The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-11-16
miscellaneous.
THE OLD OAK CHEST.
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.
She was all alone.
1t was quite new experience to
Dotty, this housekeeping business.
She had theoriZed a good deal over
| Handy Housekeepers, n"Comprehen,
sive Cook Books and Home Guides, -
but she never had any practical eX-
perience before, and now, up in these
wild woods, the helm of domestic al
fairs was Unexpectedly placed in her
hands, and hers alone.
She liked the woods aud the river
the meadows all starred with DAISIES
and the long, low farmhouse, with its
red brick chimney stacks its trellises
all bending with the weight of vines
the old stone-walled garden, where
ripening currants hung like ruby fin
gers, and the green gooseberries seem
ed to absorb the very sweetness of the
sunshine into their translucent hearts
To her mind it was deal nicer than
| the city fiat, with the milkman yell
ing, the hand-organ droning, the ever
lasting clouds of dust. And to-day,
when Aunt Themis wanted to go to
hear her favorite elder hold forth at
canp-meeting, Dotty volunteered to
stay and get the dinner for Reuben
and Rankin, her two tall cousins.
La child" said Aunt Themis,
~, don't know nothin' about cook
i'll -
But indeed 1 do - asseverated Dot
ty. Il can make a chicken fricassee
as well as You, Aunt Theinis. |
watched the way you did it last Satur-
day; and l know l can turn out IL
tirst-class cherry tart"
"Well,n said Aunt Themis, little
doubtfully, anyhow, there's plenty
of good rye bread and new milk, and
nobody needn't to starve on that.
And be sure, Dotty, you keep the
doors bolted, and don't let tramps in,
and blow the dinner horn at twelve
percisely, and don't forget that brood
of young turkeys i'll the barn chamber;
and don't OH no account leave the
milk-room door open, for that new
cat is the thievingest creeter you ever
did see.
"Oh, I'll take care - said Dotty,
with the reckless audacity OF
| ignorance. Everything shall be
quite-quite right. You'll see, Aunt
Themis."
And after the old lady had depart
ed, with many misgIvings, Dotty
drew long breath of rapture, and
executed an impromptu dance in the
middle of the kitchen floor.
"Only think" she said, addressing
| the cat in the corner, 1.-The whole
house all to myself Won't l get a
superb dinner for Reuben and Ran.
| kin? I'll make meringue tart, and
ice cream, and vanilla puffs, and cho-
coIate cake, and I'll try my hand at
mock turtle soup, and cream candy,
and black coffee. And how l will sur
prise them And as for boiling the
doors, how utterly ridiculous it would
| be to shut out the beautiful sunshine,
and the butterflies, and the sweet
scented air This house always smells
like blue mould when Aunt Themis is
around and of course nobody could
get in while | ain here.r'
So Dotty skinned the pan for cream
to make the ice cream, and stirred up
the vanilla puffs, and grated choc.
olate for the cake, and put the two
fat, little white chickens into the pot
for the fricassee and then, feeling
herself every inch housekeeper, she
frisked away up stairs to make the
beds.
But there was no question of beds,
when once she was up stairs, where q
huge old chest of some dark-stained
wood stood open near the landing.
The old oak chest ~ cried Dotty
who was as full of romance as a white
clover bloom is of sweetness. And
to think that Aunt Themis never lei
Inc look into it before J"
There was nothing very particular
after all, in it, only stuffysmelling
blankets, a moth-eaten gown or two
the brass buttoned military coat il
which Uncle Amaniah-dead these
ten years-had been wont to rally on
training days.
"Pshaw - said Dotty. "There
ought to have been forgotten will
there, or a skeleton at the very least
It's humbug. that old chest ~
Just as this reflection passed through
her mind, whining nasal voice
sounded at the bottom of the little
wooden stairway, which wound up like
a corkscrew from below.
ANY old clothes to exchange fol
beautiful China vases, lady? And
cold victuals for poor MANI
He was a stalwart, black proved
fellow, with villainous, slit-like eyes
and a tattered velveteen suit; ant
Dotty's heart stood still with terror
for second.
Oh, if she had only obeyed her Aunt
Themis, and locked up these doors !
MOP she said, shortly. 'Gt
awayr'
Don't be hard on poor fellow
miss ~ whined the man.
And Dotty was quite certain that
she saw the spout of Aunt Themis
old solid silver cream jug protrudine
from the flaps of his ragged velveteeI
pocket. At the same moment he be
gan ascending the stairs with insolen
elaboration.
In an instant all the doubts, tn,
breads, the possibilities, the horrors
of the situation glanced across Dotty'
mind.
Reuben and Rankin were in the dis
tant meadow cutting grass; the til
horn, by means of which she usual,
summoned them, was hanging VI
down stairs at the back of the kitchen
door.
Not a neighbor lived within sight o
call. And here she was at thi
stealthy-faced brute's mercy. Would
he gag her? Would he murder her
What was to become to Aunt Themis
gold beads and Reuben's new breast
pin, besides all the nice old silve
which had descended to them from
Grandmother Buffet.
No" said Dotty to herself, 80
myself do not care. But the silve
shall be protected !'
With quick glimpse of inspiration
she advanced toward the shamblin
t fellow with the sinister face.
There are some old garments il
| that bio chest - said she HYOu ma,