Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-02-28
PARDGNTS GOOD LUCK.
How She proposed For and Secured
Partner.

How She proposed For and Secured
Partner.
Philosophers say that there is no such
thing as luck. Asa Darwin thought
differently.
My luck, exactly" said he, despair
ingly. Il might have knewn just how it
would be-"
lie sat on the old stone porch. star
ing out toward tho sunset, his chair
tipped back on its two hind legs. his
hands thrust aimlessly into his trousers
pockets.
1t was cold enough to justify the fire
of beech logs that was blazing on the
hearth in the room inside, where Par
don was lacking up the red moreen cur
tains that she had just sponged and
mendod neatly; but it is not an easy
thing for Mr.. Darwin TO relinquish the
habit OF outdoor lounging that had
clung TO him all the summer through.
''What is il, fathOr?" said Pardon.
coming bIisllly TO the door with a tack
hammer in one hand and "a paper of
lacks in the other.
'Jones has just gone by" said Mr..
Darwin. "lle says the Old COW has got
out on the railroad track again"
Pardon bit her red under lip.
II told you she would, father said
she, "if you didn't have those bars re-
paired"
And she's got run over" dolefullv
added Darwin. Pm sure l don't know
what we're doing to do without COW.
We've always put lot of dependence
on our milk. But l might have ex-
pected it. Luck has been sheer against
me over since John James died. A man
with house full of gals can't expect TO
make no Roadway in the world"
Pardon colored up.
you didn't expect your girls to
mend the bars, did you, father?" asked
she, little bitterly.
II was calculatin' to speak TO Tim
Parsons about gettin' new pair o
posts put up" sighed the farmer,
..Wouldn't it have been a safer way
to put them up yourself, fatherP"
Il amt as young as used to be, :"
said Darwin evasively. "And the
rheumatics is twistin' me powerful
these first cool days"
Then" said Pardon, with q certain
touch of daughterly authority in her
voice, ''you should come into the house
and not sit there, getting chilled
through, and then find fault with your
lucl1r'
Mn, Darwin slowly rose and shuf1led
into the bright little keeping room,
where Pardon had spread neatly
braided rug before the fire, and placed
n brokon-spouted pitcher of yellow
golden-rod on the table.
She looked after him with a sigh,
half OF impotence, half regret.
Il wish John james had lived" said
Mr.. Darwin, feebly.
$50 do J." assento6 Pardon
"Ain't supper most rcady?" said
the farmer, looking discontentedly
around.
ut will be in minute" said Pardon,
al had TO split all the kindling my
self for the kitchen fire and Fanny has
run to Mrs. Merritt's for little meal
10 make some hot corn bread"
at the same moment Fanny returned,
"a slight overgrown girl of fourteen
nreathless with the haste she has made.
''Mrs. Merritt is very sorry" said
she, ''but she hasn't any cornmeal in
the house."
That's enough" said Pardon, grow
ing scarlet to the roots of her hair.
81 don't blame her for getting tired OF
lending things TO u.s."
But" added Fanny, "she sends a
pail of graham flour to make gems.
Indeed, she's RS kind as she can bep'
Pardon laughed HISTORICALLY.
I'm getting as hard and bitter as a
sour persimmon," said she ''Yos, I'm
loI Of 10.
can't make out his supper without
something hot for IL relish. Perhaps
some day we can return Mrs. Merritt's
Idndncsses. But oh. Fanny, have YOU
heardP The red COW got out of the
pasture this afternoon and is killed on
the track
Fanny burst into tears
"Old PinlSy!" she exclaimed. "Is
there no end 10 our bad luck?"
Pardon stamped her pretty, ill-shod
foot impatiently on the floor
"Luck!" she repeated. Don't use
that dreadful word! believe father
would he "a better aud happier man TO-
day II IL wasn't In the dictionary at all.
There isn't any such thing an luck. It.:
all bad management, shiftlessness-the
habit OF putting every thing of until
the last moment"
And then she cried, too, poor little
Over-burdened Pardon.
She was tall and slender, with large,
glittering hazel eyes, red-brown hair
and one OF those delicate compilations
where the sun Laws its touch in the
shape Of here nd there cluster oil
freckles.
Fanny was dark, with Spanish eyes,
fringed with long lashes, and hair as
black and lustrous as jet. Whatever
else fate had denied the Darwin girls,
it had been generous TO them IN the
matter of personal attributes.
They made their frugal supper Of