Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-05-21

Than any little angel they are keeping there
today.
Her eyes are blue and shining
And her hair is soft and twining,
Just like bit of sunshine all curled in little
rings.
But, all, who would have thought it?
perhaps they III forgot it,
1 They let her come from heaven all the way
sydney Dayve in Outlook
ANTONIO'S MARY.
Dora England was standing in the
garden, bareheaded, holding her baby
III her arms She leaned against the
balusTado, and her little son kicked his
X feet against the pink blossoms Of the
passion vine running race up the side
Of the house with a climbing rose that
was q wonder even among the roses Of
Santa Barbara Dora looked at the little
feet and at the rosy flowers and then
laughed, and pulling off the shoes and
socks held the bare feet up by +he flow
ers and matched pinkness. Then, being
]
things in a most unreasonable way, and
it was then that she saw Mary for the
first time--saw her come through the
! gate and into the garden, not walking,
but notwithstanding as though that,
and not walking, We're the natural hui
man gait, girl Of II, Mexican, dark
and tall and with tuneful voice when
she began to speak.
81 am Mary Antonio's Mary, she
said, mot Maria, but Mary, just like
\ American girls are named | locked
/ from the house there over to the house
here, and knew that you were the one
I had come TO seek l am happy, ah,
4 happy if this is the little angel | am to
take care of have SO many, many lit
/ tie brothers and sisters, and beg my
mother to let me stay and take care Of
I them. But my mother says, Mary, you
4 are a woman now and must make mon
Y ey. And 81, as for Inc, until now it il
in laundry that l have worked But
how can one love a laundry? When jose,
\ the waiter in the big hotel. came to get
\ me- | knew that you would let me come
\ to you, for | love the baby, and when
/ one loves one does WELL is it not SOP
And then, without waiting: 1T is a
good thing, dear lady, that you are not
in the big hotel now. My mother is a
careful woman-you do not know what
a careful woman-and the big hotel is
a bad place for girl like nae.
IA prudent mother 2 was what Dora
thought
Mary had taken the baby and was
looking hard at the mother with big,
affectionate eyes Dora's imagination
was making picture, ''She shall wear
dark gown, a large white apron and
am enormous black hat. and there must
be some red about her, and then on the
beach with the baby, with his yellow
hair, in her arms, She viii be lovely
''And so, Robert England said to
the Sedgeleys next day, ''the little
Mexican is to become tile earetaker Of
my son, because she has a skin like
satin, a low brow and a mouthful Of
glistening teeth. But he did not say
this to his wife. lie could not have said
that he understood women, but he
might have said that he understood one
woman. lie was never a better lawyer
than when he was in his own house,
and that high strung little wife Of his
was as complex body as IL men ever
were.
So Mary came, and Dora ana her hus-
band and the Sedgeloys watched her
every morning when she sat in the sun
on the sand with the baby On her lap.
She would take handful Of sand, and
holding it as high as She could reach
she would let it Slip through her fin
gers, and when the child laughed she
would laugh too, and clap her hands
She became feature Of the beach life
Of Santa Barbara Every one watched
for the coming IF the tall young savage
and the fair haired child The young
men from New York who are the stars
in the play life that goes on in the place
every winter-an existence that is no
more like real life than the Santa Bar
bara winter is like real winter-and
who are very pretty editions de luxe Of
the Mexican vaquero, with their broad
sombrcros, their silver trimmed saddles,
their rawhide brides and diabolical
Mexican bits, and their spurs weighed
down with silver chains-even they
looked at her as they rode up and down
on the beach.
'Niva and L have been looking at the
most beautiful creature i'll Santa Bar
bara, said Dora ~ her husband and
Niva's came up to her high cart
''Now / know you are talking about
! Dora's fad, " Robert said. "a month
ago, the most beautiful thing would
have signifed the most wonderful baby
in the world, but now-the truth is,
Dora enjoys being on pedestal. Per
haps she has never been Oh one before
except for the short time that she occu-
pied one Of my making Z great many
years ago before we were married. But
now she has become a sort of supernat-
ural being iii Mary eyes. 1 assure you,
she is father, mother and father confess
or all in one. There are no bounds to
her devotion. | am sure she would slay
one of her small brothers without a pang
if Dora ordered the sacrifice.
''Au uncomfortable sort If response
| bility, muttercd NiyA
Eyes, Dora s...d, ''and l hate that
Ihate responsibility, and abhor posing,
and my part in this Is deadly pose.
"She Is undeniably pretty, SAID
Niva's quiet husband, and that New
York fellow, your friend Dulaney over
there, seems to think SO too s"
She ~ bea,;tiul, insisted Dora
"She is, muttered Niva again, dan
gerously beautiful.
What Robert England said was all
true. Mary gave D5ra her worship, and
there was Jealousy in the adobe home Of
Mary smother and lot battles for Mary.
1t is for the American woman and her
one child that you desert your mother,
stor1ned Carmen "We are nothing to