The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1897-05-29
J. literary. = =
80
Sister Ruth S Wedding


e~o
The Bennions were very poor people
very poor people indeed. Yet in Scrub
Center, where there existed neither Dives,
the millionaire, no Lazarus, the beggar,
everyone held them in good esteem 1t
was only when Judith Bennion went to
New York to take place in a big factory
at so many dollars per week that she felt
her social inferiority. Her aunt, Mrs.
Mutfett, looked obviously at her Her
cousins shook hands, indeed, but it was
manner and her uncle retreated behind his
newspaper after he had uttered the first
hurried "how-de-do, Ju" And Mr.. Carlos
Mutfett, who had always managed to sit
beside her in those rustic ''straw rides"
and to help her over all the stiles, stumps
and ragged stone walls, merely glanced in
at the open door of the apartment, without
entering, and passed on tc the smoking
room.
A strange sensation of infinite solitude
came over Judith Bennion.
81 thought, perhaps" she stammersd,
that you might allow me to board with
you, Aunt Muffett, its something of walk
seem more home. if"
" Impossible, quite impossible,' said
Mrs. MutTett, her pink cap bows seeming
to rule out, as if she were Il setting hen.
''Wc occupy the whole OF the house our
selves. In fact, we are cramped for room.
am very sorry, but we couldn't think
of it."
Julith's heart SAM, within her
Then could you tell me Of place to
board?' she mcel,ly asked. "Some nice,
quiet spot that wouldn't be too dear"
But all the MuiTetts were seized with an
epidemic of total ignorance on She spot.
And Judith went away, too proud to cry,
yet too Grieved not to feel tightening sen
sation around her heart.
II don't care" said Judith to herself.
zone can at least be independent One
can pay ones honest debts. And Aunt
Muifett went away from Scrub Center last
summer leaving her board bill partially
unpaid, and Uncle Mutlett forgot to settle
with the little newsboy on the train who
left the New York newspaper every morn
ing. | think that aort of thing is more
degrading than being hand in Gentllettis
factory at SO much a week.
So she consulted the girl who sat next to
her at the factory about "A boarding place,
and she girl frightened up at once. Her
mother, she said took a few frienas They
didn't exactly call it "a bsarding s-eusp but
it was very much the same They could
accommodate Miss Bennion if Miss Bennion
didn't mind sharing her Lucy Lilbourne's
room; and so the bargain was driven at
| once
The Lilbournes were people who had
seen better days. At least they thought
they had. Now, however, they earned
their living by honest, hard work-that
portion of it that was not supplied by Capt.
Gryce, Mrs. Lilbourne's sailor brother,
who spent at least three-uuarters OF his
time on the sea--and Judith soon became
one of themselves. She never saw any
thing more of the Muffett family, and she
bravely kept her homesckness to herself,
writing cheerful letters to Scrub Center,
while her poor little purse steadily de-
scended to IA lower and still lower ebb; for
the work was dull and the finn Of Gentil-
letti 4 Co. kept cutting down. the wages
of their employees with a relentless scythe
as the winter weeks crept on.
For all that, when the news came that
Ruth Bennion, her second sister, was to he
married to farmer Lanes stalwart son
Harry, Judith persuaded herself that she
could afford to send the bride little pres
ent. NotSpearls and diamonds that flashed
ip the Broadway jewelers. windows, nor
the sealskims and cashmcres that hung
luXuriously behind the plate glass walls
that judith sometimes passed when she
varied the tcdium OF her daily hsgress to
and from the factory; not She fa.sa-hrac
Limoges vases and hammered bayss tilat are
dear to the soul of he modern young lady;
but something that Ruthie could MSS every
day in ner little three-roomed hoya. And
one day she went into a second hand store
and priced simple cherry sorst brreau,
with glass knobs and odd, stumpy feet.
at may cost two or three dollars" she
said to herself. ''Its extravaganza, | know,
but don't have sister Ruth married every
day! And III try, somehow, to afford it.'
The furniture dealer, a fat, specialized
old man, who looked "a great deal nore like
a philanthropist than a tradesman, atfably
answered the summons of the tinkling bell.
eyes, it was NICE solid piece of furni-
ture. You don't find such every day." he
said, 'and cheap, too. The young lady
could have it for-let--him see-S1i."
"Fourteen dollarsu Judith stood aghast.
Fourteen dollars" repeated tie furni-
ture man, with a complacent smirk on his
fat face.
Judith turned away with a sigh. Ruth
must 20 without her wedding present. after