The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-03-07

orses i'm this way, as If, with the ordi-
AIRY person, cart horses were great i'll
'eHdves to reading.
IL was on Saturday afternoons, be-
wcen and O'clock that Melitabel
,eft her home to walk the mile that lay
etWeen that home and the village
ehere she got her novels
IL has struck a half hour ago and
there she is just leaving the back door
She has on a long circular, which is
made Of an alapaca skirt, is wadded
With c,tton batting, and lined " it'll
black cambric. Her very soul had
onged for farmers satin for the lin
ing of that circular, but she could not
,fford that luxury. Every time she put
on the cloak she shook it out before her
oolSed at the lining sadly, imagined
what it might have been, then, with a
igh of resignation, swung the garment
over her thin, work bent shoulders. In
Che inmost recesses of her consciousness
Mehitabel could not beat down the de-
sire for farmers satin for the lining
But, after the very first, she never mem
Toned that desire, even when her mother
would say that the cambria did better
than she expected.
A long, white "cloud" is twisted a
great many times over Mehitabepe head,
eaving unprotected the forehead and a
portion of the sandy gray hair. There
is something heartbreakingly pathetic in
The expression across the brows and on
the eyelds, 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 mittens knit
by herself. On her feet are congress
boots, and, except in dry summer
weather, large pair of "arctics y
"artics she calls them-and is entirely
u set when they are, by any chance,
misplaced and she can not find them be-
hind the woodbox, where they usually
stand. These arctics have greatly
magnifying effect, 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 on her heels as she goes.
She always carries her books in much
worn leather reticule, which opens and
shuts S. it'll a loud snap Frequently
| wien 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 a volume of Ouida's.
Ii she can not get Ouida, strangely
enough, Miss Green always asks for
something of George Eliot's. She does
not write down the numbers of the books
i I.1,, =, G.. 81, A,.,. IL
long ago, and became so utterly con-
fused by the intricacies of the catalogue
that she went home without any books.
She was so tremulous with excitement
that she did not wish to address tile Ii
biarian, but preferred to walk back over
tho lonely pike with 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 sle
had fell the hens and milHed tie COW
and WAS mixing sour milk biscuit for
supper that she ventured to tell hel
mother that "them catalogues was toe
much Tor her If she had known be.
fore 81 o 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 Farnswortll,
and Flrnsworths, as she had asserted
long ago, want afraid of nothin',
Tie widow bade her daughter " ies' go m
tell the woman m she'd git it, fast
enough
With much trepidation, Mehitabel
the next day walked into the library
ard took her place in the line of those
WHO stood waiting. But just as hel
turn came her courage gave out, and
she slipped back and sat down on. q
settee. She fingered about, and pre-
tended to be studying some of the
pamphlets on the table After {
while the crowd of school children haC
gone.
The attendant looked over her desk
She saw the tall, shabby woman witt
the long. loose tee and the painfully
deprecating air, ana She was immedi
ately touched by keen emotion of pity
and sympathy.
did you want boolS2" she asked
kindly.
Mehitabel Immediately shuffled for
ward over the floor in her arctics By
the time she reached the desk she WA
trembling so that her hand shook as sh,
put her card down.
"Thcm catalogues, she began will
bashful eagerness, "them catalogues
l can't make head nor tail out of 'eln
No matter, was the reply, "wai
until Pm not busy, and I'll get you wha
you wish.
"Oh, Pm so much obleeged, so mucl
obleege u" faltered Mehitabel with
quiver of voice and lips, and would yol
git me one of Ouida's2 No matter wha
one, don't want to make no trouble
any one that's handy.
And those last words became eve
after her formula when she went to tn,
library. She would wait until th
Librarian was at leisure, then she woulC
reiurn her volume and say:
"Ouida's No matter what one; an,
that's handy. If she received one tina
she had just read it made no difference
she would take it home and read i
again; the chances were that she woul,
often get a book which she had not reaC
for some months Curiously thos
chances themselves grew into great in
terest to Mehitabel. It was something
like a lottery, she felt, and when
happened that she had story that wa
comparatively fresh, how gaily an,
rapidly those arcties would move home
ward over the pike; and with what jo
she would tell her mother of her luck.
wonder if any of those who saw he
every week in the library guessed tina
this errand to change her book was tn
one excitement to which she looked for
ward. Did they guess how hard sh
worked all that forenoon so that sh
nigh conscientiously take the time 70
this exciting errandf
And what did Mehitabel think c