The record-union., 1891-11-28

the old woman's sraisin' Cain" when she
saw Boomers work, but Granny had
done nothing of the kind. Her only al
lusion TO the millennium PELLET had
been: ''Well Adeline, you mast IA
wanted money dreadfuL6' From the
very beginning of the advertising epoch
change had come over Granny-she had
begun to draw into herself and an un-
Wonted stiffness had settled upon her
She seemed, in a kind of unholy peace,
to be feeding upon thoughts that were
agreeable-even amusing. Adeline some
times caught the old woman's eyes fixed
upon her with a curious and uncanny
twinkle in them. It gave Adeline the
''creeps''-it gave her a sensation that
after all Granny was not going to be cor
nered-that she was meditating some
! dodge. Adeline frequently said to her.
self, "What is it?'
! In the eighth month of the "ad'' Mrs.
/ Miller reckoned time only with relation
/ to the lad" now Granny was found dead
in her chair. Then it appeared to Ade-
line that CHASTITY joke had been played
upon her. She was positive that Granny
had done it "a purpose" Granny had
/ slipped away to add the sting of needless
ness to all the modification that Adeline
had been ''stan'in'." Her last moments
had been entertained by the spectacle of
! her daughter-in-law'S S unnecessary strug-
| giles to get rid of her. She had been tick
| led by the consciousness that the offen-
/ sive legend emblazoned upon Adeline's
door would fiourish-must flourish for
three long months after it had ceased to
have a reason for being, They buried
the old woman in the graveyard of the
First Reformed Church. There was no
other inscription on the headstone than
name and dates. Adeline Miller framed
from her own fancy d little epitaph which
/ rl,,xl l.. l.
Provokin' in Death'' it ran-but she kept
it to herself
a few weeks after Granny's funeral
Adeline began her spring house-cleaning.
1t was early for it, but she felt a feveriSh
desire to ''clean up.' The first thing
that she attacked was Granny's arm
chair, veteran piece of upholstery to
to which the old woman had always
clung, and which had been transported
from her own house at the time of hen ~e-
moval to Adeline's. Adeline Miller
ripped off the rags Of ancient rep from the
seat and back; the hair stuffing was good
ana she meant TO cleanse it and make up
the chair anew. 1t was a windy March
day, and Adeline had carried the chair
out in front Of the house upon the shelf
OF land that was all that was left there of
the yard. She sat down upon the ground
TO withstand the force Of the gale that was
blowing, and began to pull the stuffing
into her lap. Out from the matted
punches of hair tumbled shimmering
| shower of gold-bright, glittering gold
that clinked upon the hard ground
Some of the pieces spun, one rolled away;
the mass soon lay brilliant in the grass
Money! money! Mercy! mercy !
Moneyw cried Adeline She fell for
ward upon her knees and began to
gather up the pieces with trembling
fingers. They were double-eagles. Ade-
had har rfYl ~,
lore. She began to count, but her hands
| shook and her head was faint. Twenty
forty sixty eighty - mercy, mercy !
an to think she had 'em all the time !
Eighty-a hundred-Gear, deag-how /
wanted hundred! a hundred an
twenty-an' she never said nothfn', an
just set on this all her life. Dear me; an
L gave her my grenadine to keep her de-
cent, because she hadn't rag to her back!
A hundred an twenty-land! land She
used to beg. She shamed US by beggin'
till took her in! Where was Ia hun
dred an twenty-a hundred an forty
sixty. oh, dear oh, dear! When little
Lizzie died, if I'd just had ten dollars
more"
She lost her count here, and buried he
face in her hands to cry. When she goJ
mp she carried the gold into her bedroom.
and there, by aid Of paper and pencil, she
made out that there were $1,000 in all
the better part of Granny's property that
had 'dwindled away" Adeline locked
up this fortune in her bureau drawer and
went out in front of the house to gather
up the scattered hair as if in a dream.
Once or twice she stared up at the front
OF the dwelling, from which 'Hry Millen-
nelum Pellets" seemed to grimace at her
She had felt for months as if those letters
were tattooed upon her face.
She kept thinking: Were rich now.
but it don't make any difference: I BEN
through too much" Her husband came
and stood in the doorway. Adeline per
ceived that it was not lucid interval
with him; he had been drinking lust
enough to cloud his intellect 81 won't
tell him now," she reflected. Then she
thought: why, he can have a new SCOT
o. closep' 1t occurred to her, too, in the
next instant that she could have new
shed built in the cow-yard just as well as
not. 1t all daZzled her and she sat down
on the doorstep with her back to "him"
and tried to gather her wits. She real
lied with feeling of "fightness" that
her Cousins daughter Katie would come
on from the West now and stay with her
and help her in the dairy. Katie had
always wanted to come, but there had
never been any money before. Adeline
had always had a soft spot for Katie be-
cause she looked like Lizzie"
There was something else which fiut-
ton. She had vision-a queer little,
quick, unexpected yision-of something
that had dangled in the doorway of a
shop in the nearest large town where she
had been a month before. Adeline had
hardly realized that she had thought of
the thing at all at the time, but she re-
membered it distinctly now-she saw it
like flash. 1t was shawl, decent
black shawl, and it had a ticket
sewed on it which said, Twelve dollars"
When this vision came up before Adeline,
hot flush of joy spread itself over her
gaunt and careworn face. The next min
ute she said to herself, with kind of in
ternal bashfulness, "Adeline Miller,
you're fool!''
But-after all, it is such trifles that win
US back to life. HELEN WALTER.
Sunday-school teacher-Now, tell me
what do you understand by movable
feast? Pupil-A picnic.