Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1886-09-30
Eunice's sPensiOn-MOney.

pesky hens hain't laid six eggs y ex.
claimed Mrs. Martin, entering the
kitchen door which led 10 the shed.
I've ood mind to wiring every one
o. their necks, an then get some o.
Mis- Eben Morse's chickens {; hern air
always master-ha to lay. Guess
you'll hev to 90 down to the store an
git me dozen o. eggs we've got none
but these, an they won't make no kind
of q cake
I'D better stop ut the postoflice too,
hadn't =? The mail must n come in
by now,' replied Eunice Hillyer, Mrs.
Martins hired girl, and second cousin
also.
In this part Of our land, servants, so
called, were unknown !; il farmers
wife coul not do all her own work,
some neighbours daughter was hired TO
help her but though SHE bargained
for u weekly stipend. she did not there.
by lose caste she ate with the family
who employed her. entered into all
their plans and amusements, and not
seldom married the farmers son or
brot her.
Yes, l would if l was you. Mebbe
you'll git that pension % yourn,' said
Mrs. Martin, laughngly. If so be's
you're ever to get it, that is
Julia Perkins was waitin' three
years, but hers come ut last
That's SO. Well, patient waitin',
no losin',' the ssyin' is. An, oh. Eu.
nice, as you come home' spos'n you
pick some of those round woodberries
they'd look kind o. nice on the parlor
mantel-shelf.'
After brief absence Eunice came
back, without any letters, but with the
eggs and huge bunch of the brilliant
scarlet berries of the rowan-tree, which
Mrs. Martin and her neighbors called
round woodberries.' AS she handed
the latter to Mrs. Martin, she said i:
DO you remember that big, squatty
blue vase in the attic 3? I mean the
one Uncle Joe brought home from
Chiny and Civ to mother, the very last
voyage before he was wrecked. | seen
one something like it, only not near so
handsome when | was down 10 Au.
gusty last week a neighbor o. Mis-
Parker's had it settin' on her hearth,
full of flowers. Spos'n l git mine to
put these berries in p
Il would. But what a creetur you
be fur idees, Eunice ! Now I'd meyer
a took notice of such thing.
So Eunice went up to the attic and
presently returned with large and yal-
liable china jar which her mother had,
for many years, used as sort of catch.
all. When, after Mrs. Hillyer'S death,
the little house and all its furniture
were sold to pay the funeral expenses,
doctor bill, etc., this jar was put aside
for Eunice among the few things she
might keep for herself, because iJ was
old and useless, saye As memento OF
former days.
The Hiilyers were once in comforta-
BILE circumstances, but when Eunice's
father died. his widow sold the farm
lands because there was no one to at.
tend to them.
Basil, the only son, had no taste for
farming he preferred to work in one
of the many sawmills near Bangor, and
was dong well when the war broke
ont. lie had always given liberal
share Of his wages to his mother, and
when, shortly after he enlisted 10 the
army, he received commission as Sec
ond Lieutenant, his pride and Joy were
more on account of the widowed moth
er and little sister at home than for
him self. Twice afterward he was pro-
NOTED, and with increased pay for him.
self there came increased comfort-al-
most luxury, to their simple tastes
for the loved ones. Then, in the aw-
full Wilderness, bullet whizzed
through ihe air, and Captain Basil
Hillyer, after but few seconds of suf-
fering, passed into the better land
and there was mourning in the little
farmhouse where he was born.
And now, beside deep grief, the
trouble of poverty came to Mrs. Hill.
yer and her little daughter. The FORM
er was not strong, and the aid that ten
year-old Eunice could give was slight,
so the two struggled along, hopeless of
better days, until at last news came
to their ears that a soldiers mother, a
dependent upon him during his life
time, was entitled to pension. The
law granting such pension had been in
force before Mrs. Hlllyer heard of it.
and then weary months were consum-
ed in obtaining all the apparently need
less information which the Pension Of
fee insisted upon.
Now and then a fellow-townsman
actually did get pension in one case
a widow Gust preparing to take to her
self second husband) was we'll known
to have got nearly thousand dollars !;