The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1885-06-25
An EyENTFUL day.

jamie tied the last puce- colored tulip
to its stake and Strengthened herself
up.
1--WE must have the roof mended,"
said she.
"Who is to do ?" sighed Mrs. Barr.
"And if Mrs. Lepell goes away what
shall we do about the interest on your
fathers old note?''
"She won't 60 away, mother, never
fear" said jamie, brightly. Don't
fret. You'll see that things will come
right" .
But the shingles must be fixed right
away" said Mrs. Barr.
"They shall be fixed, mother" said
jamie.
"Who will do it," impatiently re-
peated the widow.
Il will! said jamie.
"Thats all nonsensew groaned Mrs,
Barr.
But jamie had mover been more seri-
iouslv in earnest in all her life.
Mrs. Barr went to the parish sewing
society that afternoon.
. Colonel Addison, from the Valley
hotel, who was paving his addresses to
Mrs. Lepell, the boarder, came with a
spirited horse and buggy to take her
to the sea beach.
Now is my time," said jamie exult-
antly, to herself.
But Mrs, Lepell came back before
she had got twenty five yards away from
the house.
JAMIE" she said, II forgot to tell
you that left my three diamond rings
in the little left hand drawer of the
bureau. L might lose them in the
water. L thong bit [ would tell you in
case OF fire, you know, or any other ac-
cident."
yes" said jamie; but there won't be
an accident"
Mrs. Lepell laughed, aud ran back
TO the carriage and the impatient col
onel.
And not until then did jamie perceive
that tall half-grown lad. lurking be-
hind the porch rails; was waiting to
speak with her:
"Who are you?" said jamie, briskly.
"What do you want? No we haven't
any old clothes. If you really. want
work you had better &c 0r 70 The new
buildings. about mile up the road.
dare say they can find something for
you to do there"
The lad mumbled out something,
whether thanks Or otherwise. jamie
could not discriminate; and Shifted
away: And our heroine; slipping on
her hat and boiling the front door, ran
across the back meadows to Ralph Par
sons carpenter shop, some quarter of a
mile by the wood path.
II want few shingles" said she,
"and a pound of single nails"
"What for?" said Ralph.
"No matter" calmly retorted jamie.
She nodded good-by and hurried
away under the canopy of pink apple
blossoms.
Ralph looked admiringly after her:
=, She's a, regular clipper, Of q girl;
that jamie Bari" said he, IF ever I'm
able to support a wife that will be the
one I'd choose"
Light as thistledown, jamie hurried
back with her precious bundle of shin
giles, and the pound of nails in her pock-
ct.
"Now I'll show him whether I can
mend the roof or not" said she, as
with hammer added to her stock in
trade, assembled to the garnet and climb
ed an old little ladder that led out
through rusty trap door to the steep
roof.
The slant was abrupt, the old shin
giles were wet with the recent rain, and
slippery with green moss incrustations,
but jamie Barr was not one lightly to
be discouraged, and presently she found
herself neatly balanced, with her feet
braced against the broad gutter, one ell.
bow leaning on the roof, and the other
hand busily tearing away the old shin
giles and replacing them deftly with
overlapping rows of new, fragrant
wood.
The click of the hammer, the ring
of the nails was like music in her ears.
Suddenly, however, as she sat perched
like squirrel on the slantlng roof, the
sound of voices struck on her ear. She
paused to listen.
"Three diamond ringsl heard her
say so herself. In the left hand draw
er of some bureau" said the same &C.
cents which half an hour ago had asked
her for charity. "And no one but a
woman in the house."
''Sure of that, ?" said deeper voice.
Eyes, plum sure, was the answer.
"And l wouldn't wonder If there were
other things for the picking up"
Come on, then,' said the other one !;
''and step lively. We can't stand here
jawing all day. The door is bolted, is
it? Wait a minute; I've got little
Joker here as would start any staples
this side of Denver"
jamie had listened in breathless hor-
ror. In an instant, as it we're, she COM
pretended the full danger that men
aced Mrs. Lepell's treasured gems-the
three diamond rings that the boarder
had once told her were worth thousands
of dollars. And here she was alone
and helpless.
Rurriedly she turned over the crisis
in her mind. If she were to re-enter
the house by the same way in which she
had left it, she must certainly meet the
ruffians. and any resistance which she
could offer would be speedily overpow-
cred.
jamie Barr was not one to hesitate
long. While the thoughts yet careered
through her brain, she sprang from the
caves into the blooming boughs of the
great cherry tree which grew so closs
to the house that its branches scraped
the roof on windy March days.
It was hazardous thing for any one
to do who was not swift OF limb and
accurate Ct eye; but jamie alighted,
like a cat, in the fork of the tree, climb
ed lightly down until she reached its
lower bough and thence leaped breath
lessly TO the ground. springing swiftly
across the meadows to Ralph Parsons
carpenter shop.
Jamie, what it it?"
Ralph Parsons himself rose up out Of