, 1885-11-01
THE AUCTION SALE.

y RAR ttRA ~ 'Ihf'@ $50
rolled up and tied around it's stick by n
hemp string. lay ust inside the door
yard. when Mrs Crigson came in with
The last pail Of water that she should ever
diaw from the old we'll She sighed as
she filed the squat copper kettle and
hung ii over the ire.
The auction sale is 10 be tomorrow. =
said she. and never was so glad Of
anything in ali my born days. Sech a
time as I've had %cleanin' up and scrubbin'
down and scourin' and polishin' There
ain I II bono IN my body but aches. -
Its all timeand trouble thrown away.
sepulchrally oh eryed Miss ketchum,
who had dropped in IN her way from the
store. ~the old traps won't sell for six
euce apiece You see IL they do
but the things amt no use to me
sad Mrs Grigson, "and ! need a little
money 50 awful bad As for the poor
luck / We had, right straight through,
there amt no calculatin' It. IF ! was to
tell you, Martha Ketchum. you wouldn't
believe II Even down to my last gold
dollari'
~Eh9n said Miss Ketchum. Being of a
melancholy turn. she liked 10 hear sad re-
ciia's although personally her %sympathies
we're enlisted on the Widow Grigson side.
WHY, IL was last week. " said Mrs.
%rigson. in the level complaining tone
Mu Always Iflnlhutu you u tlc liAtic
brook down In the hollow, Brother Ly
man left his little Brazil monkey here
overnight lie was a calculatin' 10 sell il
- Mrs. Gartney's little boy. John Henry.
And ef you'll believe me. the mis'abl
criiter swallered the gold dollar I'd left on
my bureau 10 pay the meat peddler with,
and dropped my silver specs down the
well =
La" said Miss Ketchum.
~ seen him champin' 1t between his
laws. " said Mrs. Grigson. and shake and
squeeze him as | would. | couldn't get II
out of him. "
"Well. | never did" remarked the
guest
at did seem as II that was the last
straw that broke the camel's back, ~
sighed Mrs Grigson. Brother Lyman
he was dreadful consarned about II. but
he couldn't do nothin' for me. He offered
to kill the monkey. but | knowed how
disappointed John Henry CARNEY would
be. aud. after all, the critter had only
acted accordin to his natur' and they was
to pay Brother Lyman n 81. so for him.
As for the specs. Brother Lyman fished
en- up with a long pole with a crooked
bin hilched on 10 the end ont. The
glasses was broke, but the frames is good
yet I'm calkilatin' to get EN- mended
when"
Wonder how much the feather beds
n 90 for said Miss ketchum. breaking
in on The monotonous refrain.
There amt no tcllin y said Mrs. Orig
sou. They're dreadful old. Aunt Nit
table she'd KEEP house for forty year. and
never had nothin' new. | don't s'pose an
auction sale will pay. but what else could
do with all the old dudsY Squire Dag
gclt wants possession OF the place at once,
and"
Amt gwine to sell these ere house
plants, be yer said Miss kctchum. nod
ding toward a green painted stand In the
corner.
"Brother Lyman thought they might
fetch q few cents, - said Mrs Grigson-
"And the stand ought to be worth a quar-
ter Of n dollar, 1t had n new coat Of
paint a year ago. ] give one .l'rusalem
cherry tree 10 Abigail Barton for helpin
me to clean out Old cupboards. She's
been dreadful neighborly. and she
wouldn't take a penny for what she did. y
"More fool she. - CURLY observed Miss
ketchum I'D like that thar monthly
rose with the striped blooms on it.
at is pretty. - said Mrs. Grigson, ignor-
ing the bread hint And | guess it'll
sell cheap I'd like some friend to hey
1t, for the slip 1t growed from was give
me by Grigson the very first year we was
married.
And as she was not invited to stay 10
tea. Miss Ketchum ut last went AWAY.
leaving Mrs. Grigson sitting s%orrowfully
before the fire Of discarded barrel slaves.
ruinous Tacking boxes, ancient chair legs.
and wooden stools which had absolutely
refused TO be made capable Of further
service. "Aunt Mittable which name
was II pcryersion Of the good old
New England prpnomen Mehitablc
had been all the mother she
had known. and 1t seemed lonesome
enough 10 be sitting there in the empty
house with Aunt Mittabie tucked away in
a corner of the frozen church yard. Her
husband was dead. aud her three little
children were struggling up in the world
as best they could she had had a posi-
ton rs ~janiiress in a public school. but
she had lost II when she came to Mullen
farm to nurse Aunt Mittable in her last
illness and now she scarcely knew which
way to turn. Brother Lyman. her only
living relative. was poorer than herself
a good-heartcd. empty pocketed man,
vessel which piled between Boston and
the Azores Islands. There was n mort.
gage on the place which had swallowed
up all aspirations In the direction Of sell
ing IL. and Mrs. Grigson family hoped
that the auction sale might help to pay
the expenses of her old aunts burial.
Otherwise she did not, TO use her W eX.
preston. "see her way clear.
Mrs Grigson was not a sentimentalist
A i%nnitress Ia a public school building
with forehnger roughened by the coarsesi
needle work. and mind narrowed down
by the daily tread mill of the most grow
cling cares. has not much time for that
sort Of indulgence. but as she sat there.
drinking an infusion Of the weakest tea.
aud watching The yellow March moon
light lay the perfect pattern of the uncur.
iaincd window on the tarpetlcss floor,
while the barrel slaves smouldered int
carmine. tinted ashes. she could but re-
member the days when she had hoped fol
such different life.
3" was n gal then. thought Mrs
Grirson. 1t didn't seem ms II there wa
ANYTHING impossible Well, well. | spos,
most folks are disapp'inted jest as bad "a
| he. ef they live long enough
And then the poor widow went TO bee
TO keep warm aud all night long Tia,
yellow moonlight flooded the solitary
room where Aunt Mittable had died. ant
a solitary cricket ssag on the hearth stoni
where the red ashes had long since fadeC
into white dust
T.,
The morrow dawned wild. bright an,
windy. as March mornings often coml
rushing over the black Connecticut hill
orests The auctioneer arrived in a one
horse buggy from the village, the neigh
borr assembled from ali points Of TN
compass For in Feltville -Four Corner
people entertained the same sentimei
toward an auction sale sa New orkei
feel toward a private view Of the sGsdem,
Of design. or a Hover show at the MAdi
coLc IN HoRsEs.- Chamberlain