The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-05-16

AF~ A pies we're Grim.
y soned with their
earliest banners of blossom; and as
she tripped along, Mary found tuft
OF yiolcts half hidden under drift cf
dead leaves..-pale purple, scentlcss
blooms.
"Tho first violets always bring good
luck with them" she whispered TO
herself, ms she pinned them into the
bosom of Eor blue flannel gown.
"Home" was scarcely the ideal re.
alization of that poetic word to this
factory girl. She and her mother
lived in the upper half of shabby,
unpainted wooden house, with the
blacksmith's scolding wife and seven
riotous children down stairs, and ono
half of trampled.down back yard by
way of garden, where nothing ever
grew but burdocks, nettles and Mrs.
Muggs's loug-legyod fowls.
But Mrs. Miller, who had been n
school.tcachcr once, and still retained
somewhat of the refinement of her
early education, had the tea ready,
with shaded lamp and a bunch OF
maple blossoms on the table ready
for Mary to come home.
Good news, motherl" the girl
cried, lightly. "Tho Meadow Farm is
TO let! Mother, we must take it..
Mrs. Miller looked obviously at
the bright, eager face, with its blue
gray eyes and fringes of yellow hair.
"Can we afford it, daughter?" she
said, slowly. "a whole house and q
farm of forty.t.ree acres?"
at isn't such very .h1rge house,
mother" pleaded Mary, as sne laid
the bup"N 0f vioiets in her mothers
lsp-'not so many more rooms than
we have here. And we could keep two
cows, aud could sell milk and but
ter, and spring chickens and eggs
and am almost sure that Will Da-
yidge would work the farm on shares.
And only think, mother, how delight
iul it would be to have home all &c
ourselves, where We couldn't hear
Mrs. Mugs boxing Bobby's ears oi
Helen shrieking with the toothache
And little garden, mother, where W,
could have peonies and hollyhOcks
and all those lovely old-fashioned dow
ers that your soul delights in !"
Mrs. Miller's pale, mid face soft
ened.
"Itisnow month since old Mrs. Dab
ney died." said Mary. "And they SAY
that her daughter in the city and her sol
out IN California despise the old farm
with its onestory house and its ol,
red barn. So it is to let. And 5,
cheap, too! Only hundred and lift,
dollars year Mother, We must tax,
it! I'll leave the factory AMI turI
dairy maid. I've saved enough, yol
know, to buy the two cows and SOM
real Plymouth Rock fowls to begin
with, and oh, it will be such happi
nessl Say yes, mother do say yes I
When Mary Miller pleaded lik
this, the gentle widow never knew hoy
to refuse; and the upshot of it wa
that they leased the old Dabney house
and became co.soyereigns OF the renlr
of Meadow Farm.
1t was their first night there. O7er
head the young May moon shon
through veil of purple mist. A soil
tnry owl hooted in the chestnut WOO
back of the house, for Meadow Farl
WAS situated on lonely mountGi
side where no one ever came except o
special business.
The Plymouth Rock chickens wer
safely shut up where foxes could nc
reach them nor minks steal in to blee
their young lives away, the cows -tw
fine young Alderneys-were chewin
their cud back of the old red barr
and Mary Miller had flung handfu
of cedar sticks on the hearth, wher
their scented blaze illuminated til
old kitchen with II leaping brightne'
beautiful to see.
"Because it's just possible the hous
may be damp" she said, latter bein
unlnhabited 80 long. There, mother
isn't that cheerful? And isn't it ric
that our old rag carpet should chant
to fit this floor SO exactly?" with
satisfied downward glance. "And d
you see those tiger.lilies? l four
them down by the garden wall-ol
such red wilderness of them? o.
Mrs. Dabney set them out hersel
they say. 1t seems only yesterday
she added, thoughtfully, THAT can
past here and saw old Mrs. Dabnc
sitting in the big chair by the fir
Just where"
Mrs. Miller uttered little shrie
and grasped her daughters arm
this moment. Mary stopped shoT
with an ashy p9llor overspreaking h
cheek.
For as she smoke the door opnosit