Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-08-21
Doubt that the stars are arc.
Doubt that the SIM doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar,
k%i4E INT nayar dn1,ht louo ,, !- q:

DsnOt truth TO be a liar, -, "a
But never doubt love"
Aunt Milly laughed GAS both these
astronomical facts are rather question
able, you must excuse my doubling the
final fact also. But time will show.
Meanwhile, do not despair: be careful
Of the little you have left, Matters
| might have been worse with YOU"
"Ah, Aunt Milly, what cheerful
heart you have! But trouble does not
come to you as it does to other people"
you are a little mistaken for once,
Godfrey. By Sharpless' failure have
lost every farthing I had in the world"
I was struck dumb with surprise and
regret. Poor aunt Milly when she was
listening to my lamentations and con-
soling me, how little didT know that
she was still more unfortunate than N.Y.
| self And yet she neither complained
nor responded, but only snliled--a lit
| tie sadly, perhaps. and said she knew
| even this disaster was all for the best,
/ though she could not see it at the time
She calmly made preparations for quit
ting her pretty home, coniiding her
little handmade to one cousin
in whose kitchen tho tidy Rachel
| was gladly admitted, gave her few
! household pets to another, and prepared
| to brave the wide world. Some unfeel-
ing people forgot aunt Milly in her
trouble; but the greater part Of her
| friendly circle proved how much they
esteemed and valued her Some asked
her to visit them for a month, three
months, q year; indeed, had she chosen,
aunt Milly might have spent her lite as
q passing guest among her friends; but
she was too proud to do any such thing.
At last third or fourth cousin-:a
widower of large fortune--invited her
to reside at his house as chaperon to his
two daughters, young girls just growing
| up into wonlanhood This proposal,
kindly meant, Was warmly accepted, and
aunt Milly set forward on her long jour
ney, for Elphinstone Hall was some
| hundred miles off--a formidable dis
lance to one Who had never been days
| Journey from her own home, now, alas,
hers no more. Still, neither despond-
ency nor fear troubled her blitho spirit
as little Miss Milly set out with her val
orous nephew; for I had pleaded SO ear
nestly my right to accompany her to
| Elphinstone's door that the concession
was yielded at last.
OF all the gloomy looking = ID avenues
that ever led to the baronial hall, the
one we passed over WAS tho gloomiest.
Poor Aunt Milly shivcroa as the wind
rustlsl in trees and the dead leaves fell
in clouds on the top of the post chaise.
We alighted, and entered hall equally
lugubrious and not much warmer than
the avenue. The solemn old porter was
warming his chilled hands at the tiny
fire; he and the house were in perfect
keeping--dreary, dull and melancholy!
The master WAS very much in the same
stylea tall, black figure, with q long
face and a white neckloth, was the per-
sonifed idea left behind by Mr.. Elphin-
stone. When he was gone, / earnestly
entreated aunt Milly to return with me,
and not stay III this dssolate place, but
she refused.
''My cousin seems kind" she said.
HE looked and spoke as though he was
glad to see me-"
I was too cold to sec or hear much,
but declare I did not notice this
friendly reception.
my dear Godfrey, she continued, II
will stay and try to make home here;
! the two girls may be amiable, and then
I shall soon love them; at all events,
let us hope for the best"
My hopes for aunt NIilly vanished in
to thin air, when, at the frigid dinner
table, where the very eatables seem
made of stone, I saw two young ladies
| of fifteen or thereabouts; one the rudest
hoyden that ever disgraced female ha-
bilnnents, the other pale, stopping
girl with sleepy blue eyes, and lanl,
fair hair, who never uttered aword, nor
once lifted her eyes from the tablecloth.
"What will become of poor aunt Mil
Typ" I thought, internally. Yet,
there she was, rs cheerful rs ever, talk
ing to that solemn old icicle, MIR. Ell
phinstone; listening patiently to the
lava-hood of Miss Louisa's tongue, and
now and then speaking to Miss Euphe-
mia, whose only answer was a nod of
the head, or stare from her immense
blue eyes,
"Wcl1." mentally exclaimed, "annt
Milly's talent for making the best OF
everything will be called into full requ-
| sition here, I suspect"
Nevertheless, when we parted, she
assured me that she was quite content;
that she should, no doubt be very COM
Portable at the hall.
"But these two dreadful girls-how
will you manage them, Aunt AIilly?"
and faint vision Of the tall, stout
Louisa, going in a passion and knock
az
came across my minds eye.
"Poor things! they have no mother
to teach them better. I am sorry for
them I was motherless child myself"
said Aunt AIilly, softly "They will
improve by and by; depend upon it
Godfrey, all will turn out we'll for both
you and me-"
"Amen!' said I in my heart, for I
thought of my own Laura. How diff
ferent she was from the Misses Elphin-
stone! And the image of my own be-
loved eclipsed that Of desolate Aunt
Milly, I fear. before + had travelled
| many miles from the hall.
Aunt Milly's epistles We're not very
frequent, for, like many excellent peo-
pie, she disliked letter writing, and only
indulged her very particular friends
with Jew lines now and then, in which
she fully acted up to the golden rule,
eff you have anything to say. say it; if
nothing-why, say it, too" Thus my
information as to how matters were 60
ing on at Elphinstone Hall
was of a very slender
nature. However, when a few months
rolled bv chance led me- into the neic,h
borhood, and I surprised Aunt Milly
with visit from her loving nephew
It was early in the spring, and few