Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-08-08

SO she rut on blanket and q bosom
pin. and q necklace that she had not
worn since she was young girl, and
collar and her husbands watch chain.
"Shivery shaLery. Shakery shivery!
| SILVER and shake. l shake and shiver."
she cried. II am colder than ever"
"Pur more clothes on," once mere said
her husband Here, take my thick
waistcoat."
She took the waistcoat, but in order TO
get it on it was necessary to take OF some
OF the many things she was already
wearing; and, rs fast as she took off the
things in which she Was wrapped, she
began at once to get warmer, and she re-
membered the words OF the red bccgar,
and how lie had wished that she might
crow colder tie more she pat on; and
/ Dame Barba-er knew that 4 spell lad
been laid upon her because she had
spoken Earsay to the vaS;.Gond when he
wished to come in and warm himself by
her fire She therefore made herself
warm by taking OFF her wrapp;ngs until
she had as little on as it was at all re-
spectacle to wear, and thereafter she
went in cold weather SO thinly clad that
her neighbors declared that she had lost
her wits.
1t was well nigh year that this state
Of things continued, and one day just as
the sun was near setting, and the dame
was every moment expecting her hus-
hand home from the field where he had
been at work all day, when a strange old
woman came puttering along the road.
The poor Old creature was bent well nigh
double, and one could see that her back
was not straight, a hump standing out
where her shoulders were stopped over.
The old woman, indeed, was SO bent over
! that it was not possible to see her face,
and it was only by her dress that one
| could have known her again.
But it was this dress which made Dame
| Barbarer stare; for it was all of faded
red, tattered and stained and weather
beaten, and patched here and there, but
despite the fact thatrit was the dress of
a woman and not of a man, there was
something about it that brought the red
teggar of the year before up SO wildly
| to the dame that she began, all of a
tremble, to put a supper OH plate for
| the newcomer without even waiting to
be asked. The old red woman sat down
on the doorstep, painting and chuckling.
"You are dressed strangely, Dame"
she said, "for the time Of year."
''The time of year has nothing to do
with what wear" answered poor Dame
Barbarer; "the colder it gets the less
wear, and in summer have to put on
the thickest things have to keep COOL
| The old red woman chuckled.
perhaps my brother has been here"
she observed, eating away with hearty
appetite.
us he your brother?' asked Barbarer
piteously; ooh, if you would only ask
him to undo the charm and make me
like other people, there isn't anything
wouldn't do for you"
"Humph! Perhaps you weren't polite
to him. He is very particular about
that"
81 am sure" the Dame answered, 81
tried to be kind to him until he was
saucy to me-"
The red woman chuckled more than
ever.
''Well," she said, finishing her supper,
and rising with more agility than one
would have expected of her; ''you are on
the whole good sort, and dare say on
the whole you have been punished
enough"
"Oh, indeed l have" poor Barbarer
answered, with tears in her eyes. "More
than enough"
"Well, them" the old woman said, sit
shall not be said that have not made
amends for what my brother did more
than you deserved, and you shall have
your hearts DESIRE"
She looked into Barbarer's face, and
the dame would have sworn for her life
that it was the red beggar who cursed
her into whose face she was gazing. Then
she bent over again with one of her sim
lister chuckles. and went hobbling down
the road.
And before the summer came around
again the storks had brought little son
to the cottage. Townsend in Bos-
ton Courier.