The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-01-16

been a struggle with her There was
one time-when she kept the district
school at the foot of the mountain, be-
fore the factory wheels had begun to
buzz, and the spirit Of commercial enter
prise had entered into their lonesome
glens-when she had fancied that John
| Capped, the handsome, restless grandson
of this very fuendless old dame with
whom she proposed to spend her solitary
| Christmas, cared little for her. And
then life seemed to assume a more roseate
hue, and all the world was different, for
awhile.
But John Cappel went away and never
told her that he loved her. He was
coming back when he had made his for
ture, he said, with that sanguine airi-
ness which belongs to one-and-twenty.
But he had never come, and Ruth
Harper had put all that part of her life
away into the dark chambers of the past
trying to think of it as seldom as pos
/ sible.
What is the nse 2" she said to her
self, sadly.
She went to the village the next day,
after work hours and bought her little
| five-pound turkey, and peck of red apples,
and quart of glossy cranberries. And she
stood before the bakers window for some
time, thoughtfully considering which of
the Christmas cakes she should buy,
| finally deciding on one frosted over with
sugar lilies and stuck with Scarlet ber
ries.
" A dollar is q good deal to pay for a
cake" she pondered; q" but, then, Christ
mas only comes but once year, and
Grandma Capped used to be fond of
cake"
Mrs. Liffert, the boarding house keeper,
was there, pinching bony turkeys under
the wings, pricing forlorn- looking geese,
bargaining for damaged apples, and
wrangling over wilted punches of celery.
She looked keenly at Miss Harper.
"EhGn said she. I" Fraid l won't give
ye enough TO eatl Buyin' fruit and
cakes for yourselfp
"No," said Ruth, quietly. Il am
going to spend Christmas with friend ?"
"We don't make no deduction for a
single day off, said Mrs. Liffert, sharply.
"Neither do / expect it of you, said
Ruth, biting her lip.
And the boarding house keeper went,
chuckling, on her way.
Old Mrs. Capped sat, all alone, in the
dreary little cabin, perched high up on
the mountain side. The wind was from
the east-a quarter that never agreed
with her rheumatism-an the fire
smouldered, and her oatmeaLporridge
had been scorched by the widow Per-
kins, who came in, by fits and starts, to
''don for her.
sit amt no use," said Mrs. Cappel
Il amt decently comfortable, living
this way. And Betsey Perkins has for
got to bring in the armful of wood; and
the teapot is put up on the high shelf,
where can't reach it; and-Bless me
who's that a-tappin' at the door9 Come
in, whoever you be! Why, if it amt
Ruth Harper!n
"Yes,n said Ruth, brightly, as she
came in and set down her multifarious
baskets, packages and parcels. 'Tm
Santa Claus, Mrs Cappel; and I've
come to spend Christmas with you. We
are both alone in the world-widow and
Old maid. Do you think that we can
do better than to eat our Christmas tur-
key together2"
'I'm mortal glad to see ye!" said the
old woman, her toothless jaws working
with satisfaction. 'And that's a fine,
fat bird, if it amt so extra large. Gran
berries, too l-and q loaf o. company
) cake! / declare to goodness / don't
, know when I've tasted cake before
And l smell real Gunpowder tea; and, as
live, and there's paper o. block
sugar; But p'raps, my dear, if you'd
put a log on the fire, shouldn't feel
: quite so chill and creepy along my poor
old bonesw
And Ruth Harper built up the fire,
brushed the hearth, and went out into
the woods for branches of cedar, and
spruce, and hemlock, which she disposed
over the shrunken doorways, and above
the mantel, and around the window
castings, until the dreary little room
looked like forest bower in a trans
formation scene.
} She put on the little pipkin of cram
J berries to stew, and busted herself in
preparing the turkey, with plenty OF
thyme and bread-crumb stuffing, for the
, oven, white old Mrs. Capped kept up a
ceaseless stream of talk How badly the
) world in general had used her; how
z careless the Widow Perkins was of her
wants, although the town allowed her q
r dollar a month for excepting an eye" on
the solitary inhabitant of the mountain
cottage; how her nephew Isaac, tc
whom she had caused the Widow Per
kins to write, volunteering Christmas
visit, had speedily sent back word that
} every guest chamber in the house was
t occupied, and that her visit would be
Y highly inopportune, and how Bill Ris
| ley's wife, her cousin once removed, had
D taken no sort of notice of the letter
which had been dispatched to her, ask
D ing for five dollars to buy new winter
e shawl.
e Nobody cares nothing about me ne
a more, " said Mrs Oappel, sorrowfully,
0 ''But care, said Ruth, softly Here
{ indeed, was some one forlorner and more