The Springdale news., 1889-12-20


 me that way, if 1 am an old woman. l am first-rate at game of hlde-and- seek and l shall just find a room for myself In this large house 1 know there is corner for me somewhere. "
 And sure enough she stepped briskly across the hall, and paused be- fore the door of back chamber.
 "Does any one occupy this?' Mattie shook her head, and cast a despairing glance at me, as she said:
 But it will never do at all, auntie. It is just a little box of a room, fur nished up with odds and ends. We put Miss Betts in there when she comes to sew for us, and sometimes Hetty and 1 sleep there when we have extra company and have to give up our room"
 Aunt Matilda opened the door, how ever, and stepped in.
 ''The very thing" she cried, de- l lightedly. "A rag carpet, too! So homelike! And this nice splint-rocker. l tell you, girls, for real comfort there's nothing like splint-rocker.
 She stepped to the one window in the room and put back the plain white muslin curtain.
 Better and better!" she cried, clap ping her hands in almost childish glee. "Such TOW of nice back yards! You see, girls. I'm an inquisi tive old lady, and dearly love to watch peoples back yards. 1 get ac- q.ainted with them so. You can go in at peoples front doors for years and not know d single thing about them; but you can get good idea of what they are in week from the rear.
 50 Aunt Matilda had her way.
 "There' just one thing 1 would like from the front room, girls, she said, "and that is the vase of yellow mari golds 1 saw on the mantel. They smell so like home.
 Hattie fetched them, and having done what We could to make the room convenient for her, We left her to the enjoyment of her splint-rocker, her rag carpet and marigolds. and went downstairs to eontide our disappoint- ment to mother.
 The back yards, which interested our aunt so much, belonged to row of tenement cottages just across the alley from our house. The latter be- ing built in the middle of the lot and running back a geod way, was quite close to the alley, so that q good chance was afforded Aunt Matilda to pursue her back-doo" studies, for which she professed such penchant.
 Our town was an invalid resort, and the population in consequence q very Auctuating one. We had, therefore, fallen into the habit of paying little or no attention to the families who came and went II the Row. But now We were destined to learn many things from Aunt Matilda about ou back l door neighb0rs. What impressed Us more than any thing else was the kind : 1 liness of the comments she made upon her unknown friends Considering that she openly ayowed herself "a bit of gossip, this seemed to Us all the more remarkable, as all the gossips Ne had known showed a remarkable penetration in discovering the weak nesses and sins of the subjects which they dissected.
 "There is new family moving into the red house this morning, an nounced Aunt Matilda at dinner one day. The woman is nice, tidy little body, and looks full of energy but you can see she is not well. She has a bad cough and looks so worn and tired that l feel sorry for her. Her husband is tall. manipulating feI- low but he. too. has a discouraged look. and the little boy-there seems to be but one child, about ten years old, l should judge-looks as though life had been any thing but joy to him. l shall like to find out what their trouble is"
 Father held up his hands with we'll feigncd horror. Matilda, he said you are without doubt the most in- quisitive person alive. You embody all the necessary qualifications of a whole detective force.
 ''Never mind, replied the little lady, laughing, ESQ long as l injure no one by it you ought not to grudge d lonely old woman her only dissipa- ton.
 Il should think said mamma, "that if the lady is such an invalid eonsumptive, of course. if she coughs so bad---you might see in that sufficient cause for the family unhappiness Perhaps, after all, they are only tired from a long journey and not really unhappy. y
 Aunt Matilda shook her head.
 No, Martha, temporary weariness does not mark such lines in the face Neither is the illness of one member sufficient to permanently destroy the family peace. Why. some of the hap piest families know have inmates who are hopeless invalids, and all the other members seem to make a point of be- l.. -l T |. z l.. H..