The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-09-10
AN AWFUL TINE,
by ANNA SHIELDS.

1t was an awful time. In the first
place. 1t was the middle of July, and we
had to move. Old Mr.. Townsend died.
and every stick and stone that he owned
IN Dolliver was sold. His heirs. two
sons (oh, how we hated their yery
names, knowing no more of them), had
peen abroad, had come home, intending
to divide their time between their New
YORK residence and the family estate at
Chester Grove, but they didn't want to
bother with lot of rented houses in
Dolliver, and these were peremptorily
doomed to be sold.
old Conway pounced upon ours at
once. OF course he didl Mrs. Conway
and her two homely daughters had beer
nankerlng for our house for years, for,
though VIC did "only rent it," we had
lived there for thirteen years, and, oh,
the additions and improvements we had
made to it We had doubled its value,
am certain. We beautifed it, inside
and out; we lavished our artistic tastes
upon the panels; we adorned the walls;
we had the floor puttied, painted and
polished, and Teddy had actually paint
ed the most beautiful border and cor
ner-pieces of oak leaves and acorns
round the entire sitting room. And
now, to give it all upl oh! those hate
full Townsends.
What added to the distress was the
fact that the only house we could find
In all Dolliver to rent was little two
story cottage, quite a distance from all
the neighbors to whom we had become
attached, and in locality we detested.
However, there was no help for it, and
AZ said before, we had an awful time.
1t was bad enough to know the dear, old
home was lost to us, and that the Con-
ways were to enjoy all our labors of love
on tse walls and floors; it was sufficiently
exasperating to be compelled to take up
our abodeat Jenk's Corner, locality we
abominated, but these were only the be-
ginning of our tribulations.
The day we were TO move was hot
oh, so hot and the dear mother having
done the work of about three men, the
previous week, and weighing at her best
times about ninety-four pounds, broke
down with binding nervous headache.
Martha, a treasure of a servant, had
already laid herself up by spraining her
wrist, in moving trunk, so there were
Teddy and Jim and to "do" the NOV
ing.
Teddy is my elder sister Theodosia, and
Jim is Jenima, my youngest sister; am
Thomasine, always called Tom in the
bosom of my family. We are all young,
we are all blondes, we are all small, and
we are all pretty. We have incomes of
our own of three hundred dollars year,
and the dear mother has about twelve
hundred a year, so We can live very
nicely, indeed, in a quiet place like
Dolliver.
When mother patiently tainted away
Just as the first furniture van drove up
to the door, Teddy and detailed Jim
for active duty in the hospital depart
ment, and promised to have mothers
room made ready the first thing. In the
meantime, she was made comfortable in
Jim's room, and Martha undertook to
superintend the loading of the vans, while
Teddy and l scampered off to the new
house, to see to receiving the furniture
1t was clean as a new pin; that was
one little ray of comfort, and we hung
up our hats, and put on the biggest of
aprons and Lady Washington caps, and
were ready for action.
Even in my misery noticed how un-
usually pretty Teddy looked. Her hair
is the purest gold color, and makes hun
dredSof little rings round her face, and
she has color like a wild rose on each
cheek. But on that day, the excitement,
the hurry and the indignation combined
had made her blue eyes blaze, her cheeks
brilliant as carnations, and every little
curl bristled defiance of the Townsends
and our wrongs. But more was to come.
Up drove the first van with one man.
Both Teddy and were at the door, and
exclaimed: