The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-10-09
Selected Story.
MISS RUTHIE'S CHARGE.

600, you see, Miss Paul, l came
- round to find out how many
YOU would take" said good Mrs
Manly, the plump, matronly minis
ter's wife. and she smiled assuringly
at Miss Ruthie's grim fac
But Ruth Paul wasn't to be smiled
into anything in any such fashion,
"Why, Mrs. Manly, l don't know
any more about children than cat
does about Sunday" was her dry
answer.
"Never mind that, Miss Ruthie,
YOU could learn. And this is just the
place for poor, tired, hungry little
child. You have a big, empty house,
a great, cool, shady yard, plenty OF
fresh milk, fruit, big garden,
chickens, ducks, everything a child
lovesl You might take three or
four"
sand they would chase the ducks,
worry the chickens, pull the flowers,
waste the fruit, spill the milk, and
racket and upset all over the housed
l would as soon go to theasylum and
be done with it. Mrs. Manly"
"But, Miss Ruth" urged the min
listers wife gently, 1--WE ought to be
willing to put up with few little in
conveniences for the sake of bright
ening one of these darkened little
lives"
81 didn't darken EN-" said Miss
Ruth, grimly; 81 amt responsible"
"'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these, We have
done it unto me-" murmured Mrs.
Manly softly.
Cant help it," responded Miss
Ruth. IF took one of 'em, should
not know what on the face of the
earth to do with it. | would worry
it, and it would worry me. 1t amt
no use to waste words over it."
Mrs. Manly rose to go, with disap-
pointed air.
"Then you will not take even one,
Miss Ruth?"
"Not even one, Mrs. Manly" re-
turned the grim spinster.
"Well, l am sorry, but you are the
best judge, of course"
"I'd like to oblige you, Mrs. Manly.
But what to do with young one |
wouldn't know, I'm sure. l couldn't
do it."
"Then l will not urge it, Miss Ruth.
OF course if you change your mind
between now and the time the chill
dren come, you can let the committee
know. There is always ROOM"
"All right. But 'tisn't at all likely
I shall change my mind" said Miss
Ruth, grim as ever.
But, after Mrs. Manly was gone,
Miss Ruth felt uneasy. All day long
her thoughts we're dwelling on the
poor, sickly children in the city,
whom the ladies relief society were
going to send out into the cool, green
country for a few weeks, wherever
they could find a kind heart or hos
pitable home ready to take in a poor
little waif.
Miss Ruth had plenty of means,
and not a soul to fill that great old
house excepting herself, her stout
maid, Betty, and the colored boy
who acted as general factotum.
But she had never had anything to
do with children in her life. She
didn't like them. Their fingers were
always sticky, and they always got
into mischief, and left things lying
about, and-oh, she couldn't think
about it.
But it was provoking. Everything
Miss Ruth touched that day seemed
to harp on that one subject. If she
took up a paper, there was a picture
or poem of pretty child-life under
her eyes.
She went into the kitchen, and the
first thing Betty had to say was that
the neighbors on both sides were
going to take one or two children for
a month from the relief committee,
and Betty thought it was so nice to
have the darlin's running around to
keep a body from getting lonesome.
She got a letter from her niece