The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-01-10
HIS LITTLE SURPRISE.
Il Proved TO 20 More Bonenoent
Than Medicine.

Certainly, when the staid old bach
elor, Jonas bingham (''Thirty-dve i
he's : day!" said the wondering "other
girls"), carried OF Mary Morton. not
yet ont Of her teens, right in the face
and eyes Of many admiring boys, =
great many people wondered; "How
could sho?''
At home she occupied the sometimes
questionable position Of the middle
one in family of three daughters.
Nobody doubted that she was good
and useful, but she was not brilliant
and fascinating like her older sister
Amy, nor was she pretty doll OF .
girl to be petted as everybody petted
her younger sister Bess. ..
Amy had troops Of beaux that she
wound around her finger and made
her most obedient slaves, but Jonas
bingham was Mary's first attentive
escort, and his devotion and sincerity
carried her heart by storm.
Jonas pleaded eloquently for An IN
early wedding day, and Mary was
nothing 10th, for life with Jonas and
for him seemed like paradise in antici-
patton. II .55 IS
He lived three miles away on large
farm-his fathers and grandfather
before him. His father had been dead
several years, and his mother, though
still active and Industrious, was too
old to work as she had always done. If
Everybody knew the Hinghams were
forehanded, free from debt and with
money at interest. The Mortons, on
the contrary, had always lived from
hand to mouth, MIR. Morton's trade
never having sufficed to do much more
than provide q home, with ample food
and clothing, besides educating the
girls as they wanted to be, with music
and painting and all the ornamentals
which girls in country villages sigh
after.
II is safe to say that Mary never
dreamed of the change it would be tor
her to go from her snug, pretty home
into that great bare farmhouse-like
changing from soft, musical poetry to
plain, dry prose.
Summer and winter the family had
always worked and ate and sat in the
great kitchen, except when company
came; then they rolled up the green
paper shades in the sitting-room and
sat in there. Everything was still.
bare, orderly and scrupulously clean.
stepping into Mother Hingham's
shoes" meant more real, downright
hard work than Mary had ever dreamed
of, but she was young and strong and
would not finch when she saw that
both Jonas and his mother expected
her to be the notable. hard-working
housewife the elder woman had always
been. .s5 8ss Il
Her hands grew brown and hard, her
dresses grew old-fashiOned and sho
had neither time nor care to remodel
them, as she seldom went anywhere
except occasionally to church, and
more rarely still on . brief visit to her
fathers.
by-boys. always boys.
'.If l only had girl" thought Mary
sometimes, .'she might grow up to
help me and do all the light and pretty
things that l have forgotten how to
do; but these boys will never care for
such things"
Mother bingham lived but a few
years after Mary came there. To the
last she was happy and content. fond
of Mary and at home in the farm
house, still unchanged.
"Jonas will have to hire help for his
wife, now that his mother is gone"
people said.
But he didn't seem to think OF that.
AS long as Mary did not complain he
never dreamed she was OVERRIDING or
needed anything she did not have.
One of the established traditions of
the house was that they must have a
hired girl through haying time, never
at any other time of the year, unless
in case Of sickness.
So through harvesting and the fall
house-cleaning, the meat-killing and
the spring sugaring, up to haying time
again, Mary's one pair Of hands did
the work till--she broke down.
: Jonas was worried about indoor
matters. Not that he was go miserly
he did not like to pay hired help, but
who was to take care and oversee it
all?
OF course the MOrtOns were as agl-
tated as Jonas himself, and as much
as they could came to the rescue; but
Mrs. Morton was growing old and
could not work as she once had done.
and Amy had made . brilliant match
years ago.
Bessie was still at home and single,
but she had never enjoyed going there
when Mary was well, and with Mary
sick it could not be thought Of
Jonas had bad luck finding capable
indoor help, and it was q great relief
to them all when Aunt vi, Mr.. Nor
toms maiden sister, came from the
west, and. not having any particular
home anywhere, willingly took the
leadership in the bingham household
But somehow Mary didn't seem to
gain at all, and Aunt vi told Mrs
Morton that Mary seemed to have lost
all interest in life.
''Jonas is just as kind as can be, and
the boys are all smart and bright and
fnnd If her. thew are fOrehanded and