The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1889-11-07
The Queen OF the Gnomes.

Peggy bennington had n will of her own,
or that she was anything but charming
little atom of the feminine ilotsam and
jetsam cast by the relentless sea of cir
cumstances upon the barren shore of eX-
istCncc. Her mouth was irrcSolutc, her
eyes anything but determined looking,
yet in Pcggy's case appearances were de
cidcdly deceptive. She had an undeuia-
bic viii of her own, luckily for her and
for the qucrulous old mother dependent
upon her cXcrtions.
Poor Pcggy's life had been one tu-
multuous struggle over since her father
died. lie had left his wife and daughter
pcnnilcss; and even that was not the full
extent OF their discomfort; Mrs Lean
ington felt that she had dappearanccs-the
banc of cXistcuce-to keep up; in fact,
she was perfectly willing to live in
thrcadbarc uneasincss, if she could only
succeed in convincing the world that she
was basking in the comparative sun of
/ luxury.
Peggy had scwcd indus;riou,ly night
and day for Il large wholesale shop that
paid her but Il miserable pit;aucc, yet
afforded her the means Of keeping from
the door the wolf-that terrible black mas
ter--the cruel cXtortcr Of 50 much blood
money. Mrs. bennington saw her little
flat ever bright and pretty she ate many
luxury that Peggy p1theticaIly pre-
tended she herself didn't like, there not
being enough TO ''go round. Her life
was rs free from care a5 an unseliish
| Nttlc daughter could make it,
Then, there was Jack-Jack Ruiiing-
ton. Since he had come into Pcggys
life things have been much more cudur-
/ able he had met the little lady at the
I house OF one of her old school friends.
I and Pcggy's ilaXcn locks and azure eyes
had charmed the susceptible young man.
! lie didn't think he was susceptible, how
( ever. No man does. Peggy, with rs
much dignity as nineteen summers could
command, had asked him to call and see
mamma.
~ am sure you would like her." she
said, after sac had L,t Mr.. Burlington
several times at this accommodating
! friends house. Then she added, wick
Cdly; "lou can come and see her Of
ten, YOU kuow-whcn I'm out"
Peggy did not have many oppor,uui-
ties TO indulge in those little Harmless
copuctricS SO necessary to many women.
stern realities claimed her almost entire
ly. The butterfly beauties Of life scclcd
to have Fitted past her. Cold, solid
facts remained. Try and be coquet;ish,
young women, in the presence of these
facts, if you can. Jack Ruffington
called at Mrs Lcamingtons modest
apartments. lie called once reluctantly;
then again, with less timidity; finally he
spent his almost every evening there, and
seemed to enjoy it, too. There is mouse
beating about the bash and pretending
that il was Mrs. Lcamington's brilliant
conversation that enchanted him. Tha;
would bc absurd for two reasons. First,
because the poor old lady when she
spoke at all talked OF nothing but the
better days she had once known, and e..
second, because she was generally i'm.
polite enough to sleep long before Mr..
Burlington took his departure. Peggy
was the attraction. She listened to all
Jack stories, sympathi2cd with his plans
for the future, and while she piled her
needle and stitched away for dear life
and the dear life of her mother, gave him
the benefit of her girlish advice. Those
were delightful evenings. The stuiIy lit
Tie fiat was q far-cytcnding paradise; the
dreamy little clock a cruel, inconsideratc
, timc-slayor.
, Then the night came when Jack asked
Peggy to be his wife, and she in her en-
thu,iasm utterly ruined dainty lace
ruillc that she had been manipulating.
"Eou must wait for me, Peggy, he
, said, looking at her blushing, coy face,
. "Thc governor has promised to raise m,
as soon as ever step into Smiths place
and then Pcggy-well have a Hat larger
than this, and your mother shall live
with us-and-and-oh, Peggy, shal
? we not be happy
! Peggy actually shed tears of Joy as she
looked upon the glowing picture painted
by the anticipatiye Imagination of Mr.
huntington, Might he exact lover
l privilege and take kssl Peggy Grim
G soned at the question, but nevertheless
. heldup her face at very kissablc distanc,
: and Mr., Jack made not the least cere
mony. Two days later an unpretentlou
little engagement ring cncircled Mis-
Leamington's pretty finger.
/ The girl sat thinking of all these pleas
o ant moments one cold, dark Afternoon
= when the days had slipped away from
autumn and were speeding winterwar,
as rapidly as possible, Since her en-
n gagcment nothing but i'll luck seemed t.
y have fallen to her lot. The very mex
1 day she had received letter from he
employers at the large wholesale shoI
= that had kept her supplied her wit
" work. Business was very bad, said tn
letter, and orders had been given TO &c
duce expenses. Perhaps at some futur
a time the services of Miss Leamingto
3 night be needed, but at present.
1t was hard very hard, Peggy felt com