The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-08-26

sometimes made her uncomfortable,
looked forward to his arrival with de-
light.
She put his room in exquisite order
with her own hands, filed his vases
with fresh flowers, and stuck the pins
in his pin-cushion in rows so exactly
regular as to satisfy her own eye. For
the first few days after he came she
was very happy. John drove with her,
talked over his plans, and made her feel
that she was his chosen friend and con-
tidante. Florence was too busy and too
content to fuss; but after awhile habit
asserted itself.
" Who has been meddling with my
table?" demanded John, one morning.
" / left it exactly as l like to have it;
but Bridget or somebody has stirred it
all up, and can't find thing want"
Oh John, dear! it wasn't Bridget;
it was l." said Florence, perfectly salts
fed with herself, Notwithstanding her
brothers. tone of annoyance. " Your
arranged it a little. 1t isn't stirred up,
if you'll notice; it's only tidied See, L
put all the pens in this little box, and
the letters in pile with an India rub
Der band round them; and 1 laid the
books on the top of the desk, and those
loose sheets put into this lower
drawer"
"And all the marks shaken out of
my references" groaned John; " and
all my letters sorted so as to lose their
dates. Florence, l must say that /
hope you will let my table alone in the
future. have lost a whole morning
in consequence of this meddling of
yours"
He was not Intentionally unkind, but
his tone hurt Florence a good deal.
She went away with tears in her eyes.
John saw or suspected them, and strove
to be doubly affectionate when next
they met; but his eyes were opening
to her peculiarities, and, do what he
would, he could not keep from being
annoyed by them, nor could he conceal
his annoyance.
Little by little Florence found herself
dropping away from the intimacy which
she had so valued. John got into the
habit of working with his door shut;
when he went out he sometimes locked
it, the reason being that he had an I'M
DERIVING dread that his sister might
come in and NEEDLE with his effects.
Now and then, too, he forgot and called
her Fussy," as the others did-a
thing he had never done before. Flor
ence was too proud to complain; but
she felt the change, and it made her
unhappy-so unhappy that one night
when she was just getting over a sick
headache, during which mamma had
been especially kind, she opened her
heart and told her all her griefs.
Mrs. Fay listened in silence, till
Florence had relieved herself by full
outpouring.
"Dear Florence" she said, at last,
81 have always been fearful of this.
You love John, and he loves you; but
love needs to be cultivated and watered
very much as a plant does. Friends
cannot long remain friends if one of
them INDUCES in habits which fret and
worry the other. They call themselves
friends still, and they do their best;
but, after all, they grow from each
other. This is what l fear will happen
between you and john
"What do you mean, mamma? Do
l worry John?"
Yes; by your constant little perse-
cutions about neatness, your perpetual
interference with his things. You have
so much the habit of it that suppose
you scarcely notice when you do it; but
men hate that sort of nagging, and
John, with all his virtues, is man!
can see that you vex him continually
and you vex everybody else, too. NV
dear Flossy, l will tell you the plain
truth now that we are on the subject
Your particularly and constant fret
about tritles which are not worth fret.
ting about make you the scourge of the
family"
go mamma! How can you? How
can you?" cried poor Pussy, bursting
into tears.
My darling, l can, because l love
you. want my Florence to grow uI
into a sweet, womanly womanhood
dainty and nice as a woman should be
in her personal habits, but with that
charity for other peoples habits which
shall teach her tact in dealing with
them. Don't cry, dear child; but go tC
sleep, and take this thought to wake W
with-no one has the right to make
good disagreeable. If we love thins
and believe it to be right we should
so live as to make others love it too"
Florence never forgot this talk will
her mother. 1t gave her new poin
of view. 1t did not make her differen
from what she used to be all at once
but the little germ was set to growing
and in time it became strong plant
Florence now keeps house for John
who is still unmarried. She looks like
a happy girl, and is more attractive
than she used to be, because not Sc
primly regular; and it is long tim
since any one called her Fussy."-
'Susan Coolidge, IN Sunday-School Times