Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-01-31


'TaiT from me. for the Farnsworths
nssrr read nothin'; n tain. fro.n nel
father, for cart horsss couldn't make
him open book
Mrs Green always alluded to cart
horses in this uay. rs il, with the ordi.
uary person, cart ho ses wers great in
! centiNeS 10 reading.
II Was on Saturday afternoons. be.
tween 2 and o'clock. that Mehitabel
left her home 10 walk the mile that lar
letweel Tat home and the village
where he so her novels.
II has struck half hour ago and
there she is just leaving the back door,
She has on long circular, which is
made of an alapaea skirt, is wadded
with catton batting. and lined v ith
black cambric. Her very soul had
longed for farmers satin for the lia-
ing of that circular but she could not
afford that luxury. Every time she put
on ihe cloak she shook it out before her,
looked at the lining sadly, imagined
what 1t might have been, then, with
sigh of resignation, swung The garment
over her thin, work bent shoulders. In
Mehitabel could not beat down the de-
sire for farmers satin for the lining
But, after the very first. she never men.
toned that desire. even when her mother
would say that the cambric did better
than she expected.
A long. white "cloud" is twisted a
great many times over Mehitabel's head,
leaving unprotected the forehead and n
portion f the sandy gray hair. There
is something heartbreakingly pathetic in
the expression across the brows and on
the eyelids, though the gray eyes them
selves look out with courage that has
a great deal of patience in it.
On her hands she has red mttens knit
by herself. On her feet are congress
boots, aud, except in dry summer
weather, large pair of ~arcticsr--
"artics she calls them-and is entirely
UPSET when they are. by any chance.
misplaced and she eau not find them be-
hind the wo, dbox, where they usually
stand. These arctics have a greatly
magnifying effec', even on small feet,
but when Mehitabel wears them one
might almost doubt if so thin woman
could lift anything SO large. But she
hops along with them, kicking up her
circular OH her heels as she gees
She always carries her books in a much
worn leather reticule, which Of ems and
shuts with a loud snap frequently
when there is a crowd at the library the
attendant will hear that snap some where
in the room and will know that Miss
Green has come for volume of Ouida's
If she can not get Ouila, strangely
enough, Miss Green always asks for
something of George Eliot's. She does
not write down the numbers of the books
she wants for she has tried to do that
long ago, and became so utterly con-
fused Ly the intricacies of the catalogue
that she went home without any books.
She was SO tremulous with excitement
that she did not " isll to address the Ii
brarian, but preferred to walk back over
the lonely pike it'll an empty bag. A
few tears of disappointment and anxiety
dropped over her face as she trudged on
They had no straw in the house that
week to sew, and she would have had
more time to read 1t was not until size
had fed the hens and milked the cow
and was mixing sour milk biscuit for
supper that she yentured 10 tell her
mother that "them catalogues was too
much for her. If she had known be-
fore she asked for her card how it was
the custom to write numbers and hand
in the slip. she didn't know as she should
have asked for one, any way.
Mrs Green had been a Farnswortli,
and Farnswortls. as she had asserted
long ago, want afraid of nothin'.
The widow babe her daughter " jes' go n
tell the woman N she'd git it, fast
enough
With much trepidation, Melitabel
the next day walked into the library
and took her place in the line of those
who stood waiting. But just as her
turn came her courage gave out, and
she slipped back and sat down on
settee. She fingered about, and pre-
tended to be studying some of the
pamphlets on the table After a
while the crowd Of school children had
gone.
The attendant looked over her desk.
the long. loose teeth. and the painfully
deprecating air, and she was immedi-
ately touched by keen emotion Of pity
and sympathy.
"Did you want a book?" she asked
kindly.
Mehitabel Immediately shuffled for
ward over the floor in her arctlcs. BY
the time she reached the desk she was
trembling so that her hand shook as she
put her card down
-Them catalogues, she began with
bashful eagerness, them Catalogues
can't make head nor tail out of 'em.
@No matter" was the reply, -wait
until Pm not busy, and Ill get you what
you wish.
@Oh, Pm 80 much obleeged, so much
obIeege II" faltered Mehitabel. with a
quiver Of voice and lips, -and would you
git me one Of Ouida's? No matter what
one, don't want to make no trouble;
any one that's handy.
And those last words became ever
after her formula when she went to the
library. She would wait until the
Librarian was at leisure, then she would
return her volume and say:
-Ouida's No matter what orc; any
that's la-dy. If she received oae that
she had just read it made no difference;
she woull take it home AMI read it
again; tile chances we're tIiat she would
often get Look which she had not read
foy eT,ra0 .,,ontlaa C.riousIv those