Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-02-28
MALC0LM'S IDEAL
BY ANNA SHIELDS.

BY ANNA SHIELDS.
"She must be tall, Bah; she must bl
graceful as willow branch, with eyes
of midnight darkness, classic features,
hair like the ravens wing"
Bah, who was stirring cake, looked
up at the deep window-seat that
separated the old-fashioned kitchen from
the garden beyond. Seated there.
swinging one foot idly, sat Malcolm
Hoyt, describing the future Mrs. Malcolm
as she existed in his youthful imagjna-
ton.
'Welll" Barbara said, presently, after
glance from the tall boyish figure and
frank, handsome face, to a small mirror
that reflected hair OF FURNISHED bronze,
the true auburn, and numerous freckles.
"Well2 Tall, dark, classically featurcd
Any other perfectionsl"
accomplished, of course. She Iuusi
dance like sylph, sing like uigltis-
gale, draw, play on the piano"
"Make cake!" suggested Bah, vigor.
ously stirring her batter.
"Why, no-Nirs. Hoyt will not necc
to make cake, l think. Not but wha,
it is very jolly 10 know how" he added,
hastily, "buE Mrs. Clark might resent
any invasion of her especial depart,
ment."
"Yes, I see," said Bah, dryly. "You
don't want your wife to be a kitchen
maid"
Malcolm blushed furiously; he was
not quite twenty-one, and had not for.
gotten how 60 blush.
81 don't mean that at all, he said,
and then laughing heartily, added,
''dont you think we are talking con
siderable nonsense, Bab?"
'I don't know" said Bah, slowly.
"You say your father wants you to mar
~, and as you are in quest of a wife,
you might as well have some idea Of
what you would prefer"
"Just like choosing a necktie," said
Malcolm, "though think should feel
more interest in the necktie. By tic
way, what is your ideal, Babi"
81 haven't considered" said Bah,
bending her face low over the pan into
which she was pouring the cake
: "Nonsensel" said NEalcolm.
''As if a girl ever lived to be eighteen
without an ideal"
Then Bah violsssd the truth with q
daring voice, and bright eyes, for she
said:
e., ssMr IDEAL doesn't sit on kitchen win
do- -sills and talk nonsense, at any rate"
= "You don't know what he might do
under sufficient provocation," said Nal
colin, teasingly. 81 have seen Steve
Hale look longingly at my perch within
the last ten minutes"
= "Stephen Hale!" cried Bab, scorn-
fully, and lifted the pan to carry it to the
room beyond, where the fire was lighted
IN summer.
Her heart was swelling with indigna-
ton. She was only farmers daugh-
ter, she told herself, and Malcolm Hoyt
was heir to a magnificent estate and for
tune, college bred, and could marry in
aristOcratic circles. But to think she
could look at Stephen Hale, her fathers
"heip, man who could not read 1t
was insulting, little Barbara thought,
and she took an unreasonably long time
to adjust the cakepan on the oven-bars,
and pile on fresh wood in the stove.
r "Good-byew shouted a CHEEKY voice,
presently. "Pm off to the postoffice,
but I'm coming to tea to cat some Of
that cake.
e"IVe great mind to scorch it."
thought Bah, spitefully. 81 would too,
If 1t wasn't fathers favorite."
81 20 believe she is fond of Steve
thought Malcolm, as he swung himself
into the saddle. "She blushed as red as
peony when I mentioned him. Isup.
pose it would be what my father calls a
suitable match, but she's a thousand
times too good for him. Why, she's as
good Latin scholar as half our COL
lege fellows, and she sings so beauti-
fully, that it is burning shame she has
had nothing but Concertiua to accom-
pany her voice" Then his reyerie took
another turn, and he thought: Il Won
der II father is ill"
1t was the nineteenth century. and
Malcolm was an only child, denied no
Indulgence from his infancy. but he
never thought of his father as the ,sgov-
ernor" or the "old man His mother
was but memory, for when he was five
years old, her golden-hairei beauty was
hidden under the daisies. He liked to
think his great, blue eyes and crisp,
blond curls were like those IN his
mothers portrait, but Imagination was
more potent than actual memory in re-
calling her.
"Iwonder if father really is ill., he
thought, jogging along slowly. "He
seems SO anxious to have me settled
And that means married. lie seems to
think will weary of dear old home. If
have no family ties to bind me there y
And then fancy paintel again that ex
quislte' graceful and accomplished rIa.
ing he had enieavored to .escrioa r.
Barbara 1t was odd that even v,t,
tins mental vision before him he thn,gbt
what a home Bah would make of The
s:ately pile that was to je his inheTi.
llnce.
There Is not much that is home-Iike
about it now" he thinks, "for Mrs.
C.ar& Is too old to fuss much, aud i'm
a.ine the servants have it ali their ow5
way. But how Bab's little trim faare
and red hair would tighten up those biz
gloomy rooms