The record-union., 1897-08-29

are an eAcellent plck-me-up between
meals when the craving for bit of
food is strong The wheat kernels
Should be we'll chewed, and are better,
according to the dictum quoted, than
the usual cracker taken al such times.
The old LADY.
This was a quiet street. Having just
seven cocks and only one music teacher,
it was amazingly peaceable The milk
man shouted along it softly, and the
Igreengrocers burst not yell: there were
no bad little boys in the gutter and the
omnibuses skirted the corner only At 9
a. m. clOck-panic spread from house
to house and clerks who had been lazy
bounced up suddenly slammed the door
and flew madly trainWard After which
all was calm.
| There We're several cards up in the
street. No. IS had Board and Resi-
dence" elegantly in the window, and it's
lady was putting on her evening blouse
| No. 145 next door, said merely, Board
and Lodging" and it's tenant was in
the kitchen grilling the high-tea chops.
| The table was set for eight in No. 16
with napkins cooked mitreWise and a
maidenhair in the middle whose longest
| fronds shOne greasy after dipping into
yesterdays soup; for ten in its humber
lnelghborr with blue and gilt ccuetstand
| placed in the center. Over the way, in
No 10, the table was laid for one
! The sun slanted a little lower and
stared in the weak eyes of returning
clerks. No. 16 had pinned her blouse
suitably, and was rustling down the
stair. No. IA, red in the face was shak-
ing the pepper castor. But No. 10 sat
up in her bedroom in front of a looking
glass.
do you flourish, Frances ?"
| The visitor had come from much
grander regions, and had just said she
had met with fewer difficulties in get
ting to Jerusalem last year than in find
| ing this little street. She looked much
| too big for the small room that she sat
in, and her voice, though hearty, held a
| little doubt
Frances O'Rell sat on the floor and
looked UP at her caller.
Il have no boarders to see this impro-
priety," she said "and it is so comfort
able" Then, ooh, Kathie, business is
very bad"
''How is that? Do you starve your
| people, or do you let them wax fat
and kick? Or do you not get any? Your
neighbors do very we'll"
She was looking out over the top of the
window-fern, and remarking the clash
of the opposite gates, and the heads bob
bing up the steps. Then she turned,
put her hands squarely on her knees,
and looked down upon Frances sitting
on the rug.
You dear little Irish SOUL you have
all the courage in the world, and none
of the luck. Give in, now, won't you,
and come back sensibly to your brother
and the rest of us?"
| But Frances shook her head
II can't get on with his third wife,
she said. L bore with his first, and I
just endured the second, but this one [
cannot stand. So have gone into busi-
ness, and 1 will never strike my colors.' -
You are a plucky goose!" said the
visitor. But L will tell you why you
don't succeed. Oh, l have seen your
neighbors at their windows. One is a
jolly old thing of 80, who could quite
we'll tuck up her boarders in their beds.
/ The other is skinny and impressive
Both look responsible, and both wear
caps. You aren't motherly, my Frances,
and you are much too young
Il am as old as the hills" said Miss
O'Rell, getting up from the floor and
seeking dignity-"and I only take in
ladies'"
Her visitor laughed.
"Oh.' she said; then you don't look
your age. Honestly, Frances, your wild
black hair is terribly against you. Peo-
pie require gray hairs, know they do;
and have no confidence in any color.
Didn't the old woman in Ireland call
your hair a devils glory and do you
expect to see paying guests crowd round
such an aureole? Well, I suppose 1
must be trotting. Believe me,
my dear, you won't succeed with these
crazy raven locksi"
She departed, looking oddly up and
down at the queer SNUG houses. And
when she was quite gone Frances O'Rell
went solemnly upstairs, and sat down in
front of her looking glass.
'It is true" she said ct frightens
them all away. They want an elderly
person, and I am very elderly, but my
hair deceives them. I am old, old, and
my heart is gray with trouble but my
hair keeps black. 1t is a fraud"
She pressed her face closer to the
glass. 1t was small, thin face that
looked pinched indeed as the color
! faded: but the wild rim of hair was as
dark as it had been when cheeks were
red and pulses had gone quicker. There
was no single gray hair to be found in
those black meshes. Any old maid hav-
/ ing such hair might be triumphant. But
/ Frances had taken a great dislike to
the dark hair she had been proud of long
ago.
I am 3S.'' she said My mother had
I coal black hair at go. Nobody sees my
poor face. and the wrinkles that must be
/ there, because of this hair of mine
When my heart was broken with sor-
row. when the long months and the
years that came after found me crushed
and miserable could they not blanch my
hair? Why can't 1 look as old and as
troubleworn as l feel?'
/ She twisted her hands nervously in