Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-04-17

I've KEEP it nice for funerals an when
| do go to meetin' though that amt
often now. Why, it'll get all shiny in
no time if I go to putin it on every
day, let alone my feelin' like fool
all rugged up SO when there amt no
occasion. Lyddy, she's different.
Young folks ought to rig.
"Now, Mis- Seavey, I don't want you
to think Pm complainin'. At my time
o. life it's hard work tryin' to git into
new ways. But land, you can git used
to anything 1t makes Lyddy happy.
Poor child! It's hard for her to be
penned up here in the country. There
amt a. prettier appearin' girl in New
York or Boston I'll be bound.'
Mrs. Seavey bounced up in wrath.
''Pretty appearingi WHAT'S pretty
appearing, I'd like to know, when she's
pesterin' your life out, and just as sell
fish as she can be? I've got to run
back now, for Johns comm home to
dinner, but Pm goin' to stir you up
mess of rye and Injun cakes, and If
you don't have some for your dinner,
and d dish Of tea, too, I'll come in
bimeby and give your Lyddy piece
Of my mind. Good-by!"
Off she trudged, burning with
sense of the old lady's wrongs, and
trying to peep into the reconstructed
best parlor as she went through the
entry.
The village did not think much Of
Lydia since she returned from school,
a tall, stylish girl, "with more airs
than music box" as the ladies de-
clared at the sewing circle.
Lydia sat quietly after the voices
had died away, no longer sleepy, but
half amused, half sad. She had been
thoroughly disconnected at the home
1y old farmhouse after her very mod
ern home at school. 1t really seemed
to her that she had shown nobleness
of soul in choking down the despair
in her heart and trying to make the
best of things.
The parlor especially she looked
upon quite as an artistic triumph. But
no amount of talking and scolding
could put the Marcy household on
stylish footing. Plain and old-fash-
toned it was, and so it would remain
in spite of all her efforts.
"Grandma is so obstinate!" Lydia
had groaned in her own room.
The little talk she had now over
heard put new aspect upon it all.
She saw as if veil had fallen from
her eyes how her grandmother had
been sorely bewildered by the new
ideas, and how the sweet old soul had
struggled silently to come into har-
mony with a strange order of things
with an unselfishness that made
Lydia's trials seen trifiing.
Then she flew to the best parlor, land
in very little while had brought back
it's old prim order. She pushed the
hair cloth chairs back stiffiy against
the wall, closed the blinds at the win
dows and took away every aesthetic
touch she had given.
Last, but not least, out of the closet
under the stairs she dragged the de-
spised portrait of her ancestor in the
gaudy militia uniform. Laughing
quietly at it's grotesqueness, she hung
this work of art up on it's old nail,
where it was easily the most promi-
nent thing in the room.
When all was done a gloOmier and
more forbidding apartment had never
been seen, but, just as it was, grand
ma loved it.
When the old lady awoke the sun
was streaming in across the sitting
room floor and the bell was ringing
for dinner. Lydia appeared in the
doorway with bright smile, prettier
than ever.
"Come, grandma she called, "din-
ner is ready, and Mrs. Seavey has just
sent in little Kitty with some deli
cious cakes for YOU"
A great pleasure filtered over
grandma's face as she stepped eager
ly towards the dining room, leaning OF
, her cane.
'sI do believe they're rye and In
, iun,'' she exclaimed, as delightedly a
} a child, helping herself from the well
: filled plate.
1T thought perhaps you might Xix
cup of tea too" added Lydia, get
t ting up from her place to put the Gu
2 down by her grandmother, and tryin
: not to see the scorn Of the hired gil
, from the city, who had a great con
temnt for dinner at noon and tea 6
a dinner.
Lydia laughed and chatted cheer
fully until the meal was ended, an