The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-03-25
INTERESTING STORY.
SYLVIA'S SKATES,

against we got chance of a good husband.
We never went skating, or rushed about
playing lawn-tennis. If we had any leisure
limo after the cows were MIXED, and the
butter and cheese looked after, and the
Homework done up, wo learned to use our
needless
But don't see any chances of good
husband for me, Mrs. Gerard" said Sylvia,
saucily. There are only two single men
in Bustleboro, and one is the Methodist
minister, who is sixty-odd, and the other is
old Jack Dodd, Who hasn't got his full wits,
and has to be watched by his little nieces
and nephews.n
+" Who knows what may happen ?" said
the old lady, oracularly.
wish my Cousin Chester would come
home" sighed Sylvia, leaning her plump
white chin on one hand, as she stared Out
over the wintry landscape. "Perhaps,'
and her eyes sparkled mischievously, che
might fall in love with mel"
Mrs. Gerard bristled all over at this au-
dacious suggestion.
Fall in love with you, indeed !" said
she. "Why, you are the last person in
the world l would consent to his marry
ing |"
Sylvia's countenance fell she redden.d
to the very roots of her hair.
She had been only in sport when she ut
tured her words, but Mrs. Gerard had evil
IDENTIFY accepted them in good faith.
why not ?" the girl asked
Folks can't skate through life" said
Mrs. Gerard, satirically. "Nor get cookery
receipts out Of novel-books nor mend
stockings with your fine Kensington stitches
l want Chester's wife to be real helpmete
to him, not milestone slung around his
neck"
Well, you need not be alarmed" said
Sylvia, flushed with unspoken resentment
-" Rest assured, Mrs. Gerard, shall never
marry your son !"
"Then we'll both BIO satisfied" said the
old lady, philosophically land now you'd
better 60 and get those rolls of calico, and
we'll pick out some pieces for q patchwork
quilt"
Sylvia glanced out ut the diamond bright
ness of the snow-covered fields and wales.
oh, Mrs. Gerard" said she, the pond
by Duton's Mill is crowded with skaters,
and the ice is perfect. and was longing tc
go there this afternoon !"
"Horrid old woman !" thought poor
Sylvia ready to cry. But at least, she
hasn't absolutely forbidden me. And the
icei like glass, and have been shut in the
house for three days, chopping sausage
meat and darning pillow-cases. Oh, I
must have one more skate, if die for it !"
Sylvia Seton was Mrs. Gerard's second
cousin, who, deprived of her sole remaining
parent by death, had come to live with her.
She was not altogether dependent on her
relation-in fact, she had hundred dollars
year of her own.
Enough" said Mrs. Gerard, "to clothe
you nicely and pay all your little odd ex-
penses; and you can earn your board and
lodging by helping me around the house
and be O lot of company for me in the bar
gain. Bustleboro's an awful lonesome
place, and there's days and days when me
and the cat sits and looks at each other all
day long without soul crossing the thresh-
DID,"
Mrs. Gerard was kind-hearted old lady,
full of generous impulses. Sylvia was af-
fectionate and clinging in her nature, and
yet the two women somehow did not agree.
Mrs Gerard adhered steadfastly to the
traditions Of q past generation. Sylvia
had grown up according to newer lights,
and both of them were to certain degree
right.
"Good-by!" said she, kindly. Don't
fret. will assuredly bring the doctor back
with me-"
She rushed down tho steep, wooded bank
toward tho steely glitter of the river; and,
Eve minutes afterward, Mrs. Gerard, look
ing from her window, saw the light straight
figure, Swimming swiftly along, more like
the arrowy dart of bird than the motion
of human being, until it was lost IN the
approaching shadows of dusk.
"What would have become of me now"
she thought, "if Sylvia had not learned to
skate |"
Of all creatures in the world, Mrs Gerard
most loved and worshiped her son Chester,
who was in charge of q telegraph station at
o thriving young town some ten or twelve
miles away, and Sylvia was fast teaching
herself to dislike this paragon cousin of
hers, although she had never seen him but
once or twice.
She was thinking not very pleasantly about
these things as she ran up stairs to get her
skates. Presently she came down again.
Mrs. Gerard" said she, az can't find
my skates. Have you seen them 20
" Where should see your skates ?" said
Mrs. Gerard, Grossly, as she stopped to pick
up the brass-headed poker and return it to
its place by the fender. "Do you think !
want to wear 'em?"
but it was no more satisfactory than the
first had been. She sought high and low,
but still without effect.
~ am sure 1 left them right here under
the light-table," said she to herself. "And
now they are gone-my beautiful, new
skates"
But she was not disposed entirely to
abandon her hopes for little fresh dir,
even though her prospects of skating were
gone. She put on her scarlet hood and
cape, shedding few quiet tears as she did
30, and went out for walk in the white
silence of the March woods.
Nature may justly be termed tie arch
CONSIDER, and Sylvia had been out but q
short time when the sunshine and the crisp,
cold breezes Gained the fever of her rebel
lious heart as with the touch of a cooling
hand. She watched the sunset redden over
the forests she beheld, from her vantage
ground ON the mountain-side, the skaters
disappear, one by one, from Duton's Pond |;
she felt, rather than saw, the hush of the
coming twilight, through which, here and
shere, the silver point of star twinklsd
put, and she sang softly to herself as she
came back to the farmhouse.
Mrs. Gerard, very pale, met her at the
door.
"Oh, Sylvia I" she cried. Where have
you been9 Thought You would never be
back! Chester is here-my poor, poor