Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-04-26

''Ze diable, said he, "can come in
wherever zere is a crack so big as a chip
munks hairr"
Sancho lay stretched dead on the
hearth. The fires were out; it had grown
very cold.
"Thcre's one comfort" said Aunt
Alantha, although her teeth chattcrcd so
that she could hardly drink the catnip
tea that faithful Francois had brewed in
a tin canister. "The rascals didn't get
anything for their painsl"
"How do you know2" said l.
81 know variety of things" said
Aunt Alantha, curtly.
We gave the alarm as soon as posi-
BILE, but in those wildernesses it was
about as practicable to track band of
ruffians as to follow the flight of the
wild geese who flew shrieking over our
heads toward the South. All ef-
forts were vain to trace their wherea-
bouts.
"Aunt Alantha," said 1, "you must
go back to Albany with me. 1t is not
safe for you to live So"
katherine" said Aunt Alantha, Il
shall never leave this house alive. 1t is
my home, and here mean to stay"
She spoke the truth. The chill and
the shock, added to the infrmities of
age, brought on an attack of pneu-
monia, which carried her off in three
days.
Papa and mamma fastened to attend
the funeral
A lawyer from Troy came peeping and
prying around with steady insistence
which reminded me somewhat of the
burglars.
"There is WILL" said he, '1eaving
every hing to her niece Emily, the wife
of Cicero Kyle
"Then our fortune is madeI' cried
mamma.
"But, apparently, there is nothing to
leave but this house, two hundred acres
of mountain land, and these few sticks
of furniture"
"Then," sighed papa, 1--WE are as
poor as ever. She must have spent all
her money in speculations. What do
you say, chill lren2 There are some fine
views hereabouts. Shall we come here
and liveF'
"No, no, nor we all cried in chorus.
every well, said papa. Mamma is
the heiress What does she decide2"
'sTo sell everything at auction" said
mamma, ''for what it will bring; and to
]. .'ss.-.vc this gloomy place. .'
But it was not until we had com
pleted all the business forms, and were
climbing into the wagon that was to
take us to the Lake Champlain boat,
that Marian uttered cry of surprise.
"What is that hideous thing they are
putting into the back of the wagon?"
said She
"The case of stuffed birds, as / live!"
said Letitia. ut must be mistake"
81 bid it in myself, at the auction,
confessed l, hanging down my head.
'It was only three dollars. And Aunt
Alantha said she meant mamma to have
it,
'Mercyl" cried mamma, 'I wouldn't
give houseroom to such an atrocity."
"But mayn't l keep it myself9" l
pleaded. "Aunt Alantha thought SO
much of it,"
'Let the child have her way" said
papa.
So that Aunt Alantha's case of stuffed
birds was finally set up in my room at
home, where it was unspeakably hideous,
and nearly gave me the nightmare, until
got quite used to it.
In the spring, when we cleaned house,
the maid thrust her broom handle
through one of the panes of glass and
knocked NANCY looking yellow-ham-
mer off its perch. picked it up.
"Poor thiugl" said l, ''It's coming
all to pieces
81 guess, MISS" said Bridget, 'the
moths have got at 'em, worse luck"
elbow heavy it isl" cried l. ezra
cious me, Bridget"
"ArIah, miss, it's full of money it isp'
shrieked Bridget. ''It's stuffed wild
bank bills, wild golden coin in the
midsht of it.
So it was Every bird from the wee
chippee up to the solemn and puffy,
blue plumed woodpecl1er, were so many
impromp.u bags Of gold and notes.
In Aunt Alantha's sly craft, she had
disposed of her money where no earthly
person could expect to find it, and we
had received our inheritance at last.
"And it is all little Kate's doing"
said papa. ''lf she hadn't bought in
the case of stuffed birds at three dollars
wasn't that the sum, daughter3-
where should we all have been2"
or course the thing got into the news
papers, as such things always do,
headed "Strange Eccentricity Of Single
Lady," And, mused ], if those burglars
should have chanced to read it-burglars
do read the papers sometimes, suppose
Il wonder what they thoughtl-Satur-
day Night.
Severe SeIfJudgment.
A Pontiac little boy was told at Sun
day school that when he died he would