The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-08-25
UNITED.

being an old maid.
She was a pleasant. ~kind-hearted ittl
body, with a fresh. youthful face, tn
cheeriest laugh imaginable and a smil
that won the instant love of everybody.
She had comfortable income, lived il
a cosy cottage, and having nothing els
10 do. was accomplished and charitable
that Is. she painted. sketched, made Graz,
quilts. and crocheted afghans, hammere,
brass plaques, and manufactured all sort
of quaint and wonderful articles Of house
hold adornmeni, and was president o
three or -four charitable societies. and
made a daily round Of visits to the hum
bile homes Of a score Of her pensioners.
People wondered why she had nevei
married, and some 81 her more intimate
friends ventured 10 ask her the question
She always replied with a laugh and
these words, my Willie is off DER the
sea" in such a iaunty, nonchalant tone
that no one really believed that there
was an actual hesh-and-blood Willie over
the seas for whose return the bright.
faced little spinster was waiting pa
tiently.
Visitors to her little cottage noticed a
crayon portrait ofa young and cookbook
ing man, which hung above the mantel
in her cosy psrlor; but they thought il
the picture of some relative, and never
connected him with the mysterious
Willie.
II was in reality the face of Mr.. Will
liam Arnold, and he and Miss Priscilla
Curtis had been lovers when he was a
young man Of twenty and she a girl of
seventeen.
Cruel parents had separated them, and
he had gone away across the seas, where,
it was afterward reported he had married
a titled lady-for his parents were rich,
and at the time of the love-making Miss
Priscilla's surroundings were very hum
Bile.
In a drawer OF her bureau, which she
seldom opened, there was Il bundle of
letters, yellow and faded with age, and a
bunch Of withered ~violeis.
The violet was her ~favorite flower. and
she bad great plots of them in her con-
~seryatory, and they were the device EN-
broidered on all the little articles Of
household Advancement that her skillful
needle had wrought.
She always wore "A bunch of them at
her throat when she went ont, and a
nose-gay of them nestled under her
rounded chin this morning, when, with
an alligator-skin reiicule on her arm, and
acheery smile on her face, she tripped
down the steps of her cottage 10 begin
the daily round of visits among her PEN
sioners.
She was intensely practical in her
charity, and believed in helping only
those who made an effort to help them
selves.
Her first visit this morning was to a
neat little house in a back street. where
lived Alma Zane. sole support of an inva-
lid mother and a half-dozen little broth
ems and sisters.
Alma was seventeen, rather pretty, and
previous to her acquaintance with Miss
Priscilla Curtis had worked in a mill.
where her earnings were just sufficient to
keep a shabby roof above their heads and
put bread-and- butter into the mouths of
her hungry little brothers and sisters.
She had a fair education and a refined
taste.
Miss Curtis helped her to move into
the quiet little house, which was cheaplv
but neatly furnished, aided her to put
warm clothing on the children. and TO
buy a great easy-chair for the invalid
mother.
She taught Alma TO embroider. to
paint pretty little cards, and 10 fashion.
out of cloth, paper, and wax. flowers so
natural that il required no great stretch
of the imagination 10 smell their per
fume.
Alma found ready sale for the product
of her def fingers in the shops, and her
two oldest brothers hawked them from
door 10 door and in the street.
The income thus derived was double
that she had received in the mill. and
enabled the family 10 live very comfort
ably.
Alma had a lover-an honest, steady
young man, who worked the mill which
she had left, and WAS, like her, the sole
support Of a large family.
John Brainerd was shrewd and intelli-
gent, and seemed determined to rise in
the world, although he found it pretty
uphill work.
He studied hard at nights, and had
lately become much interested in con-
structing a model of a little appliance to
be added TO the machinery of a loom,
that would save much labor.
He had shown his drawings Of the
improvement to the mill-owner. and the
latter had promised to give him five
hundred pounds for t~heinvention as soon
as he should perfect il.
"lt's bound 10 be u success he said
confidentially to Alma, "and we can af-
ford TO get married when l get the
money"
Miss Priscilla Curtis had taken much
interest in the young mechanic, and
entered heartily into his plans for the
. future.
When she called upon Alma this
morning she found the young girl in
tears.
what ?" she cried. lifting up the
Eoung girls face. Crying? What's the
matter"
sits about John, Miss Precilla. He
pot caught in the belt at the mill, ano
is arm is broken !" sobbed Alma.
That's too bad :" was Miss Priscilla,
comment. sBut he's stout and healthy
md broken bones soon mend"
yes; but il viii force him to remain
die for several weeks, and all the money
that he's saved up to perfect his inven
bon will be spent"
sOh. think mott said Miss Priscill,
with one of her queer little laughs. q
know a certain young lady who might b,
Sble to help him if she would"
Il thought Of that" said Alma, he
1ace Frightening; but lately the boy
kave not been able 10 do as well as for
merly. have a splendid stock of rose
and tulips, and pondlilies ON hand, bu