Morning journal and courier., 1894-06-02

behind the smartsign of the Red Lion that stili swung creskiugly above the wide, low door of the little post-ofice.
 | Ono day when father and children were clanberipg among the rocks the father had lost his fooihold and fallsn to his death in a cruel gorge hundreds of feet below | There had been buiial, with two white faced children to mourn in the mute, won- dering way of childhood; after which Pe- ter had blunuy asked of his wife: | Katherine, whats to be done with th' | little 'uns nowF"
 'tNuth'n but keep 'em, Pster;" was the quiet, motherly reply.
 This had been done, and their curly It, tls heads had so long bobbed up and down behind the ancient rows of boxes in the low-ceilinged post office, that the noun tain folk, waiting for their mail. had looked on as the tots helped Aunt Rather Inc at the windoE with good natured smiles, and had fnAlly come to call the bright. faced waifs, ''ths postmistressss of Sohonk."
 This sppellation, snd tLose of stSlstsr.m to the elder. and "Sls" to the younger girl, had finally ovarshsdowed their own names which at last faded out with the incident | Of their coming, and the countrysids's in- sistence of its osbriqusts did the rest: so that when old Peters wife had entered the
 
 more consistently 10 his pipe and the porch, or the shSdy side of his pretty gar den trelllies, their investment with the names of Sister and Sis Van Brunt, and their duties and titles of the postmistress- ss of Sohonk, were apparently permanent and complete.
 It seemed thst nothing was ever to oc- cur to change the simple round of endless quiet in the lives of these quaint little postmistresses of Sohonk.
 Old Peter dczed and dreamed of the days of the Vans and Vors, with never shade of forebOdlpg Hitting across his am- pie, peaceful face. Sister and Sis cared for the garden; attended, by turns, the droning countryside school, over against the tiny church set round with whispering willows and plsintive cedsrs; did the ht- tie houseworE there was left to do in the curious old hsbitstion. Ike demurs and ancient house wives; and each day, Mat thew Stuyvesant. the mountain mail car rier, passed or rspassed behind his eriz- zled mule, were ready, purctuAliy as time itself, to receive or deliver the little pouches which came and went.
 "Curous bout them air gale" old Matthew Stuyvssant would mutter. Gould set my watch by 'em. When buy hoes, CT a mule, ped'grss's suuth'n. Them gals got psdgree in lem, 'n' taint no Sohonk strain, neither. They'll break loose some time, fur ped'gree aiias tellsl"
 It Is unlikely that Msil-carrier Mat thsw's words would have proved truly prophetic If Sohonk bsd remained S0- honk. But it could not. A mile or two distant was & great gorge in the mountains where a tiny lake lay like & bed of silver between cliffs of emerald and brorZ Ze. chalet like structure arose bt side it ss If by magic, aud coon rich city idlers sought Lake Sohonk for It's wuEirous scenery and bracing mountain sir.
 Then the curly hesds bobbed up and down more rapidly and longer each day behind the ancient row ut boxes; for all of the mail for the guests of the great hotel now passed through the little So honk office; and once in & while strsg- gllng parties from the Lake, in the va garous, quiZZlcsl mood which settles upon summer loiterers everywhere, came over to the olasn village to zee the curious O. lonial inn, to bother old Peter about the time when the century was young. and to irquisiively peep st the little posimis tresses of Sohonk.
 Ned wrtson, & young man of twenty and a guest al the hotel beside the lake, had come upon the quaint old meet dur ing his wsnderings in the romantic re- zion, with something of the feelings of original discovery. In some ins xplicable | way he felt himeelf powerfully drawn to the two hsrehesded, barefooted eirls at the old Red Liol inn; and 1t WAS not long before he found means 10 become l regularly installed as mall carrier bstT@en | the ancient post-ofice and tie Eammer resort hotel where he taTried.
 So he came each day upon his wheel, | and fret from ouie. chattings with old I Peter upon the porch. a genial scqusint- | apce with Matthew, the mountain car rier, and fnslly through delft little prof | fsrs of assistance with the pouches when | they proved too burdensome for the girls | to handle, he gradually broke in upon the | tsinsd towards sll strsbgers; and st last stood proudly upon the footing of vel come aud confidential friend.
 Little incidents Ike these often shsps the destiny of human lives; and Ned Wat son, young az he was, soon found his own airy, heedlsss, sunny nature changing to seriousness and introspsction under ths strange influence of his new associations. The oddnsss of the girls situation and character fret attracted him. The ipgsn- | uousness of their ways and speech, with their unfilnchiug devotion to the'r humble duties, fascinated him by their wondrous contrast to the gay and trihlng lives about him. And the depths of their sweet and loyal natures filled him with an awe he had never before known.
 The s.rangest revelation to the city bred youth was their extraordinary knowledge of the great ona side world and its trsmen- dous activities and Effa!rs.
 "How on es-fh do you learn anything in