Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-11-27
TlGMiSS PllkinSeS' Pudding,
BY CORA STUART WHEELER.

"The Miss Pilkensesn was the name
by which they were known all over Buc-
ket Town, and if u few intimates whose
hair had silvered in gentle company
with theirs since they sat in school to-
gether sometimes ventured upon the
more familiar names of Dolly and Dru-
silla they corrected themselves i'll the
next breath. Not that there was any
thing forbidding about these mild-man-
nered women, but certain sentiment of
high courtesy made the townspeople care
full to increase the outward tokens of re
spect in proportion as they were obliged
to care for and support these helpless
gentlewomen.
Colonel Pilkins, their father, had been
the great man of their village. Blood of
the bluest and ancestors of the most i'm
maculate and aristocratic, had stamped
such lines upon the family faces that it
did not need the slender, exquisite hands
and feet to confirm Nature patent of no.
bility. Every one loved them, and from
the doors of the Hill House (so.called
from its standing on high ground the
poor in spirit and purse always went
away not only fed but Comforted by the
lovely mistress and her daughters. So
when the Colonel died from drenching
received while directing others in saving
the men from an overturned fishing
smack, and the frail little wife died of
grief within fortnight, there were
friends enough and to spare to attend to
the settlement of the estate and watch
over the interests of the bewildered
daughters. Lawyer Satterlee and Judge
Grover sat late over their friends papers
the night after the funeral, and when
they came out of the library, in the faint
light at four o'clock in the morning and
went down the steps together their kind
faces wore new gravity, and as they
separated at the corner they said, with
the air of sealing compact, "They must
never know
So Dolly and Drusilla did not know
anything, except that their income was
much reduced and that the old house
must be sold to give them even the pit
tance that was left. And the pang with
which they caught a passing glimpse of
the man who bought the old place, with
his dull gray eyes and coarse red nous
tache, was never sharpened by any
knowledge of 1cho he was. Deep in
their loyal hearts the two friends buried
the secret of their dead companion, stip-
ulating only, when this son of a mad, un-
acknowledged marriage came to claim
''his own" as he put it, that he should os-
tensbly bUH with money of their fur
nishing, the Hill House, which purchase
moncy could be put to the sisters
credit without question, and then
that the heir should go quietly
For tbpra 1l,,
nothing left, nor any provision made
minded chivalrous old men could not
leave them helpless, nor did they wish
them to feel dependent upon any ones
bounty. The very thoughts made the
old friends groan, as they recalled the
sisters lavish generosity to the needy
while they were the ladies of the Hill
House. Even the provision lhus made was
so slender Qor the friends We're not rich
mem that every economy had to be prac-
ticed to keep Betty Pratt's tiny cottage,
which the sisters leased, comfortable and
tidy.
Twice a week only Dolly, who was the
tinancier, allowed them meat for their
simple dinner, unless some thoughtful
neighbor who had ''killed" lett some
dainty part of the "critter" for the Miss
Pilkinses as he passed on his way to mar
kct But the Miss Pilkinses seemed to
thrive upon the housework which they
were obliged to accomplish. And still a
number Of pensioners came to their door,
while the bits which they could ill spare
from their own scanty larder were given
out as sweetly and ungrudgingly as when
they were the almoners of their fathers
bounty on the Hill. Hearing of an un-
usual strait to which they had reduced
themselves by their charities, Judge
Grover undertook once to remonstrate
with Drusilla, but he never ventured
again to meet the mild reproach of her
eyes as she said softly, SIS it not our own,
though littlel And the greatest, in
deed, only, luxury which we permit our
selves is sharing with those less fortu-
nate. Papa, aCho aIways Mought of
Others, would wish it," Remembering
how sadly unthoughtful Richard Pilkins
had been of his dearest the Judge made
an embarrassed exit.
When farmer friends going to town
found it unusually convenient to stop and
Tighten their loads at the cottage, or n
busy time among the bucket makers les
sencd the demands upon the Miss Pill
klnses slender resources, then, indeed
they sometimes allowed themselves lit
Tie ieast-somewhat shamefacedy, as
though apologiling for thinking so much
ol what they should eat. At such times
drawing" would be taken bv DoIlv
from the last of the fragrant tea which
Uncle Maxwell had brought home years
ago from China, measuring it carefully in
spoon so small as to be in constant dan
ger of losing itself in the caddy, Rnt
finally the tea was going so fast that -
little strategy was necessary to keen Dru.
silla whose cough was growing trouble.
some, from knowing that Dolly was
drinking quite another brew at these
rare high teas.n This was all long AGO.
before Bucket Town had changed its
quaint, common name for the more pre-
tentious one which marks the modern
seashore resort OF to-day. THANKSGIVING
Day was then the day of days in New
England, when families all gathered un.
der common roof-tree, and "anybody
widout fambly had a mighty po' tim
glbin' tanks, as Uncle Cicero (thcir ma,
OF all work. expressed it, adding cheer
1ully, Now we alPs got family, Mis-
Drusilla."
Cicero Augustus Hamilton was tn,
only legacy left to the Miss Pilkinses b,
their sad little mother, who, diving be
fore their poverty was discovered, sup
posed it would be an easy task to scar