The Springdale news., 1889-09-06
AUNT BECKY'S REMEDY.
A Case in Which It Proved an
 Effectual Cure.

"lenry, Rue does not seem at all well. She has been growing pale and hollow-eyed for some time; and now she does nothing but nope about and read and sigh. don spriniGpr niGpr!!and Q! it, y
 II had not noticed f 4.iIGcn. Por- haps she reads too rSuch, l see she is perfect bool1-worm. It rather runs in my side of the family to be literary and have thought Rue was inclined that way, too.
 'I cant imagine what ails her. She seems low-spirited and unhappy. and she surely has no reason to be so. '
 ''Of course she hasn't, Ellen. What an idea-a girl not yet sixteen un- happy! It must be her blood is out of order. Spring is here and she needs some sort of toning mp. Let Dr. Miles fix up some sort of tonic for her"
 I've been thinking that perhaps a change of air would do her good. What do you say to sending her out in the country to Becky $? {he fresh country air must surely help her; and l am really too busy with all my household cares to care for her prop erly.n
 That IS just the thing, Ellen. Why didn't you think of 1t before? Becky will be in her element to have one to eoddle. She used to dose me the whole time when l was small, and she cured mo quicker than doctor could, too. Send her to her at once "
 This was the conversation I over heard between my father and mother as l lay upon the sofa in the parlor.
 was delighted. But it was not so much at the prospect of going to Aunt Becky as l was at the fact that the family seemed at last to be convinced Of my declining health. For nearly year l had been suffering from what felt to be a neglect to comprehend the workings of my finer nature, men tai and physical, and l had been grow ing most delightfully."- miserable. I was a great reader, as my father said; ; and the class of books 1 enjoyed most was that of wherein the he roines were pale, and sad-eyed, sickly and interesting. full of trouble and woe. and who pined away from various causes, such as unrequited affection, an unsympathetic world, and gem eral misunderstanding of their inner longings by those who surrounded them.
 l dotted upon poetry, and the moro dismal and soul-harrOwing and ob- scure the more l dotted upon it. was particularly fond of those pas sagcs which referred in vague terms to early death, though l could not have explained what there was about them that gave me so much pleasura- ble pain. l only knew, as l have said, that l was delightfully."- miserable. l had tried to be as much like my hero ines as possible. A copious supply of chalk, cloves and slate pencils, in which l indulged my appetite secretly, had aided me in it so far as to cause me to grow quite pallid. My features were near enough to the regulation type not to be a source of anxiety to me; and hair and eyes being black as the ravens wing and ''sloe, in- dividually, considered 1t unnecessary to attempt any improvement on nat ure in the former, while the latter l simply penciled about the eyebrows in order to make them more lustrous. As a consequence my countenance at this time was quite striking. So 1t pleased me much to see that had at tracted attention to my decline.
 Tho ext few days were occupied in preparations for my departure to Aunt Becky's. The suddenly awakened family solicitude at my condition was evinced by indulgence in all the luxuries-fruits and other delicacies- which could be procured, while young CT children were repeatedly told to ..wait on sister Rue while she Is here; and the ambiguity of this command was as gratifying as the constant attendance which all danced upon me for those few days.
 "She can hardly last through an other winter" one caller said to an other in a guarded whisper, thinking me asleep in the hammock outside the window.
 She need not have guarded the r1- mark at all. for it would not have troubled me in the least. 1 was lying meditating upon the affinity of souls and my lack in finding one in this world to respond to my owni and such