The Press., 1891-07-30
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1891,.
w. CT. U. DEPARTMENT.
(Mrs. Kate Tannant Woods, in Union Signal.) A LITTLE NEW ENGLAND MAID.

w. C.. T. U. DEPARTMENT.
 (Mrs Kate Tannant Woods, in Union signal.)
 A LITTLE NEW ENGLAND MAID.
 Continued from last weekly .t.,.t
 twas wonderful to note the transforma- tion thattopk place in Bessie; she was like motIser, betting and earing for her first precious baby. The aanate mother hood given to all good women expressed itself in a thousand ways. She antici7 pated wishes, she grew inventive and skillful with the daily demands upon her ]; and although her father marvelled much that this beautiful daughter should SO suddenly. blossom into the thoughtful care -taker,s the mother said with the smile so expressive and dear to him now 1: "Adaptahility is woman's secret source of power put her in new or trying posi- tion, and the gold of hei nature Is refined and p0lished no matter bow. .irksome the task or how wearing the duty, the true woman is equal to it. I sometimes think that woman actually falls in love with disagreeable task after 8 time, once let her feel that it is a, duty she never fal- ters till it is accomplished, or her work here is over" '-.f'''s'. 7, '''fE.'' :rl
 Bessie and her father found infinite comfort in planning pleasant surprises for the invalid. For her sake, door gave place to a graceful arch through which the captive could see her family as- sembled about the piano or organ, and also, when pain and suffering had not rem dered her too weak, could join her voice with theirs. For her sake, tables, chairs, rests, bed-tablets, and every conceivable thing was made, until the old attic at Glenridge became veritabie curiosity shop" 5.-.. .-..~... .......-,.
 In time, small conservatory was built, where 8 fountain tinkled and the birds sang, while the flowers were growing. Here the sprightly Maida took many an object lesson in that long ago, and the mother looked from her pillows upon the budding plants and graceful foliage.
 Mrs. Hale, like her husband, was de- scended from old Puritan stock, and all her married life had been devoted to unit ing the good qualities of the past with the best of the present. Sunday, so dreaded in her childhood, was the dearest day in the week to her children, even the rest less Maida joining in the wish that each week might have two Sundays. In those days this liberal training. caused the neighbors to wonder, but many said: "It must be all right, for his father was a minister, and the Hales were always a lit tie queer, you know" l..e -.-.s.f!s z.,
 In those days, too, wine and cider were freely used and many good man was sent prematurely to his grave by the use of strong drinks. It was then considered the proper thing to offer the minister a glass of homemade wfne or raspberry shrub" and cider mill was a necessary in every town. Mir. Hale had inherited his, and the people came from miles around to have their apples ground into cider; some of the wiser portion, even then, refused to use strong drink in any form, and the mill was gradually becom- ing 8 miniature vinegar factory.
 This mill had been a trial to Mrs. Hale for several years; she could not quite reconcile its presence so near her own doors with her strong convictions of duty towards others. She ventured to say as much to Maida one day, and the girls questions surprised her; the child had been thinking about it, also; why, she could not tell, any more than her mother could say why she chose to mention this subject to Maida, rather than to her hus band or eldest daughter. In the most united families there are secred bonds o individual union.
 The mill brought many guests to tht house; when Deacon Simpkins took uI apples, his wife usually said: '"'Pa, e you don't mind, I'll jes go up and set spell long of poor Mis- Hale; it nigh eherk her up 8 bit, although for that mat did see." . '*t E Then the deacon would assent, and tn, tail-board would be taken out of tn, wagon, and several barrels of apples pn in, and Mrs. Simpkins, with her best bon net on her head and her new cotton glove on her hands, with her 6roche shawl draw tightly over her arms, and general ai of dress-up-a-tiveness about her, would smile at ''pa," and chatter to him all th' way to Glenridge. as&r \ Other women did likewise sometimes making the gift of particular presery' spoken of as ''jell," the pretext for a wis it, or some "picklin, vinegar" !" anything to obtain entrance to the home that seem ed so nysterieasYands grand to many O the simple, kind-heafted -neighbors.
 The "squire's folks'' were all uncon scious of the curiosity that they excited and the last man in the world to hear tn, exaggerated stories of his wealth, spread abroad by. these visitors, was Matthev Hale himself.
 It is one of the peculiarities of human nature that quiet, innocent family, hap py in it's own way, inevitably becomes tn object of surmises and rumors, whicl grow to be statements, and are in tim 1 finally received as truth. Never did happier family exist; and yet the un known became the doubtful, and tn doubtful the ,.derogatory. Thus it wa said, that "the sick woman was yer, cross and exacting; that every dolla which MT. Hale could raise she demande' for her selfish pleasures; that she op posed the mill, and denied her childrel even drop of cider, because she deteste' such things herself;" in short, scandal the vile mischief-maker, who spares n one, however sweet and unselfish, ha' transformed this patient sufferer into
 human. vampire.
 Even the brief absence of her husban, | euoro bo,oa tI> looE oftor y>oounio vxy iuSoY