Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-12-22

stately herd. The Holstein, like tt
f leopard refuses to change her spot
9 and the Princess is a Princess eve
in rags.
"Poor bossy! we understand eac
+ other, don't we? We got lost. w
was both scared. How scared W
was p
f The heifer seemed to assent to thi
, view of the matter.
"We was both pretty near crying
I'm not sure but you did cry some
You're only baby" Maria gaze
into the beautiful mournful eyes
which seemed to hold two inexhaust
ible fountains of tears. Snow view
got to be getting home. You know
down where you live Maria strug
gled to her feet, and the heifer alsc
arose from her knees and moved for
ward unsteadily.
s'Ye s it's quite a ways down there
but | guess we can find the house
You've got to introduce me. you know
my DEAR and the child's elfin face
began to sparkle at the quaintness
of this conception II expect they'll
be pretty pleased to see you back,
and you'll say: This is my friend,
Miss Maria Henley. 1 met her up
under hemlock tree Poor bossy,
won't you be glad to get something
nice to eat again?'
Maria drew a long breath and re-
lapsed into silence as her fancy swell
ed beyond the bounds of expression.
Surely they would not refuse her adj
mittance, at least to the barn, that
palace of delights; its scaffOlds bend
ing with sheaves of silky corn: its
cattle, its pens of sheep, and cack-
ling fowls, kind creatures who do not
observe if ones boots are patched,
and who responds with warmth to
the timidest friendly overtures the
bins of wheat and buckwheat, where
one can nibble at will the ensilage
pit, with It's penetrating, yeasty
breath, and the warm yielding bays
that invite to sleep-sleep which is
the poor mans dinner.
The thought of having friend at
court-and a court like this-len
wings to Maria's feet; she thrust her
fingers through the heifer's tangled
foretOp, and together they started on
a wild race down the mountain-side,
leaping over fallen logs, plunging
through icy gullies, and marking
their passage with locks of hair and
fragments Of homespun. At last they
reached an open lot grown up to
sweet-fern and bareback, and Maria
stopped, painting and breathless, to
reconnoitre. Far below to the left
she caught sight of the long roofs
and chimneys, and her heart beat
hard with quickened anticipation.
81 hope you'll stay close to me-"
she began again, confdentially; "we
are most there now, and, you see,
am not really used to so much style,
cause, of course, | haven't had the
bringing up you have. It's lucky |
found you when l did, my dear, or l
don't believe but what you'd have
froze tonight. We'd better go right
up to the door, l guess and oh, if
you shouldn't belong to them, after
all, what would do?" And Maria
grew pale at the bare thought of such
a possibility.
But the yearling had begun to find
the country familiar; she shifted the
air, and started eagerly forward, as
if she accepted the office of guardian.
Perhaps she was glad to show her
sense of the kindness she had receiv-
ed nay, perhaps she felt her dumb
half conscious being that there is that
in the breast of the most neglected |
waif of more value than the cattle on |
a thousand hills.
Thus it happened that two figures,
the queerest ever seen-a little girl in |
an ancient frock and hood, and
half-grown calf that limped with cold
and weariness-emerged from the |
woods and crossed the road in that |
bleak December twilight. Across the
road and up the stone steps they
went. A timid hand struck the
knocker of the great hall, where the
boys and girls were already gathered
beginning to dance to the
sound of a homemade fiddle, and to
repeat the words which told of peace
on earth, goodwill toward men.
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