Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-04-22
GOLD-HEELED SHOES.

"A million minute Gold heels on
my shoes 80 A tall spare woman bobbed
up from the BURBERRY patch and looked
around hall guiltily. then drew treasured
breath. for no one was within ear-shOt.
"True as l stand here. she said, address
ing mingled multitude of ferns. rocks
and berry bushes, some day III do it.
And when I'm worth a million minute.
I'll have gold heels to my shoes.
She shut her lips tightly, defying more
thoughts to escape: but even then the line
of her mouth was pleasant She knelt
and industriousy stripped the low bushes
holding her pail beneath with an expert
enced hand to catch the dropping berries.
She had fifteen quarts to deliver at sunset.
and the terms of her contract left no time
for monoogue
This was Abby-'Miss" Abby to the
children, Aunt Abby among the sick
simply Abby to ordinary adults People
did not trouble themselves about her sur
name. They did not even think much
about her but accepted her as their Just
due from a friendly Providence Children
discovered her living i'm little house in
the edge of Pomtret and spoke of Miss
Abby is an acquisition. Then some sick
man. yearniug for herb remedies, was
gratihed 10y her, and thereafter declared
Aunt Abby had saved his life. The wise
those who moiled with an eye single to
the inrolling dolar-began by mistrusting
her sincerity, and ended by questioning
her mental balance. They did not per-
ceive how one could live by works nOn-re-
sultant in a stipulated wage
Abby moved towards a competency as
4lr- a . H.. =.
ent path, pleasanter and as direct There
We're happy. kindly faces along her way
And if they did not always comprehend
her, they at least nodded and smiled en-
cOuragingly as she passed To such a one.
Frightening some dark turn of the path.
she would say:
y on wait till l get my gold-heeled
shoes Then l can smile for YOU.
''Real gold, Abby?" inquired the practi-
cal one.
''Ye s, indeed. Why not? When YOU re
worth million a minute, YOU can do that
sort Of thing
At sunset she walked. fatigued. to the
village store and delivered the berries.
And here's your pay" said the store
keeper. Eight cents a quart. fifteen
quarts dollar twenty. What you going to
do with so much money, Abby?' with an
eXpectant oblique glance for the benefit of
some dozen lOungers.
1T all goes towards those gold-heeled
shoes, said Abby, cheerily. Then the
loungers followed the storekeeper in
laugh
"Abby's all right, said he. after she
went out. you don't have to measure
her berries But she's a little queer A
fellow has to laugh at her now and again"
Abby ploughed her way home along the
dusty July road zone twenty, one TWEEN
"" she repeated. "Theres a DAYS work
for you. There's another peg in you gold
heeled shoes. They're coming, coming
She invigorated herself, mind and body,
by this alchemic formula. "Gold- heeled
shoes to the storekeeper and his ilk was
vagary for their diversion. To Abby the
words We're mere cumulative signs.
The widow Barker, with her hayward
son Jim, were Abby's nearest neighbors.
Barker pere had served in the navy. AT
ter his death a small pension came regu-
larly, atfOrding the widow a meagre living
1t was her sole support, for jim was a
thorn, Upright mothers quoted him to
children as a warning. He even pricked
Abby, until she was half minded to report
his lapses TO his mother, when she would
fall in a temper, and rate herself roundly.
''Gold shoes, indeed. ! don't deserve
leather. As if that woman didn't have
trouble enough without its being piled on
free Providence has been TOO good 10
me; there's nobody to mourn over: no
body to worry over A little cross like
this will do me good,
Abby had intended to stop for a mo-
ment's chat with the widow, but the house
appeared deserted, and she passed on
ITS pension day" she thought u
know where she is Upstairs crying for
him that gone, Blue blue as she can
be, ii m. I'm blessed that my past
don't sorrow me, nor my future either.
There It is now Million a minute
Gold-heeled shoes Keep it up,
Abby spoke of wealth with rich exagger-
alton. Her ideal independence was simply
freedom from debt. She had one desire
that ruled her life-and that, TO possess a
home. The knowledge that her landlord
might, on lapse in payment, turn her
out, rode her as a sense OF inferiority Her
material standing seemed as insecure as
her credit. But to own the ground she
walked on, that was to wear gold-heeled
shoes, Every step left the impress of
wealth's equality All her efforts. then,
were directed TO the reduction of the in
siderable mortgage that threatened her
home.
She labored hard i'll every channel known
to single cOuntrywomen. She picked and
sold berries. She gathered and cured
sweet-fag. She had a patch OF garden
with many herbs in it, and others she gath
cred wild and dried in lunches for the
druggists and medicine-makers. She stitch
ed boots when that seldom work offered
She knit and sewed She did not know an
idle moment the year around
By years of patient toll Abby had re-
duced the amount of the mortgage to one
hundred dollars. And one night, when
she looked at her handbook and counted
the days receipts, she found enough TO
cancel the debt 1t was a matter of veri-