The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1891-12-11
TAKEN UPON TRIAL.

why, that one half the world is bound
willy-nilly to bear the burdens of the other
half.' sighed the deacon.
Ezra shifted his tobacco from one side of
his face to the other.
"Wal, as a gin'ral thing said he, 81
calculate you're right, but | DON'T see how
it fits your case"
Don't YEP" The deacon gave a signif-
cant snuff. Here have | lived a bachelor
life all my days, because | was partial to
peace and quietness, and didn't wan no
extra care Lor trouble, and just when l
want to be peaceablest there comes one O
these new-fangled telegraph dispatches
from York city that my brother John and
his wife are both dead, and that my three
nieces would take it very kind ifthey could
come out here and live with me-
"P'raps they've got means to live on"
No, they amt" said the deacon. Not
a red cent"
IVA, | swami" calculated Mr.. Elton.
Jest what think myself" said tie
deacon, ruefully.
"Ain't goin' to consent, be yea
The deacon established himself more
firmly on the old stone wall which inter-
posed bet~ cen the highway and a patch Of
spring woods, all gay with dogwood bios
SONS and fresh young leaves.
"Well, yes, be and l amt. Sounds like
parallels. don't ii? But I'm talkin' sober
sense. I've writ to the lawyer that's wind
ing up brother Johns affairs, and told him
to send the girls Oh. | writ hat I'd take
'em for a months visit, and at the end o
that time IG decide which of the three to
keep. The other two must scratch for
themselves. Amt no sense in my sup
porting three grown women in idleness. |
me. But | don't see my way clear to
supportin' the three of en-"
AN what you be goin to do with Jemi-
ma Willet?" asked Elton.
she's goin' to the new factory to work.
Her brother is cutter there, and he's told
her of q vacancy in the ironing room"
Goals is a nuisance" observed Ezra,
trimming off a fresh piece of tobacco with
his pocket knife.
Il guess you're about right" said the
deacon.
And while Deacon Prout, in the bland
sunshine of the Ohio spring, was lamenting
bis evil fate, Brother Johns" three
daughters down in New York were harping
on the same string.
The country, sighed Mamie Prout.
And | always hated the country
IAN old bachelor. too," said Isabel.
Papa always called him an original. l
detest originals, don't you?"
Hester screwed her bonny pink and white
face into a dimpled knot.
st will be a grand joke" said she. 81
can get no end of material for the novel
I'm going to write. l shall make a special
ty of Western dialect"
81 suppose we must &C. said Isabel.
And Mamie dolorously remarked that
"They did not seem to hava much choice
lef.."
IF dear papa had only lived to see that
last investment through" said Hester, I'VE
should nave been heiresses."
Isabel shook her smooth, silky head.
Papa was always building castles in the
air?" sighed she.
Deacon Prout received the three girls
with stiff c%isility, told them that they were
welcome, and put each of them in charge
of some one particular department of Buck
eye Farm.
Isabel was 10 be housekeeper, Hester
dairy maid, and Mamie to take charge of
the poultry.
but uncle" protested Isabel, 1--WE don't
know anything about poultry raising nor
cooking nor butter making
81 want to know" said the deacon,
what SOFT O work have We been bruug up
top
"If you nave a piano." suggested Nam
ME. 81 have particularly studied Chopin
aud S%chumann."
II can sketch quite accurately from na-
ture," remarked Isabel.
''And l." said Hester valiantly have
had . poem accepted from the A~borsginas
Magazine"
Deacon Prout rolled his cold gray eyes
from one to the other of the speakers.
"All that amt nothin' practical" said
he. 81 hain't no use here for music, nor
picters, nor poetry"
And be stalked over TO the BAN, leaving
his three niece looking despairingly at
one another.
In the kitchen old Jemima Willet mali
ciously chuckled as she clattered among
the pots and pans, for the factory engage
ment didn't begin until next week.
Il guess l shsn't be out Of a situation
long, said she to herself. There amt
nothin' solid or substantial about these
gals"
Isabel proceeded straight to the general
store in the village and bought a cookery
book. Hester and Mamie went into The
nearest house, and took counsel with the
t~utelary genius there upon the subject of
COWS and Bramah Po"trs fowls.