The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-24

.E1Rg|1 s 81: = ~ =
-kESS$$Gf lxAWI ~ I'LL IlO1AC, LILY
In sNS-4=N She sat knitting
M, - by the kitchen fire
< 20 her mild eyes fixed
on the snow-fakes
which were futter-
ing like tiny white
butterflies against the window panes.
Out i'm the distance beyond the square
wooden turret of Traxa1l church, she
could see the crooked white stone under
which lay her old husband with leaf
less rose-vines tangled above his cof-
y mild. After all, what was there to
wait for?
Don't talk SO, Aunt Chrystenah,, said
Mrs. John Jones, who had come down
from New York to see her aunt, and
also, II the truth must be told, to try
TO borrow a little money from her
LOT Aunt Chrystenah had laid up some
thing, and her niece had an exceeding
great longing to be able, this Christ
mas day, to give little present to her
patient, Woodworking young husband.
No, Janey,' said the old lady, I'm
Obliged to you for the invite, all the
same as If I went But I'm too stiff in
i the bones and hard in the hearing to
take much comfort away from home
nowadays. You'll have to keep your
Christmas without me, I guess, this
year. And as for lending you money,
I've but one answer to make, and that
4 is-no!'
"Oh, Aunt Chrystenah!'
mean to leave you all I've got"
explained Aunt Chrystenah, zone fo'
these days. But not till I'm done with
1t myself. If l begin lending 1t to
you in driblets, there won't be nothin'
left of it. It's all put away, safe and
4 sound, and it'll be yours some day"
Janey thanked Aunt Chrystenah,
with sickening at her heart, 'neverthe-
less. She fully appreciated the old
/ lady's kind Intentions; but, oh. if she
could only have known how far-far.
more acceptable a little tof that money
would be now!
would pay you back in very
short time, Aunt Chrystenah,," said she,
Stiff
No, you wouldn't" said the old
woman, because you won't have the
chance, and that settles the matter.
And now, If you've "a mind to go up
stairs in the, garnet and get that old
shepherds plaid shawl used to wear in
the days when I was able to 20 to
meeting, you're welcome to it for
Christmas present. 1t can be dyed,
and will make real nice shawl
Thank you, Aunt ,Chrystenah,," said
the young wife, rather spiritlessly.
She went slowly up the garnet stairs
INTO the great hollow, echoing space,
Swallowed by dark beams, with the two
odd little semi-circular windows at
either end where she had been used
2 to play as "a child.
Directly at the head of the stairs
stood a great wooden chest painted
( blue which had belonged to some sea-
farlng member of the Jenkins family.
She opened it with something akin to.
awe in her .childhood's days it had
been a penal offense ito NEEDLE with
the "big blue chest and searched
among its lavender-scented treasures
for the plaid shawl. AS she turned over
the various articles something schinked
under her hand, and, to her engagement
1t proved to be an old gray yarn stock
ing, full OF twenty dollar gold pieces.
laid carefully among homespun blank,
cts and thriftily preserved articles nf
long past wear.
4 Janey, Janey! you amt a-lookin, in
the blue chist, be you ?" It was Amt
Tny,rre, foy,o !,
OF the stairway. It's in that chist q,
draws clear out under the caves. close
to the old spinning wheel and swifts.,
5S Yes, Aunt Chrystenah..'
"a Janey Jones started away like a
guilty creature, and presently she came
downstairs with the old Shepherds
plaid shawl over her arm.
It's very nice, Aunt Chrystenah
said she, and I thank you very much
for it."
The first thing that Mrs. Jones did
when she came back to the gloomy city
fiat that represented home to her. was
ito go around to the jewelers. on Third
avenue and purchase the seal ring with
the onyx setting which she had so COW
eted for John. She loved John so
dearly she longed to see him decked
out like other clerks in the bank with
something which should prove that
he, too, was not utterly forgotten at
Christmas. And, after all, she was
only borrowing from Aunt Chrystenah
taking what would one day be her
own. What. harm could there be in
that?
Llr6- 49,. Eg,stf
without her conscience, and that grim
sentinel uprose in her heart when she
least expected it. And as Christmas
approached. with the shop-Windows
garlanded with holly and red berries.
and the house-roofs glistened with
snow, Mrs. Jones was miserable
woman.