The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1888-01-26
MISS Becky HOME

dies Home Al last ~ was %e0f's N''
ha, there ws~ noihing else for ber TO do.
Il seemed. Who wonld think q ohcring
sny other honse 10 q poor. almost helpless
old soman, who bad ouiIiyed her nseinl
lees Having passed her days 10 oibe'
peoples houses, 10 10 speak, che might
not mind II 90 much. perhaps, as more
ioriuna,c bring
Yes. she ssii. "iheres vacancy 10
the Old Ladies Iiome, sud the hundred
dolIar. that Pspon Amory left me VIII
pay my way 10. bnt il wouldn't lssi long
Il began 10 spend il, yon know, aud l
shall have warm bed aud my regular
meals without worrying shout where the
neat ones coming from. I'm most tired
worrying about ways aud mesns Seems
as though bad been about II all my me-
ever since father was taken With heart dis
ease hearing the class In algebra Now
that the rheum ltism has got the better OF
me, so that l cant work ia cold weather,
and the doctor says itll draw my hugers
up 40 that cant use them soon,i, doesp I
seem as II there was anything left Tor me
10 this world hu, the Home -snd i ought
to be thankful for that.
Miss Becky bad bad other expectations
10 her heyday, when young Larry Rogers
met her aud carried her basket, when his
strong arm padded her down the broad
river to church on Sunday mornings;
when they sang together in the choir from
the same hymn book; when they bad loi
tered homewa in the fragrant summer
dusk, and heard the whip poor will com
plain aud startled the firefles in the hedg
es as they brushed by. 1t sometimes
seemed TO Miss Becky as il oil this had
happened in another planet She was
Young then, with bloom on her cheek;
but, although the rheumatism had bent
her figure and rendered her more or less
hopeless at times. yet her dark, velyety
eyes looked out like soft stars, and the
ghost Of dimple still fickered on her
cheek and chin in spite Of her GO odd
years Miss Becky's father had been the
district school teacher IL those far-of days
of her grlhood He had taught her the
simpl lore at his command, but it was
Larry Rogers who had taught her music
hour after hour in the empty school
house; they had practiced together while
be wrote the score on the blackboard.
But all this had not sufliced to enable
her TO earn o livlihood, Her education'
musical and otherwise, had stopped short
OF any commercial value. In those days
she never expected to earn her living by
the sweat OF her brow. Larry was going
to give her everything. How trivial the
little quarrel seemed to-day which circum'
vented this final resolve Of his But what
magnitude it had assumed at the time
On his return from trip to neighborlng
city, some busybody had whispered to
Larry that Miss Becky had been seen
driving with Squire Eustis' son Sam be :
hind his trotters. Sam was just home
from college, a harum scarum fellow,
they said, who made love right and left
and gambled bit; aud when Larry had
reproached her with it she had not de
nied she had simply said: "What then
II you choose to listen to gossip rather
than wait till you ="
"But you didn't tell one. and I've been
here a week.
II had forgotten all about it till you
reminded me, said Becky.
''It's such an everyday affair for you to
drive with Sam Eustis (which incred-
uIity SO stupg Becky that she would not
condescend to explain that she had car
ried some needlework up to Squire Eustis
that she had been doing for his wife, and
that as she left to walk home Sam was
just starting off with bis smart chaise and
new dapple grsys, and the squire had
said Take Miss Becky home, Sam, and
show her their paces;" and how she had
been ashamed to refuse their kindness,
although preierring to walk thousand
times; and how, once in the chase, Sam
had been tue very pink Of courtesy, and
begged her to drive over with bin to Par.
son Amory's, three miles ont OF her way,
"that Lucy Amory may see you don't dis
dain my company. For yon see, said
Sam, who wss not as black as he was
painted, or as many liked to suppose,
Lucy can make me what she will: with
out her | shall be nothing and nobody
bat they've told her all kinds Of wild
things about me; they've told her that
she might as well Jump into the river as
10 marry such a scapegrace. Aud, per
haps, II make her q little jealous you
know there's no harm in that Ais fair
in love; and, perhaps, II the old folks see
me driving about with Becky Thorne my
stock may go up, aud | may be saved
from the burning. as Parso1 Amory says.
And Becky had consented. How could
she refuse TO DO service for such true
lover So slight thing too! She had
often trayersed the same road since on
foot, on her daily rounds Of toll or mercy.
sam Eustis hal married Lucy Amory
years ago, and was the foremost man il
the county to day. Strange how that
friendly drive had iBterfered With Mis-,
Becky's prospects; how the simple fact o
carrying home Nn Ensiis needleSori
should hsye determined ber fate aud de
voted her 10 life Of hardship and tbs
Ola Ladies Home at the end Talk o
tn1es ! Poor Miss Becky She remem
bered that once or tsiee the opportunity
hal offered when che might have made i
up With Larry, bat pride.or hne reserve
bad locked her lips Larry ought 4