The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-09-30
THE LOVE STORY :
: OF NUMBER SIX.

SSSSSSSSO30'SS~
r n the Baptist Orphan Asylum of a
small town In Vermont Lizzie Mac
- ready was known as No. g. The
name was particularly fitting for more
reasons than one. Lizzie was the
youngest child In family Of six. She
was the sixth orphan who had been ad-
mitted to the institution In the sixth
year of its establishment. Her father
was a locomotive engineer on the Yer
mont Central Railway. Lizzie, the
youngest child, was 6 years old when
he was killed in collision, and
brought home a corpse to his little
ones. His eldest daughter had been
keeping house since the death Of her
mother, and soon after the fathers
demise she married section boss. The
children were scattered among friends
and relatives. The boys had found
good homes and were all at work earn
ing money, Lizzie was taken into the
orphanage, Of which her aunt, kindly,
middle-aged woman, was matron.
Nobody objected to this arrangement,
for Miss Sanders stood very high In the
esteem Of the townspeople, who
thought 1t but right that the youngest
child Of the dead engineer should be
cared for at the expense of the county,
since all the others had not become
burdens on their charity.
Number Six grew up a likely girl
amidst the orphans of the place, and
now, at the age Of 16, she was quite
help to her aunt, who still continued IN
charge of the county's waits. All who
had been there when she was toddler
were gone The girls had sought ser
vice with the townspeople, the boys
were at work In the fields. Lizzie was
taking upon her young shoulders the
cares which burdened the white-haired
woman who had been a mother to her.
At this time there was not an empty
bed or cradle In the Institution. An
open winter, something unusual In the
rigorous climate of the Vermont hills,
had depopulated the firesides and filed
the graveyard. For years there had
not been infants in the home until this
winter. Now there were two, boy
and a girl The former was the son of
the schoolmaster. The girl was poor
washerwoman's child. Bud, the male
infant was robust enough and thrived
as successfully among strangers as he
had in his mothers arms, but Bee, the
charwoman's infant daughter, needed
a deal of attention. This little mite of
humanity had been christened Beat
rice, to the great astonishment of ev-
erybody. A washerwoman calling her
child Beatrice, was an unheard Of
thing among the plain people Of the
Vermont hills. Maggie, Mary or Annie,
wagged the gossips, would have been
more suitable.
Mrs RoSsiter, the mother of little Be
atrice, came to the Green Mountain
town when her child was not quite a
year old. She wore widows weeds and
Informed those who asked after her
antecedents that her husband had died
a short time ago, leaving her in pow
erty. He had been a good man, she
explained, but q years sickness had
eaten up their little savings.
This was In the summer of the year,
and a few days before Christmas the
mother was called away from little
Bee, before she could indicate what
she wanted done with her child. After
the burial of Mrs. Rossiter, the baby
was taken to the orphanage and placed
In charge Of Miss Sanders. From the
first Lizzie Macready-Number Six
took a violent fancy to the little one.
Bee got all the coddling and fondling.
She was such O wee thing; so delicate
and frail. Big blue eyes gazed wist-
fully out of thin, pale face, and there
was a sad droop to the baby mouth, as
if the child realized Its forlorn condi-
ton.
For time after Mrs. Rossiter's COM
Ing to Water Hollow, the gossips in
dulged in talk about the legitimacy of
little Bee. All doubts were set aside,
however, when the Public Administra-
tor found in an old tin box among Mrs.
Rossiter's effects two marriage Ger
tificates. One. the latest pronounced
her the wife Of James Rossiter, whom
she had wed six years before the baby
was born. The other was ten years
older. 1t had been issued by minis
ter in a small town of New York, and
by II the woman had become the wife
Of a man named Correll.
This was news, indeed, to the deni
Eens of Water Hollow, and they at once
speculated what had become of hel
first husband. By the time they had
found something else to talk about
Baby Bee was forgotten, SO far as they
were concerned.
Slowly the little girl grew, tenderlJ
cared for by Number Six, who had be
come deeply attached to her, and coul6
not endure to have her out of hel
sight Several opportunities presented
themselves for Bees adoption, but Liz
zie Macready objected. She could no
bear to think of a separation from thu