Arizona republican., 1895-01-15
4 STORY OF TEACUPS.

Tbsre Is almost always in every fam
ST ssne one thing that is its special
pride In yours it may be a choice bit
Is PAIN ting; III mine, let me whisper,
~ IS Il rare old book with Illuminated
sseEers, and in the jennings family it
Es,and has been ever since | have known
mem, q delicate set Of blue India
china
The Jennings live in a roomy, old
fashioned farmhouse, with a broad
porch and high pillars, fronting on
the lake. 1t was this that suggested
t$heir taking summer boarders. Mr..
and Mrs. Briarley discovered them
first and knocked at the door and
begged to be taken in, and Mr.. and
Mrs Jennings hadn't the heart to send
them away. Next year they told their
friends, and | was one of them, and all
their friends told their friends, until
uow every summer the Jennings house
Is so crowded that the gentlemen talk
about hanging themselves up in trees
for the night, and some of them have
gone so far as to hang themselves
ND in hammocks out on the broad
veranda.
Although Mrs. Jennings is proud of
her blue china she does not faunt it
Before the eyes of her less fortunate
looarders, whether for fear of exciting
their envy or that apsent-minded Mr..
Van Duyne, the artist, should tip over
his tea and knock off the handle of his
cnp. or that Mary in the kitchen
should crack plate with too hot
water, l do not know. Certain it is
that it is only on fttingly rare occa-
.sions that the rare china is placed at
our service.
The first time l saw it was on Mrs.
Briarleys birthday. When the bell
rang for tea, and we all came rushing
in from the orchard, the rocks down
By she lake and the hammocks on the
7Taranda, every boarder stopped short
and gazed with delight upon the white
.cloEh, and the dainty, aristocratic
blpe and white china with its haring
cnps, deep saucers and fiat little
plates. Mrs. Briarley looked pleased
as a girl, and Dolly, who is her seven
Tear-Old daughter, seized Mr.. Van
Dryne by both hands and they pro-
aceeded to execute some sort of wild
fantastic dance across the whole length
of the dining-room.
areally don't know what aid have
become of Mr.. Van Duyne if it hadn't
been Tor Dolly 1t is my honest opinion
that he would have starved to death.
He never, under any circumstances,
heard the belize was always too
deeply engrossed in "a Study of the
R1e.is,' or The Coming Twilight"
d3DilY had constituted him her special
charge, and at the first sound of the
lei IL she started forth to hunt him
up. Dolly was Il general favorite with
au.of Us, and the only child about.
useu to wonder sometimes if she didn't
get lonesome, but she seemed very
well content with US grown-up folks,
ana at times would take her dolls and
go If by herself to her playhouse, y
-aElC called it, in a field somewhere adj
joining the orchard. Mrs. jennings
frequently gave her cake and cookies
&or tea parties to be held with her
dolls IN her playhouse. Mr.. Van
Ct3s ut was, IIluh, lIle only real
-EiEe person who had ever been in
-vited to attend He told me when he
cane back that he meant to make a
p-cVnre of it." But, dear me! if Mr.
EaA Duyne had painted all the pic
5ures he meant to paint, or, for that
matter, finished all those he began,
there would have been sufficient to
furniSh an art on IarU
But, pictures or no pictures, he and
Dolly were the best of friends, and the
might Of Mrs. Briarley's birthday We'd
WIN each other in their lavish admir-
alton OF the blue china tea set.
Either there We're no birthdays after
that or no one of so much Importance
as rs. Briarley, for ordinary china
sufnced each meal. Then Mr.. Briarley
vas suddenly called home on business,
and Mrs. Briarley and Dolly went with
him.
Ii was rather lonesome after this,
and every thing moved along in very
calm, uneventful sort of way until the
day of my birthday. 1 don't know
how in the world they found out
that it was my birthday, un
less Mr. Van Duyne saw it in Dolly's
birthday book" But, as I found out
afterwards, Mrs. Jennings had beer
planning surprise for me. There was
d birthday cake baked for me, and the
blue china was to appear in my honor
-until-but see here, I'm going to tel
it to you just as it came to me. =
was sitting on the veranda in the
hammock, feeling pretty hungry, fo
1t was just half an hour before tel
time, when Mrs Jennings came bust