Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-08-05

mothers big desk was opened and she
sat writing busily, covering sheet after
sheet OF blue foolscap with the funny
twisted black letters that Freda knew
so well. By and-by that foolscap will
oe made INTO roll or fat letter. and
1t Will be sent to the post office and
sent to London. Sometimes the pack
age comes back again, and then her
mother looks disappointed and sad:
sometimes 1t remains, and small let
yer arrives instead, with only few
words i'll it. Then Mrs. Leslie smiles.
and seems bright and happy. When
the small letter appears, present-a
pleture-book. a tiny doll, or a paper of
usually turns up for Freda
Consequently she feels she has a vested
interest in the speedy despatch of the
foclscap parcel, and would not do any,
thing 10 retard It's completion.
Her interrupting question this even
ing Is quite an exception, and perhaps
Mrs. Leslie thinks so; perhaps she re-
members that this small grave-eyed.
Soft-yoiced speaker has been alone all
day, save for unlmaginative Bridget s
company, while she herself has been
tramplng up and down muddy lanes
and IN and out of uncongenial houses,
earning daily bread for her child to eat
AT any rate paper and pen are pushed
aside, and long slender fingers wander
caressingly through Freda's tangled
golden hair. while her mother says
What is that you are asking about
fairies, little Freddiep Don't you
know that since the world grew so old
and practical, the fairies have left it
and gone back to fairyland forever?"
But at this Freda shakes her head.
AT any rate, the three bears are
here still!' she answers triumphantly.
Il see their Den every day in my walks
and when ask Bridget if they are the
same bears that are in my story-bOok,
she says, Yes, the very same Fancy
that, motherl Do you think it Is truef''
adds the child anxiously.
Mrs. Leslie smiles. The busy life
she has led since she settled, only
Year ago, In Uppingham has left her no
! leisure TO listen TO and idle tales re-
/ Specting the neighbOrS surrounding her;
and Indeed she is ignorant even of their
names. with the exception of three or
/ four families she visits daily in the ca
/ pacIty of muslc-mistreSs or French
| governess.
Il am sure, if the three bears do
| live near here, Little Golden Hair is
not far off," she answers, falling into
| the quaint conceit to please the little
one. "Iou should 60 and take peep
in'o their Den, Freda; but don't break
the little bears chair, and be sure not
to fall when you jump out of the win
dow!"
Freda, gravity itself, stoops to pick
up the gaudy picture book lying at her
feet. 1t opens, curiously enough, at
highly colored representation of the re-
nOwned Golden-Hair taking flying
leap from the wide lattice, while the
three bears, in frantic attitudes and
attired in very tight blue-and-green
jackets, lean out in various stages of
anxiety TO watch her.
1.-The Den windows are not like this
one in the PICTURE" the girl observes,
in a criticising tone. "They are hig-
ger and much nearer the ground, am
sure, so that L would not have to jump
far if ran away, which | should not
do unless | found that the bears were 1
going to eat me. Perhaps when / have |
been TO see them," muses. Freda, in |
dreamy tone, and speaking more to |
herself than to her mother, 81 could go I
on farther into the dark wood that lies /
behind their house, and find the Sleep /
ing Beauty and the Dwarf's hut, where |
SnOwwhite lived, and"
And Jack the Giant-KIller, and |
Puss in Boots, and Dame Trot's cat, |
III Ill ho
Mrs. Leslie, as she closes the rosy mouth
with shower of kisses ''Oh, Freda,
what delicions little piece of simple
ity you are, and how idle you would
make NE if had time to stay and lis
ten to your idle fanciesl l had just
such, though, when | was your age"
adds the fond mother, with smile and
a sigh,
Tell NE about it" pleads Freda, as
she nestles against her mothers knee
while the autumn wind sighs without,
and freight and lamp light CLEAN soft
ly on the two figures, 50 pathetic in
their clInging attitude, their tender
grace. ''Tell me of the Old French gar
den where you used to gather herbs for
the soup, and of grandpapa's gray dom
KEY that carried Marie TO market, AMI
about the church, and the great yellow
cat, and the funny white cottage with
real grapes on it, where you lived when
you was child like me. Mother"
continues Freda sitting up with sudden
energy, II cannot think why you ever
left grandpapa to marry father. Will
never leave yOu-never-- to be mar
ried TO anybOdyP' II
Large tears rise quickly in Mrs. Les
lies gray eyes. As the child speaks,
the home of her early days, so often
described to Freda, stands out, distinct
as any photograph, III the mothers
picture never to be effaced
the queer remote French watering
place, inaccessible then save by hours {
of tedious mountain travel, where her
father held an English chaplaincy for
many years, an appointment that suit ;
ed his feeble health and slender means;
she recalls her own motherieSs yet most ;
happy childhood, that seemed one end /
less round of sunny days and moonlIt ;
nights, the joyous girlhoo6 that sue (
ceeded il, and then the sudden crush ,
ing blow, the unexpected disappoint-
ment that shattered all her early hopes,
CdtlSlllR " bC No Ay 49, /
afterwards when her friends pressed
on her an ill-assorted and hasty mar
riage. a marriage that turned out worse ,
than i'll, embitterinC her whole existence {
till death stepped in, after six weary |
years, and mercifully dissolved the {
union.
The loss of her father during her .
first year of wldowhood left Mrs. Leslie
utterly alone in the world, dependent {
almost entirely on her own eXertlons /
for the support of herself and Fredda. &
A chance advertisement for daily
yoverness led to her establishing her ,
elf at Uppingham; and, once there,
her indomitable energy caused her 10 ,
cave no stone unturned in her efforts
% keep the wolf from the door of the ,
little home that sheltered her child. !
During the day she taught lndefatiga- |
,Iv music French. drawing, painting ;