The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-06-06

M
Of marrying my Cousin Mary. She,
was quite taken up with Il another
cousin, Fred BY name, and would have
married him long since, no doubt, had
he been, able 10 support a family. But
he was proud, and would not marry
until he could offer some thing to htg
wife. knew that, for he had Told me
So " ~
However, it was now my delicious
fate to. be able to arrange matters for
these two 50 that they should be able
to marry neither kao owing how IL had
come about, nor in the least corne OF
their hearts suspecting me. Then
with what swelling pride should Hook
npon their happiness and know that l
had given It'll, who 50 far had given
only trouble and modification to my
family! Il 55,s3 5sssS ja. .45s
Il was an easy matter to make my
mothers last years comfortable; and
ali! the pleasure, the selfish pride II
took in remembering small personal
| wishes and gratifying them bit by bit,
while never suspected! s
It was an easy matter too, through
my agent to buy the very paper on
which / wrote; to slowly dismiss the
men who were a disgrace to it, to pro-
mote and engage men whose work
made it, a great voice soon, and through
it, slowly to win the pu Bile confidence
and work my will, little by little,
among the affairs ofythe city. Such q
splendid game it was to arouse public
enthusiasm over some free baths, or
Ichildren's playground scheme or
other, to start subscription lists, and
covertly Ii sad them myself; to machln-s
ate safely and quietly through my
great pages, and all the while having
my copy refused half the time, aud the
other fellows wondering how kept
my place. #fz..5 n. 3. @:s.s5 W aS Ss
All this, and much more, was easy
and exciting; more OF triumph and q
| Joy even than had ever imagined it
would be; but my pet scheme OF
schemes hung fire a little. Fred got
his new position, in a perfectly natural
manner; he was a good fellow and de-
served it. Still there was no sign Of
an engagement between him and my
Cousin Mary. Then thought, being
an independent girl, she might be
waiting to have something of her own;
and after as pretty bit of fnesse as i
ever saw in my life, if it was nv own.
invention-and small wonder, for had
not schemed at such pleasant mir
acles since was eight years old2--I
managed to provide; fer with a neat
little fortune OF her own. Still no re-
suit. So one day fwhen was at home
II did not go often, for mother would
always lecture me on my habits, and
somehow never could entirely get
over the hurt Of it, big as~,l was-I
CHANGED to be alone with my Cousin
Mary for as much Of al evening as she
would be willing. TO loea.' my company.
feltvery happy to see how. beanti-,
fully she was dressed in these days
how her hands were white already,
and grown. smooth again where the
delicate fingers used to be rough with
countless needle pyici.s. Fac house
wassa comfortable bne now, ny mother
was far easierSin her mind and there
fore tsWeeter coInp ion, ,sS III
Every thing looked pleasant around
Mary, and I told her how glad i was to
see it. u: @ ss
Il did not tell her how glad was to
see her, how in all the rich and varied
JOY Of my present position. as in all the
unutterable WEAKNESS and dizziness OF
my former, state, to see her was the
keenest delight I ever felt, Sor1 ever
hoped to feel Calm, strong, beautiful
woman that she was; perfect in lowell.
ness of face and form and character
mine would be q poor triumph, after
all, If 1 could not contrive to make her
happy. .s :5
# sat watching her, and she watched
the leaping flames Of the fire; and I
wondered clumsily IA what possible
way l could force her into the, happi
nees which should be hers, when all at
once she rose and come tony side.
Cousin Tom" she said, ii that de-
licious voice sof hers, why don't you
amount to more why don't you do
yourself Justice In some way? Is it,
and here she blushed beautifully but
the cousinship gave her courage, and
she went on. us it for lack Of money
to make q start with? Because, you
know, I am quite rich now because
want you to let me --you;l forgive my
awkwardness, won't you? Ito let me
give you some Of It, Tom, 3 whole pile
OF It. .
That blessed, generous, self-forget-
ting. creature! She looked SO lovely as
she said it that my poor brain swan
dizzily. 4. & ,
No" said l, at length, 1T IS not lack
Of money, my dear Cousin Mary, but |
sheer personal incapacity that prevents
my amounting to anything. am an
ordinary, stupid fellow at best, and
my family are too clearsheaded to give
me that blind, loving faith which makes
even stupid fellows do very well some
times Il ~, #
.s35f.'Y on are not stupid, she cried, ''nor
ordinary. know you better than you
think. You could be something splen-
did If you chose Why don't you
choose?"
And then she looked at me with such
an earnest, tender, believing glance as
fairly drove me to hsr feet.
.sOh, Mary, you blessed angel!'
s :, 4 ~. sSor,, IA 1,o,1. ~ WOW