The Newtown bee., 1892-08-05


 yet. You see, the scissors stuck in tn
 floor this very mornin', an' it's always
 reliable sign. There, I've got to kiss y
 both again!n
 ssI don't know where we can all set,
 lamented sister Mandana. ssThere ain
 but the one chair an the bed; U othe
 chairs too rickety; an we've been prom
 ised another these 10 days; but frs
 they've forgot 1t, an next Mis- Jane
 can't spare it,-one excuse and then an
 other. I'm goin' to git stump of woo'
 an nail a board on to it, when l can gi
 outdoor again." said Mandana, in
 plaintive voice. sThere, ain't goin' t,
 complain O nothin', now you've come,
 she added; and the guests sat down, MT
 Trimble, as was proper, in the one chair
 "We've sat on the bed many's th
 time with you, sBecca an talked owe
 our girl nonsense, ain't we? You know
 where't was,-in the little back bedroom
 we had when we was girls, an used tt peek out at our beaux through tht
 strings O mornin' glories," laughed Anr
 Bray delightedly, her thin face shining
 more and more with joy. "I brought
 some O them mornin' glory seeds along | when we come away, we'd raised lem SC many years; an we got 'em started all right, but the hens found lem out. l declare I chased them poor hens, foolish as t was; but the mornin' glories I'd counted on sight to remind me O home. You see, our debts was so large, after my long sickness an all, that we didn't feel right to keep back anything we could help from the auction"
 It was impossible for any one to speak for moment or two; the sisters felt their own uprooted condition afresh, and their guests for the first time really com prehended the piteous contrast between that neat little village house, which now seemed a palace of comfort, and this cold, unpainted upper room in the re- mote James farmhouse. It was an un- welcome thought to Mrs Trimble that the well-to-do town of Hampden could provide no better for it's poor than this and her round face flushed with re- sentiment and the shame of personal re- sponsibility. '"The girls shall be we'll settled in the village before another win ter, if I pay their board myself,' she made an inward resolution, and took another almost fearful look at the broken stove, the miserable bed, and the sisters one hair covered trunk, on which Mandana was sitting. But the it of hospitality.
 Rebecca was again discoursing elo- quently of the installation; it was so much easier to speak of general subjects, and the sisters had evidently been long ing to hear some news. Since the late Summer they had not been to church and presently Mrs Trimble asked the reason.
 "Now. don't you go to pouring out our woes, Mandy" begged little old Ann, looking shy and almost girlish, and as if she insisted upon playing that life was still all before them and all pleasure. Don't you go to spoilin' their visit with our complaints They know wells we do that changes must come, an we'd been so wonted to our home things that this come hard at first :; but then they felt for us, know just as wells can be. 'T will soon be Summer again, an 'tis real pleasant right out in the fields here, when there ain't too hot l spell. I've got to know sight O new 'ingin' birds slnce we come.''
 "Give me the folks I've always | snown," sighed the younger sister, who ooked older than Miss Ann, and less even tempered. "You may have your birds, if you want lem. do reilly long o go to meetin' an see folks go by up he aisle. Now, will speak of it, Ann, whatever you say. We need, each of us, ! good pair O good stout shoes an rub are all worn out; an we've ssked an' asked an they never think to bring lem, an "-
 Poor old Mandana, on the trunk, cov- ,red her face with her hands and sobbed | lloud. The elder sister stood over her md patted her on the thin shoulder like | | child and tried to comfort her. It | crossed Mrs Trimble's mind that it was not the first time one had wept and the | other had comforted. The sad scene must have been repeated many times in that long, drear Winter. She would see hem forever after in her mind as fixed IS picture, and her own tears fell fast.
 "You didn't see Mis- James, cunning little boy, the next one to the baby, did your" asked Ann Bray, turning round quickly at last, and going cheerfully on with the conversation. "Now, hush, Mandy, dear; they'll think you're child sh He's dear, friendly little creatur', md likes to stay with us a good deal, ,hough we feels if t was too cold for nim, now we are waitin' to get us more wood"
 "When think of the acres O wood- and in this town!" groaned Rebecca Wright. 1T b'lieve I'm goin' to preach next Sunday, stead O the minister, an I'll make the sparks fly. I've always heard the saying, Whats eyerybody's l business is nobody's business,' an I've come to believe it."
 "Now don't you, 'Becca. You've hap ,ened on kind of poor time with us, but we've got more belongings than you see lere, and good large closet, where we