The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1891-10-22
Hannah FearinS'S Fortune
By AUGUSTA LARNED

lCOpyrighk 1901. By American Press AssOciA-
tiou.l
Then, as misfortunes like rocks always
ay in black hocks, bis only daughter, a
beautiful girl, died just in the bloom Of
young womanhood, and his son was
drowned on q yachting excursion In the
Mediterranean The old man, thus
wrecked in his affections and fortunes.
fell into an illness, from which he arose
after many weeks o broken and dis
abled man, one side partially paralyzed
and his left arm and hand quite useless
When he came to consciousness the auc-
tioneers were In the lower rooms Of his
house knocking down the furniture to
the lowest bidder, and Hannah Fearing
was at his bedside, where she had faith
fully held her post for six long weeks.
The doctor had bid in few Of the pre-
cious old volumes from Rand's valuable
library, and In less than q week after the
sale the sick man and this little remnant
Of his fortunes, once great for q country
town. were moved over to Hannah's best
room, the parlor Of the brown cottage
where he had lived ever since on her
care and bounty.
Hannah said she was paying debt,
and II she spent the remainder Of her
life in nursing Hiram Rand it would not
make up to him what he had done for
her. He was old, alone in the world,
without near relatives, poor and prac.
tically helpless, for he was nailed to his
chair by paralysis and could only just
manage TO wheel himself from his bed
to his reading table by the window.
The quiet, transformations benefactiona
Of the man had made him many friends,
but principally among the poor, who
could do nothing but pray for him in
his afilictionA Hannah had kept him
now for three years, giving him the
care Of loving and devoted daughter.
BE had taken 1t in the right spirit, for.
as he often said, it is q rarer virtue to re.
ceive with grace than to give from your
abundance. A peculiar bond had grown
up between them a. she cooked and
washed for him, or nursed his ailments
and kept the sunny little parlor where
he lived as neat as wax, replying to all
narrow minded criticism Of her behavior
with biting, sarcastic speech.
It was with immense pride and affec-
ton that Hannah looked at the old man,
whom she reverenced as q being Of su-
pernatural endowments. She was not q
woman to do things by halves nor To
stint her love and devotion. It was heI
belief that the old man had brought
her good luck and q blessing, for had
she not Aourished uncommonly these
three years past? Had not everybody
been kindl Had not the world been
made soft TO her in many unexpected
ways, and human love and appreciation
been shown to her as they seldom were
to her rich neighbors? But some Of her
hopes had miscarried. Do any Of III
bring all our little dream argosies into
port2 Sybil would never make teacher
She had been forced to let her learn type.
writing and take place in Lawyer Dins.
more's Office
Sybi was now eighteen and not at all
Of her mothers temperament, not at all
. driver with mighty power to turn of
work, with tears and laughter lying
close together in her fiery and impetuoui
soul; but round and soft and dreamy a
callow birds in the west-the poetic
young girl but half awake to the outer
world and living in realm Of her own
thoughts and fancies.
And Dick, too, had been taken from
school and placed In the chemical works
Of the town. They were both earning q
little, but Il was Q pang at Hannah's
heart when she thought that Dick must
be kept from his books. The boy had q
real passion for mathematics, and nights
after her labor, with Q stocking to mend
on her hand, the mother bent with hez
boy over his slate trying vainly to helr
him with the knotty problems.
Mr.. Rand had no head for fgurea &c
acknowledged It with sorrow. It was q
singular defect In his constitution that
had led to the wreck Of his worldly AZ.
faira As he said, he could not compre-
bend why two and two should invariably
make four. But the old man had tried
TO form Dicks literary taste on the best
models he had recommended to him,
rs entertaining reading Of the savoriest
kind, Burton's "Melancholia, Sir Thorn.
a. Brownies Essay on Burial Urns, "
Moore's Utopia" and Isaak Walton's
Gentle Angler" The boy had come near
breaking his mental teeth on these hard
nuts. and. had failed to crack any Of
them except Walton, who is meat for
all ages