The record-union., 1894-01-13
MAPLE HILL CHARITY.


The occupants of the pleasant room had
scarcely all returned when the storm
seemed to clutch the old farmhouse furi
ously and ghostly knock was heard at
the rattling door.
There It's! l knew it. | knew sunthn'
ID happen,' gasped Jane Tooker dolor-
ously, tiinging her gingham apron before
her eyes. while old Josh rose to his feet
threateningly. But Grandma Hull,
quite used to Jane's alarms, merely said
calmly:
"Come imp
The latch was sprung quickly. Then
it was raised slowly. Another great
frenzy and wailing of the elements and a
scared, trembling girl was shot out of the
night into the cheery old room. Then
her hand still upon the latch, the snow
beaten into her black hair, which was
matted wildly about her handsome head,
she stood there the embodiment of des-
perate hope and fear, ready for instant
flight at the first intimation of untriendli-
ness.
Grandma Hull saw nothing poetic in
the weird apparition, and, with genu-
inc court-martiai air, chopped out the one
word
Hungry"
hungry. But they be chasin' hus away,
an Pve gone am got lost" said the
heather, as if half a mind to spring back
again into the night and storm.
'Oho ~ calculated Grandma Hull with
world of conviction in the word. 81 see.
You're one o. them gypsies that's been
campin' in the grover"
8 "Y es. missus, l be-" rejoined the waif.
as if realizing that between her own and
the Christian race the gulf of hate and
distrust lay measureless and impossible.
Then the little vagabond burst into tears
(which Richard Hull in after years re-
5membered made her seem pitiful, engage
ing and pretty.
Grandma Hull, never fussy about her
scharities, made haste to bolt the kitchen
door against the hired men. Then, with
Jane and Josh, who were now bustling
with the warmth of transmitted hospita-
BILE influences, the wild thing was placed
at the table where, between excited Sob
5bings, she was made to eat hearty meal,
Everything on Grandma Hul's part the
while being done with brusque yet GER
tain touch of appreciation of the girls
Immediate needs, that had in it genuine
humanity.
Dirty" asked Grandma Hull when
the raven had finished her meal.
s. Illus gypsies is never dirty" said the
girl quietly, but with a noticeable fire in
her eyes.
Pooh, pooh," retorted Grandma Hull.
while she looked appealingly at Jane,
who, in turn, looked appealingly at Josh,
while Josh looked straight at the snow
pelted panes, but all three seemed clearly
satisfied that the vagrant must have a
sousing bath before lying upon a Chris
tian bed.
s The girl understood it all instantly, as
gypses always understand. In a flash
she had her tawny bosom barred, and
then, whisking her sleeves up to her
round shoulders, said excitedly: "See,
see!-a clean gypsyn
In another instant she was bending
down to present the same unanswerabie
argument as to her shapely legs. Jane
put her back against the kitchen door
and again flung her apron over her head,
while Josh went to the window and al
nost eurtained it with his hulking form.
but Grandma Hull took the waif prison
er, marched her into the garret and
Slowed her away in capacious trundle-
bed beside the roaring chimney. where
muttering words in an unknown tongue.
(which surely held the modulation and
accent OF prayer, this lost heathen sobbed
herself to sleep.
That night a gypsy brother, or mayhap
a good for nothing lover, had followed
the girl through the storm. For a mo-
ment, perhaps, he had feasted his hungry
eyes on the gypsy rackIie safe within the
farmhouse CnS0F. linen Ne QdQ Cr6Dt TO
the barn where, like a faithful dog he
had watched and waited until morn. Re-
flsing breakfast, he had taken charge of
the girl, and, after such grateful looks as
had never glowed upon Maple Hill farm
house before, they had set out together,
hurrying across those bleak New Eng
land Mills like dark silhouettes against a
winter sky. AS they disappeared from
view Jane uQoker ralaarkad. with All the
lxf.
husband, who had fingered at the kitchen
window until the ragged Romany were
lost from sight,
Joshua Tooker, mind my words.
Sunthn' II happen. Grammer Hull III
hear from this ~
And truer words were never spoken
than these.