Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-06-14

lcine L had used.
1t Was only this morning that
had found my thimble. 1t ha
dropped from the work had take
up. wearily wondering if | coul
complete it. NV landlady was /
the room, aud / noticed her look {
surprise and disappointment as
picked it up.
sPm poor woman, bat honest.
she began presently, .and my ren
Is due today. So If you will pa
me what you owe me, / shall b
greatly obliged, miss"
Cannot You wait a few days, Mrs
Hcxton!' / said, timidly. sYo,
must know | have nothing to pa,
You with, till | can finish this work
and take it home
Il beg your pardon, MISS sh,
returned. Il thought that them Al
wore gold thimbles could pay theil
just debts. Perhaps, then, yor
wouldn't mind letting me have my
room, so that | could be getting rent
from somebody else for it, and she
tiounced angrily out OF the room,
and down stairs, where | heard her
telling her next neighoor and espe-
cial crony, that that there girl up
stairs would never be fit to do an
other stroke of work, aud she could
not wait for her rent forever
Was | really so i'll? My wasted
hands that refused to hold the work,
and laid SO idly in my lap, seemed
to confirm the statement. But |
could not 60 out now 10 search for
another room; | must have a few
days to collect my thoughts and
decide what | should do next. There
was no one to whom | could turn
for help. Perhaps, if Mrs. Hoxton
were right IN her opinion of my
health, the best course for me would
be to gain admission into the hospi-
tai, and end my sufferings there.
But shrank from the remembrance
Of the long curtainless rooms with
rows of beds, each containing a suf-
ferer,. that had once seen when |
went to visit a poor woman whom
grandma had known, and who had
been injured and carried there.
The careless glances of the doctors
and nurses rose before me. How I
longed for grandma's kind words
and petting ways. The thought of
her and my lost home was more
than | could bear. sank back on
my bed, and actually cried myself
to sleep.
When i awoke it was growing late
IN the afternoon. ] dragged my
self from the bed, and into the chair
by the open window, and then
began to think that | must part
with my thimbie to keep Mrs. Hox-
ton quiet for few days.
AS / have said, / took it up and
began to examine the curious band
about it. What n host of recollec-
tions it brought back. Memories
of my childish days, when first
remembered noticing it on grand
mas finger; memories of the day
when she gave it to me, of the curl
osity with which my girl friends ex-
amlned it-comparing it with theirs
of modern make; and interviewer
with the other memories, one sweet
er than all, of a certain summer
evening when | sat in grandma's
vine-covered porch, with my pre-
cious thimble on my finger. / had
been sewing till Mark Chesterman
stopped at the gate, and asked me
for a spray of roses; and then he
had omeul the steps, and sat on
the topmost one, just at my feet.
chattering away of this subject or
that, till his glance fell on my Thin
bic, then, as now, lighted up by the
last rays of the sun, aud as he beg
ged to look at it. i had slipped it
off and laid it in his hand. With
what serious face he had examined
it-pretending to find our initials
joined with a true lovers knot in
the ornamental work. He kept it
so long that laughingly accused
him of intending to purloin it, say
ing at last as held ont nv hand.
Il know you mean to keep it alto
gether.'
Yes, | do. and this little hand
also,' he had answered, clasping my
hand closely. And then he had
told his love, and begged me to be
his wife, and we had sat there till
the stars peepei out one by one, and
the moon rose full and glorious be-