Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-01-07

never had a dollar spent on her school
ing, and has earned ten dollars a week
for forty weeks year, for the last
five years; has helped her ma for her
board fore and after school, has dressed
well, furnished her mas parlor up,
and put money in the savings bank;
and you two girls can't even give the
neighbor's children lessons on a melo-
deonl Oh, j am sick OF hearing it all,
and the worst of the whole is it ia
true; and, rs much as we hate that
old farmhouse and the way grandp-
and grandma live, VS. have nowhere
else to be-"
well, what can't be helped. can't;
so what is the use of talking? We
may just as well make the best of it
and come right down and take what
fun there is going; so let's walk on to
Betty Plummer's and tell her we will
accept her invitation for tomorrow
night, and go right in for a good
time with the neighborhood young
folks. l said at first never would do
it, bht then L did not expect to stay
here forever; now begin to think we
may. But, let's draw the line at mar
irving, we will flirt with the boys and
have good time. Twill be some
thing to take up our time. Grandpa
lard grandma will like all but the flirt-
ling; they will begin to have hopes of
lus aid think we are at last growing
sensible, and we can keep dark about
our real opinions of folks and things.
Il hope, though, they will not play
IL. al l. - I,
grandpa's hired man kiss us! Of
course, he is invited"
Betty Plummer was quite overcome
by the sudden cordiality of Mabel
lTinkham and her adopted sister, Mary
Peck, and for the rest of the day was
jim quite a fiutter of excitement over
the event.
Roland Holland and his friend, Jack
Staples, had chanced upon the Plum
mer farm for their halting place in
this neighborhood while sketching.
When they returned TO a late dinner
the voluble, gay-hearted Betty chatter
ed of her morning callers, and with
country freedom soon had given the
young men a full history of neighbor
Tinkham's oldest son who had Z" years
ago left the farm and gone to New
York as clerk, and lately became
what the country people called stock
gambler; had been rolling in money a
few years, and married city girl;
later had lived in Europe few years,
and then, just as all gamblers do sud-
denly he began to lose. and all at once
found himself at the bottom of the
heap and glad enough to send his two
girls TO his old home, which had never
been good enough for them to visit
when they had lots O. money"
She told the young man that the girls
were real nice, but couldn't do a thing
TO earn a dollar, and seemed actual V
proud of it,
Then she talked of her valentine party,
and the young men having identified
Mabel Tinkham and Mary Peck as the
two stylish young ladies of the morn.
ing episode, entered into Betty's plans,
and soon had given the quick-witted
country girl some hints about valentine.
tricks. Betty was always ready for a
good-natured joke and readily agreed
TO their suggestions.
In response to one of these she went
over to grandpa Tinkham's on the
evening of the thirteenth and told the
girls of these tricks. One was for the
girls to take an early morning walk on
the fourteenth and the first man they
met would surely be their future hus-
band! Others were TO be tried at the
house. One of these was 10 90 out
into the dark, and standing on the
doorstep unwind ball of twlne for a
few yards and holding the end of the
twine in one hand, with the other
throw the ball as far out into the dark
ness as possible, then begin TO wind
up the end in their hand, repeating
these lines:
81 wind this long line so very fine,
Hoping to find at the other end,
The love / would call nv valentine,
The man I'd choose for lover and friend"
Then. unless one was a predestined
old maid, at the end of the line would
stand before the maiden her future
husband who would yield the line to
her, clasp her in his arms and take his
first kiss and disappear in the dark
ness, and when the gates were propi-
Ii.
perhaps be introduced to him in the
most prosaic and orthodox manner
and surely some day he would come
to claim the hand of the maiden he had
kissed in the dark!
al shall go for walk before to-
morrow morning, Mary; will you go
too?" cried Mabel, gleefully.
'Indeed / will not. You'll be sure
TO meet somebody's hired man driving
the cows to the spring for water" re-
piled Mary, scornfully.
Then she continued, al will control
my impatience to see my hero until
evening. / shall throw the bail of
twine from our back doorstep, and let
it roll down the slope into the garden,
and then gently draw my hero up to
give me that sweet betrothal kiss, and
as it is hardly proper to accept any
thing from stranger, will return III
at once" and Mary joined in the gen
eral laugh.
Betty went home and reported.
Early the next morning Mabel went
out for walk and for half a mile met
no one, not even hired man driving
cows to water, nor mllkman going
toward the village.
Suddenly, as she turned a corner, she
came face to face with the dark, nous
,tached stranger she had seen a few
mornings ago posing so gracefully be-
side the stone wall as he lifted his hat
and passed around the corner.
Mabel was not more romantic than
the ordinary girl, yet her heart
throbbed more rapidly, and the rich
color swayed back and forth in her
,shapely cheeks, as she wondered if
there could be anything in such hap
penings, and queried mentally over and
over again, ''who could he be, where
from, and with whom was he staying
in that neighborhood, and would she
maybe sometime really meet and speak