The Portland daily press., 1888-11-24
NEW NEIcHRoRs.
BY SARA oRNE JEwETT.


[Once Week.
The Peltons were newcomers to that part
Of the country, who had bought large
farm and good farmhouse, and had paid for
them when the deeds were passd. This was
not without an effect, for they were received
into the best rural society with every posi-
BILE honor. They made improvements in
their house. and were also generous In
church matters, and willing at once to take
part In town affairs. Everybody thought it
was great satisfaction to have so consider
able an addition to the neig;borhood.
There was no mystery about these pleas
ant, well-to-do people. John Pelton had
been raised on a good farm, and always
meant to have one Of his own before he died.
He had been In the lumber business in Fox
bridge. the nearest large town, and had done
we'll, though he was not so rich as If he had
kept to his business longer. One of the
daughters complained that the farm was
dull, but her brother and sister entered most
heartily into their farmers life.
When they first came to the farm, bag and
baggage, Miss Tamsen Spencer was on the
spot to welcome them, and to lend helping
hand about unpacking the bedding and get
ting supper. She had brought basket of
donghnuts and an apple pie, and before they
knewst the teapot was on the stove and
generous supper table spread by her quick
hand. The Peltons had been delayed in
leaving Foxbridge, and were fretted and un-
easy, but the neighborly act Of Miss Tamsen
Spencer restored their serenity.
1t was very late In October when they
came to the farm, and by Thanksgiving
Tamsen had become so intimate and indis-
pensable a friend that she was hidden to
dine with the Pelton household. She had
sighed over her brothers absence and her
own lonely feelings when the time for family
reunions came round. and her new friends
were glad to show their friendliness The
Invitation was eagerly expected. and was
accepted after proper consideration.
AS time went on, Miss Tamsen's informa-
. tiop, not to say gossip, about their townsfolk
was much relied upon. There seer. ed to be
nobody whose inmost secrets were not
known to her, and she reposed the greatest
confidence in the Peltons, by apparently
telling them everything she had stored away
In her busy brain,
John Pelton, who was shrewd man, did
not altogether UNFOLD his womenfolk in such
excessive intimacy. but after Tamsen applied
herself deyotedly to curing him of bad
attack of rheumatism, he began to think that
she was garrulous but harmless, and ceased
to warn his, wife of trusting overmuch to
such hungry ears .and glib tongue. The
amiable Tamsen rarely did great mischief !;
she had only a storyteller's art of romancing
little and setting forth the barest facts in
an interesting way. II she had indeed been
malicious, she might have prejudiced the
simple hearted newcomers against half the
town.
But the long Vermont winter wore away,
and by spring the Peltons had other friends,
thanks to their attendance upon cheerful
succession of parish gatherings. Tamsen
Spencer was no longer their only guide, phil
osUpher and friend, and she was little jeal-
ous because Others were taking her place.
The young people made friends easily, and
Tamsen began TO watch them and to grow
curious about them. She was almost as well
contented with her secrets and mysteries,
and intense delight in finding out all sorts of
things without asking questions, as she had
betR In the days when she had closer aii-
ance with the household.
In her own home, her only companion was
an industrious deaf and dumb brother little
older than herself, who managed their five
or six acres of land alone in summer and
worked at shoemaking in the winter. He
was most unsatisfactory companion fol
such a sister. She was too impatient by
nature to spend much time In conversing
with him hV M ba Iiffla cla 20 NH iab
he. carried in his pocket, and poor Jotham
was solitary soul. His sole recreation was
In tramping off by himself once or twice a
year, nobody, not even Tamsen, knew exactly
where; but from time to time he visited a
cousin who lived about fifteen miles away
andonce, after he had been gone a longer time
than usual, he proudly reported that he hat
been as far as Boston. When his sister reat
the startling word Boston ON his smooth BIZ
OF slate she hastened to ask Indignantly why
he had not given her chance to share the
great delight lothian shook his head
knowingly. as II to go alone were best.
There was something pathetic in the way
that Tamsen loved society, and in her mis-
used but really delightful gift Of story tell.
ing. To be sure she often talked too lone
about little things and was wearisome, but
that was only misuse of what might have
been a charming gift with little more tact
that comes from cultivation and larger
mindedness. With all her faults, she had
made far more of her opportunities than
most of the Delford people. OF all the won
en- In Delford she would have NEST quickly
made herself harmonious with strangers OF
with cosmopolitan society, and while it was
often said that she talked too much, almost
everybody was glad to see the cheeful enter
tanning creature coming. She even had the
tact to conceal her curiosity, and it never
would occur to you while she told you de.
licious tale Of your neighbor's affairs, thai
her innocent-looking quick gray eyes were
seeing everything within the four walls o.
your kitchen.
Forgive this lingering description of Mis-,
Tansen Spencer's characteristics, for th,
story Of one Of her adventures would coun
for nothing without it. You must under
stand how solemn she could be at funeral
and how gay at wedding; that nobody
could talk so ably with the minister upor
almost any subject, or understood the prac
tice Of medicine from either the old or the
young doctors point of view so well as this
same Tansen. She was intimate with hall
dozen families, and had a morbid fear
though she had so much to say about Other
people, that other people should find out any
thing about her own affairs. She was a,
secretive and accumulative as an old crow
She could not bear to be questioned; indeed
she rarely gave anyone chance.
There was not woman in Delford will
such proper pride or almost improper self
respect.
'pve got plans that have waited thes,
forty years for the right time to be suitabl,
carried out" announced our heroine one da,
70 Mrs. Pelton. II do maintain that IL 20,
keep a-wishing. you wish things round al
you want 'em."
"Pd like to think S." answered good Mrs
Pelton. doubtfully. She was beating egg
for her famous sponge cake, and Tamsen sal
by the window in the sun.
'"Tis So" said Tamsen, decidedly "Nov
there was curious instance last week.
saw a pattern of pretty light calico 27 year
ago this spring, and set my heart on some
1t for dress; a pink sprig it had and
polka spot. sent for ten yards of 1t, ant
twas all gone, and couldn't find nothin' /,
suit me for long SPELL An last week
found out by watchin' of him that brothe
lothian calculated to go over to old Tame