Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-12-27
A NICE OLD WOMAN. "
BY FLORENCE ALLEN.

1t was a pretty little face which was
all puckered up into such lot OF wor-
ried little wrinkles; pretty in spite OF
the shadow of care in the fair blue
eyes, and the tired drop at the corner
Of the girlish mouth the owner OF
the face and the wrinkles and the blue
eyes and the mouth in question, was a
slight, rather delicate looking girl of
about Is who stood, atired in faded
calico dress, in the doorway Of small
wood colored cottage (or "cabin" as
they more truthfuIly call such edifces
in the mountain9 looking out at the
sunny slope of the road before her.
Two fresh faced smiling girls Of her
own age had just gone by, stopping to
say a pleasant word or two as they
passed; and tho sight of their pretty,
though simple, lawn dresses and float
ing ribbons had brought, as they de-
parted, those worried wrinkles to the
face that should have been as bright al
theirs, and the impatient exclamation
with which our story legins to her
generally uncomplaining lips.
As general thing Phrosy Miller (she
was Euphrosyne by rights, through the
instrumentality Of her father, who had
found the name in his somewhat limited
reading, and had delighted in its long
1arawn sweetness, was very cheerful
eRd 70 4 s.a.s,eEn ... igl.,iae .spRe - Just |
at present. thare was something especial |
upon her mind, and that was the pc
mic.
1t was to be in just four weeks from
today, and all the girls were going; and
she, who had stayed at homs SO much
and SO patiently for the last year, felt a'
though she rea Iy must go, too. But
how! That was the question that brought
the worried little wrinkles to the front
so conspicuousIy. All the girls were
going 10 have new lawn dresses and
fresh ribbons for the occasion, and "do
up her b.ue muslin as best she could
land she was something wonderful in
the laundress line all her neighbors
said, it would not look any way but
old and faded and her ribbons-well,
her small stock thereof had been cleaned
and dyed and ''done over" 50 often that
they were merely travesty upon their
kind. OF course new dress and the
requisite adornments would cost very
little; but as Phrosy said, tersely but
truly, "If diamonds could be bought
/. f.or a nickel apiece and one didn't have
the nickel, where would be the comfort
of itl'
Money had been very tight in the
Miller family ever since Mr.. Miller's long
illness, ending in his death, had lug
the little house hold under load of
debt which seemed at first, simply over-
whelming.
Ben AIiller-a wild and reckless young
fellow he had been while his father was
we'll and strong and able to care for the
mother and sister-had steadied dewn
wonderfully and taken the burden of ex-
istenee on his shoulders patiently and
manfully. Mrs. Miller and Phrosy had
economized in every way, even to the
extent of taking some of the many wood
choppers about as boarders, and they bad
worked early and late and sewed and
denied Themselves until the debt was
paid, and the future began to look ait
tie brighter. Then fate frowned on them
once again. Mrs. Miller, large, heavy
and some what unwie.dy woman, in going
down the back.steps one day made
misstep and fell, receiving an injury t
her side which made her utterly help
less. Since then Phrosy had found III
harder than ever Additional doctor
bills piled in upon them; Mrs. Ai'ie
instead Of helping as before was neW 3
helpless as a baby and SO nervousiz ifri
table that keeping boarders longer wa
an impossibility even had Phrosy bee
able to do the work. So it was TIA
every cent that came into the family ha
to be earned by Ben; and so it was tha
the new lawn dress, so ardently desired
seemed TO be among the impossibilItle
of existence, for Ben's wages were smal
at best and there we're at least dozsI
ways for every dollar.
And Phrosy thought altogether to.
much of her patient and kind-hearte
brother, who denied himself 80 mee,
to keep her and his invalid mother fror
want, to add to his buIdens ~ telhI
him her own troubles.
'If there was only something ihat
could do myself to earn Little mone!,