man. Satan got the
better of Miss Sammis. "Then l must
have lost it," she said. "Yes, lady !;
and it's honest of me to pick it up for
you, amt it, when might a. kept it ?"
said the young man, holding out the
money. "And you hadn't oughter be-
grudge me dollar to get meals
victuals with, had you, jest as reward
for honesty and to encourage me ?"
,whined the young man.
"Well, no, 1 think I ought to give
you something" said the miser's daugh-
ter. 81 was thinking ofa quarter, but, :"
she looked into her purse, and slowly
took out dollar bill, "but there!" she
added with a thrill of generosity.
"There !"
The young man seized the money, said
"Thank you," and vanished around
the corner; and Miss Sammis, with the
joy of one who had drawn prize in the
lottery, hurried to the shop where she
intended to purchase her table linen,
made her selections, and offered the
twenty dollar gold piece. The cash
how carried If awav in basket and in