Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-06-03

Eilas stoutIy MAINTAINING COM
posure. although her pretsz lace had
turned pink all over. Mild
may won't care when i eompre-
hends it all. Willis Is ssnsible
man.
Come in, Mr.. Smart-coze6 in. Mr..
Mildmay.' said Mrs. Smart You're
half an hour late. Ebensz Ella
and I could not imagine WI had be-
come Of you
4 hope I'm rot inhudiag said Mr..
Mildmay. looking at Ella If one
glance at her rosy face We all the
dinner he wanted.
oh. not in the.leastl T y led Mrs.
Smart. 'PEay st aowu. Ne have
but a plain dinner to-day. but it is all
that my housekeeping allowance would
admit
No apologies, my dear. said Dea-
cen Smart-'no apologies. Hunger
is the best sauce, as we all know
Thereupon, they all seated them.
selves at the table, and the deacon
whisked off the big platter covers
with countenance Of expectation.
'Hullor said the deacon.
There upon the centre platter lay
the eighteen green papers ofpins. At
the right and left, on smaller platters,
were arranged the cards of porcelain
buttons, and the rolls of tape and the
shoestrings, while the bottles of ma
chine oil and packages of stove-black-
ing were arranged like a child's block
house on a side table, beneath white
napkin, by way of dessert.
Ella burst out laughing. Mrs.
Smart joined in. Willie Mildmay
spurred on by the infectious sound,
laughed too, although he had not the
least idea what he was laughing at.
The deacon stared as if he had sud-
denly become all eyes.
'Juliana, he said, what is the mean
ing Of all this?'
1T means, Ebenezer, that you have
spent my housekeeping money for
peddlers cheap wares, and that Ella
and determined to serve them up to
you for dinner. And what you don't
eat we are going to burn; and hence
forward, whatever is bo.ea-.-a--.-'
to be of good quality, or | won't have
it in the house And il you give me
money for housekeeping it isn't fair
for you to spend it buying articles
which no one can user
Certainly it isn't = said Ella coming
valiantly to the rescue.
The deacons under jaw dropped ;
he had half mind to be angry, but
he thought better of it, and broke into
a low chuckle.
Mr.. Mildmay,' he said, turning to
the young man, be warned in time
You see what tricks women folks will
always be up to-
But Mr.. Mildmay, who had some
how or other got hold of Elias hand
under the folds of the tablecloth, did
not seem to heed these words of wis
dom as deeply as he should have done
under the circumstances.
Ladies' he said, there's bushel oI
oysters ont in the wagon, that l was
taking home. II you will build up q
good fire we'll have roast, and III
be head cook. / suppose you've go'
plenty of good bread and butter?'
Yes, and nice hot coffee, said Mrs
Smart. Make haste, Ella, and starr
the fire to a blaze, and we will stimu
late it little With machine oil anC
pins
The deacon sat by and made NJ
demur. He only laughed in sheep
ish, silent sort of way.
And they dined off hot -oast oysters
bread and butter and coffee. Towar'
the close Of the repast a stout, itiner
ant vender with basket on his arm
tapped on the door.
i hope I see your honor well ?
said he, with a regular professiona
whine. Will 'ee buy something to
day? Pins, needles, shoe-laces, hai
pins, or q little.
But Deacon Smart shut the door il
the midst of his only oration.
MOI he said.
And that monosyllable sealed Mr.:
Smart's triumph for good and all.
sA- Here are couple of the ihort
est letters on record. An Es.ster