Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-12
CHAPTER VIII.

Iooks sort of showery like," said John Parsons, coming into the shanty the day before the girls were to 20 to Sacramento, and finding them and their mother with eyes which gave evidence of weeping. packing up their wardrobes preparatory to airing.
 'I believe shall cry myself if you wlmIn folks don't stop lookin' so sick like about the mouth. You don't want to see an old man like me cry, do you, now?"
 Come, mother, cheer up. You know the girls Il be in good hands, that I'll treat 'em well and let us know if anything happens 'em. 'Tain't fer very long any way; only few months, an | was gone from you all more than six years and hadn't a left you we wouldn't t have had this ranch to-day, which will soon be the finest in the whole country; worth all the hard work and suherin' we've gone through.
 "At least," he added, meditatively. .'aS we'll worth it as anything that poor folks gifts is worth what it costs 'em.
 "And here's Johnny, he's houseful of himself, ain't you, Johnny? You won't let mother and me git lonesome, will youP"
 DNS ehS yoihSSteI udu cduUQC the 1n- lection of tears, and his fathers forced at empt at being jocular could not re- move tho feeling of coming loneliness that was casting its shadow before, and he stood still and looked silently ct the preparations for the departure of h S sisters with an expression on his face of sadness ana half of baby wisdom, as if he halted between sorrow for the com ing loss of the girls and regrets that his parents had no better judgment than to permit their going.
 The morrow saw them depart. A few months later, beautiful day in spring saw them return, improved in mind and appearance from the contact with those whose thoughts and deeds had sought, or were seeking, a different channel than that to which their own had been confined.
 If John Parsons had been proud of his girls before. he was doubly so now: for he could not fail to see that associ- ation with people of education had oiv- en an added grace to the body as well as the mind. And, unwitsngly per haps, the young people of the neighbor- hood showed them tritle more defer ence than was usually given to those of their own age and condition in life. This deference was in no seuse obse- qulousness; it was but the natural ex- press on of that respect which all, even those least ambitious of excellence, feel for others who are known to be striv- ing to make themselves wiser and bet ter.
 Mrs. Parsons was not less pleased than her husband. She also noticed the es- teem in which her girls were held by young and old; and that while they aided as willingly and cheerfully in the household wor<, or in that of the vine- yard and orchard, as ever they had done, they saw that the performance of manual labor alone was not all their duty to themselves and to society, but that the mind and the heart were en- titled to cons. iteration as we'll as the body,
 " hen he welcomed the girls on their re- turn. True, he kissed both Jennie and her sister, but somehow it was not the hearty kind of smack with which he had bidden them goodbye, and he held Lucy's hand while he kissed her, instead of giving her hug as he had done the they left.
 As for Johnny, he was in ecstacies; for had not the g rls brought h m half dozen things that he had been wanting and expecting on their return? Be- sides, he should have some one to help hunt hens nests and look for ducks eggs in the water of the creek, where they persisted in laying them if they were not watched and shut up every night.
 A few days after the return of Jennie and Lucy the carpenters came and be- gan work on the new house. All the spring and summer they were busy; and whon they left, there stood in front, and little above the old shanty, which was henceforth to be used for fruit-packlng and drying purposes, two-story frame house with green blinds and a verandah on three sides; the coolest, most comfortable most hos pitable-lookilg house you would see in a months travel.
 And no more hospitable family ever lived than that which gathered about the table of John and Martha Parsons, and partook of the rich fruits and we'll cooked meats and vegetables with which it was daily spread.
 No struggling miner, weary with travel and wanting rest and food, ever left their gate without at least silent Wlsn that blessings might descend and rest upon the household.
 To ramble about the broad porch and through tho open rooms, or to gather around cheerful fire in the wide grate in the sittng-room, came both the young and the old of the 
 The occasional traveller through the country on business or pleasure heard of the Parsons ranch; it's splendidly titled acres; its luscious fruits and it's owners, miles before he reached it, and travelled an hour later that he might knock at it's gates and obta n permiss on to spend the night beneath its broad roof.
 The Parsons cottage was not the only inviting-looking one in the neighbor- hood, however. Others who came wi l. them had prospered also. and had built themselves houses. which, if not quite so pretentious looking, or so neat