The Portland daily press., 1898-03-03
Ik<<;153N5H|fI3A|El1,
fW;I;t:N, b kSScARcE.
&,:.fa:uS1a.4, By JEA4kET1E \ .WALwoggIn2
- ssaSaySE s- me AUTHOR,
Continued
CHAPTER XIII.
COPYRIGHT 1898. 81 The AUThoR.3

CHAPTER XIII.
fhe dust gathered thick on the shelves
of little Potts storerooms. They were
empty shelves, SO little dust or a great
deal was no offense to them. Miss Mela-
ME and the girls had conscientiously
dispensed the contents of all the boxes
and barrels until there were no contents
to dispense, and then old Timothy Drew
had carted the boxes and barrels about
for kindling wood, freely given to
whomsoever needed.
Men were scarce in those days, and
old Timothy placed higher estimate
upon himself with every one that passed.
''Me an Parson Brownell an Jim
Ford, the one eyed druggist, together
with lot of kids in jackets that DOM
count, is about all that's left. So you
better make the most of u.s.
And his toothless gums cleaned red
with mirth over the manless situation.
A starveling mule, strayed from no
one knew whence, with no master to
claim him, had nibbled the long benches
that furnished the gallery in front OF
the store until their edges showed white
and serrated-not at all fit now for the
lounging places of such jolly loafers as
the colonel, Thatcher and the rest OF
little Potts best customers. Wanton
hands had made targets of the dusty
windows until scarcely a whole pane of
glass remained. A more dismal spot
could hardly be found in all Cloyerdell,
Weeds grew rank in Mrs. Phipps'
flower garden in those days.
Mrs Phipps' garden used to be a
poisoning reproach to every sluggard
in the town. No one stopped now to
cast admiring or envious chances over
the ornamental palings that fenced it
away from it's plebeian neighbors of
the vegetable garden. No one noticed
the insolent jamestown weeds that were
crowding out her pansies or the. wild
camomile, lifting its coarse head above
her neapolitan violets. Everybody S
garden was weedy wreck in those
days, SO no one could cast stone at
his neighbor. "There were things of SO
much more Importance to be looked aft
er, to be grieved over. %
What did she care for pansies or
violets, when she did not even have the
satisfaction of knowing whether the box
containing those remarkable damask
shirts and bedticking trousers had ever
reached Mr.. Phipps and the boys?
The grass grew bravely in the streets
of Cloverdell in those commerceless
times There were no teams hauling OPP
ulent loads of cotton bales from the
plantations to the steamboat landing,
no drays rafting through its bustling
main street with casks Of ice or cargoes
of fruit. Cloverdell gentry had lived
high once upon time
Women gathered closer together and
tried to speak words of comfort, which
died on the lips for want of sustenance
from the heart. The story of their hard
ships waxed old. Ingenuity in the con-
irving of substitutes for the daily neces-
saries of life had become commonplace
to an extent that made it wearlsome
conversational stuff.
Even the poor comfort of weekly
paper printed Oh wall paper was taken
from them. All the wall paper gave
out, and the editor went to the war.
Once in a great while an uncertain
item of news touching the Apologize
sharpshoosers would percolate through
the enemy's lines to make or mar the
tar fSl some wife or mother.
This condition of deadly stagnation
began to tell on Miss Melanies temper
Ollie found her one morning drawing
on her gloves with an energy that
amounted to spite. There were traces of
tears on the little woman's cheeks, and
her lips were tightly compressed as if
she were suppressing their fresh flow.
"Where to now, auntie?" said Ollie,
twining a sympathetic arm around Miss
Melanie's waist.
"I'm going down to the store. ] don t
think we overlooked anything the last
time we had a distribution, but there
may be something left on some of the
top shelves, and as long as I am doing
something Lester asked me to do feel
nearer to him.
$50 do 1, said Ollie. $50 do we all.
Wait and let me call sister. We will go
together.
It was common sight, the three
Potts "girls'' on their way to the ware
rooms at the other end of town, and
they were greeted by many nod and
scrap Of conversation in their progress.
Rumors of great battle had foated to