Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1893-12-08


Susan Dodd were honestly delighted
with this sudden addition of their
nieces to the family circle.
Mrs Dodd soon began to talk to her
neighbors with complacency about the
responsibility of bringing up girls,
and when her back WAS turned her
friends shook their heads, saying:
'It's shame! In their old age,
too, when they were just beginning to
take little comfort ~
The girls were tall, pretty, strong
and vivacious. Their names were
Martha and Eyelina Each had brown
hair, delicately tinted face and large
gray eyes that looked at people in q
friendly, unabnshed way. Martha
was thirteen years old when she ar
rived-two years older than her sister
and before she he'd passed her six
teenth birthday Ephraim decided that
she must go away to a better school
than Lumberton afforded. 1t was a
sad day for the Dodds when snail
leathern trunk bumped to the railway
station behind one Of Uncle Ephraim' S
OK teams.
Ephraim, Evelina and her Aunt
Susan chung to Martha with a frantic
earnestness in saying good-by and
then stared at one another tearfully
when the train whirled weeping Martha
and her belongings away from Lum-
berton.
On the way back to the farm Mrs
II
placed across the cart .railings, and
Ephraim walked beside thom, directing
his oxen. After while he spoke sol
emnly.
"'Taint that | amt got confidence
in Marthy, said he. 81 think she'll
turn ont fust-rate; but if there is any
meanness i'll her nature, or any hidden
dust in the corners Of it, we'll know it
before long. She's started out On the
testin' times of her life"
"Mercy," Mrs. Dodd exclaimed,
dashing tear from her eye, chow You
talk, Ephraim You make cold shiy-
ers run all over me ~
81 think she'll turn out fust-rate, ="
the old man repeated; 'but she aint
been tested yet, an now she's a-goin'
TO be. The city aint the country, an
their ways aint our ways.
Evelina sat rigidly erect and gazed
at the oxen through screen of tears,
while the three, moving along autumn
tinted country roadsides, went slowly
home. There was great vacancy in
the farmhouse. They felt 1T every day.
Longing for Martha, they eagerly
read and re-read the letters which she
sent regularly once a week. written in
an uncertain girlish hand abounding
in little curves. She told all about her
studies and her teachers and her
friends, sometimes even specifying the
classmates eyes.
Ephraim read all the letters aloud
on Saturday evenings, piecing them to-
gether like continued story, aud
Mrs. Dodd and Eyelina listened II
brought the writer very near to them
They always felt breathlessly inter
estod
two visits, she was allowed to spend u
long vacation with one OF the school
girls in her city home, Then the let
ters, arriving oftencr than before, tool.
on brighter tints, aud gave glimpses
OF Il luxurious town-houso- yastly diff
fcrent from the Dodd homestead, witt
ita wooden wings" aud aIr OF humble
thrift
Ephraim Dodd read these letters in
a serious, iaitcrius voice while Eyolina
and her aunt listened rather anxious.
lya knowing bis troubled thoughts.
The faded comfort Of their old sitting
room somehow touched thom with Il
wistful forsboding Would il seem
diugy g. Martha Might not her new
surorndiags teach her 10 despise thf
simple homeiifa 81 umherton village
A. last camo letter describins hei
frlend'a hcdroom
q sish 500 enpld seo phst ehsfm
ms hnniiotr neFrihy has .hr bea
stead ia hraas aHl it slliteff lthe gold
Overhead ha. 8 canopy - pale hlp,
aad Hhlin, tTnssd eth lithuna
feel liks q pflneesf slesplas o. FoyA
seaeh Tee heoF is covered eitl .oi'