News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-03-17
A PECULIAR GIRL.
BY MRS. WILLIAM WINTER.


Rachel Landor began life by being
peculiar. Instead of the customary
and orthodox yell with which the in
habitants of this planet greet their
first sight of it, Rachel remained per-
fectly quiet, only looking up into the
nurses face with a calm and ques-
tioning gaze, which greatly dlscon-
certed that experienced matron-or,
to quote her own words, causing her
TO be SO all struck of a heap, it
was blessed miracle she hadn't
dropped the uncanny little thing then
an there an so stopped her from
any chance of making any noise in
the world, either then or thereafter. "
But the baby thrived, although she
began with a perverse preference for
the bottle, rather than her natural
sustenance, giving the second proof
of what her nurse called her ''pecul-
iarness;" and as her young life ad-
vanced from weeks to months, and
from months to years. she managed
to keep up her reputation, so early
begun, of being unlike other children.
Of course, she heard a great deal of
this peculiar way of hers, and she
liked being made the subject of won
dering remarks and admiration
though, perhaps, that was not pecul-
lar. Anyway she soon became i'm
bued with the idea that everything
that happened to her was special
and unusual; and though naturally
warm-hearted, and not more selfish
than the general run of her sex and
age, she certainly developed a re-
markable amount of egotism.
At eighteen she fell IN love, quite
convinced that, though other girls
might have imagined themselves in
love before her time, there had never
really been any one who thoroughly
understood the heights and depths
of that passion till it was eXempli-
fed in her George Murray encour-
aged her in that belief, and declared
that he responded to it wish fervOr
and intensity which could only be ex-
perienced in the unknown recesses OF
the male heart.
There was soon an almost bitter
feeling of rivalry between the lovers
as to which of them loved the more,
and while this feeling was at the
height, Amy Rivers came home from
bOarding-school.
Amy was that kind of a girl that
men go mad about. She was small
and slender. with dainty hands, and
feet of diminutive size, and heart OF
similar dimensions. She had a mass
of fluffy blonde hair, complexion OF
! lilies and roses, and great china-b blue
eyes, very soft and dewy, and shaded d
| bylong, s;lky lashes, that gave them
an expression of deep feeling, such as
Ltbeir owner had never experienced in
all her shallow life For the rest, she
| had great taste in the adornment oil
her charming person, and her maid
faithfully carried out her best ideas.
Miss Amy Rivers very speedily set
tied the curious rivalry that had eX-
isted between the lovers. She had
not been home a week when George
Murray ceased protesting the supe-
rior depth of his attachment to Ra-
chel. By the end of the second week
he never spoke of his love at all, and
looked bored when his tiancee spoke
of hers. By the end olthe third week
he had almost ceased visiting Rachel,
and then only on cOmpulsion; and
by the end of the fourth week the
whole town was talking of his elope-
ment with Amy Rivers, and wonder
ing if Rachel Landor-Tho had fallen
like one dead when she learned of it
would ever rise from the bed on which
they laid her. But Rachel didn't die
AS she said, bitterly, that would have
been too simple; and, being peculiar
she had to live for something much
harder to bear. Poor girl! 1t was
really a great grief, and her suffering
was acute; but, after her custom, she
made it worse.
There had never been so great
a wrong committed against any
woman, and none other had ever felt
such so deeply.
Having said that, she closed hel
lips on the subject.
Year after year went by, and many
people had forgotten Rachel LandOr
and those who knew her failed to rec
ognize the worn, haggard woman o
twenty-five, who certainly looked tel
years older; and when people spok,
of her, it was either with pity or con
tempt.
"Such q wasted life Ian only child
worshiped by her parents, who wer
dying of grief for her selfish grief;
rich woman, too, who might be doing