The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-10-31
"OLD MIR. BINNEY.v I

All their friends had said, when Mrs
Binney died, ''Now what a good thing
it would be if old Mr.. Binney would
marry Miss Bright
Miss Bright had not been without hel
troubles, and very hard ones they haC
been, too, but she bore them with 8
brave heart, and carried smiling face
and had a thankful spirit within her,
striving always to remember her bless
ings, and how much they outnumbered
any evil she was called upon to bear.
Indeed, to listen to Miss Brights
showing, you would have counted her
as one of the luckiest persons ever born.
She had the kindest of friends, the most
comfortable of situations, and the girls
she had taught were endowed with an
amiability of disposition which made it
positive pleasure to be with them.
The only accusation she could bring
against them was that they were all in
such terrible hurry to grow up and
get married, and then Miss Bright's oc-
eupation was gone and she had to step
out into the Torld and find fresh field
for her labors.
As years rolled on, each one adding
to the score of Miss Bright's age, these
hunting grounds of instruction became
more and more narrowed. Children of
eight began now where girls of eigh-
teen used to leave off, and history and
geography, to say nothing of the parts
of speech and grammer, were all so al
tered that poor little Miss Bright had to
acknowledge that at times she really
IL 4 81 Uar.xr II
shan't be left with anything to teach, "
she used to say pathetically, and then
Mr.. Binney's nephew, Joe, or some
other good fellow who heard her, would
declare she should set up school for
wives, for there never were such wives
as the girls whom Miss Bright had
brought up. She had taught Joe's wife,
Sally, and her sister, and though since
! then she had had other situations, at
holiday time, or whenever she was
seeking employment, she always re-
turned TO the house of Dr. Brendon,
their father
When Mr.. Binney dropped in, as he
frequently did, to inquire after his old
friends, the Brendons, he from time to
time found Miss Bright there, and hap
visits there, to bring the news that Mrs
Binney was i'll, with no one whose bust
ness it seemed to look after her, moth
ing was more natural than that Miss
Bright should volunteer; and great
comfort they found her.
So sprightly, yet unobtrusive was the
CHEEKY little woman, that Mrs. Binney |
herself was influenced in her favor, I'M
til, with an eye to their mutual comfort, |
Mr.. Binney proposed that Miss Bright |
should stay with them altogether.
"Why notP" he said, we could well |
afford to pay her salary |
But this word, salary, acting like |
magic on Mrs. Binney, seemed to bring |
her to her senses Immediately. She
would be very glad to have Miss Bright
as a visitor, as long as she liked to stay, |
but as to living with them altogether
no, she would not give her consent to
that; she had always objected to hav-
ing in her house third party. 1t was
then that Miss Bright's friends pulled
very long faces indeed. What would
she dop they asked her.
"Oh. something is sure to turn up"
she would say, hopefully. whenever
l have come to my last ebb an opening
has always been made for me; and
an not going to despair now
And she said all this the more en-
phatically because, in spite of her con-
fidence, she could not help feeling that
a voice which she could not still kept
repeating: "What will you do when
you grow older? Teaching will get
harder than ever That was true
enough, but what else was there for
her to dop
When Mrs Binney died, which hap
pened quite suddenly about year before
there had been some talk as to Miss
Bright going to Mr.. Binney's as house
keeper; but this proposition had been
made without the knowledge or con-
sent of the principal person concerned,
who, as soon as the hint was given,
it.
Mr.. Binney thoroughly appreciated
Miss Bright, but he had lost his taste
for matrimony He remembered that
he had spent forty excellent years with
out wife, and Notwithstanding he was
now widower, he could not conscien-
tiously say that he felt his state to be
very unhappy.
Susan, the cook, respectable and
staid, would, he felt sure, manage his
properly, and if it proved
hat she should give way to extrava-
gance, as people seemed to say she
would, Mr.. Binney fancied that he
could better put up with that evil than
with too much of the economy from ;
which he had suffered already.
|
So that all the hopes, that on the
Heath of Mrs. Binney, Joe and Sally
md the Brendons had cherished for
Miss Bright, were ruthlessly dashed to
he ground. Evidently Aunt Binney was
lot to have successor.
'.If we could but have got her there
is housekeeper, said two of those arch
'the rest would have been {
,asy."
But though they returned to the at
ack several times, no good came of it.
Or. Binney shared in their regret at the 6
oss of Miss Bright's pupils, wondered, |
8 they did, what would become of her, t
md, his visitors gone, to make his SYM
,athy apparent. be sat down and wrote I