Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-02-24
UIss JEJnIna's VALENTINE.
BY RUTH McENERY STUART.


that her brother was bringing In he
mail, and, as he entered the room, she
bent lower over her work, her crochet
needle flew faster and she coughed a
slight cough. But she did not look
up.
She knew, without looking, that her
brother brought in a pile OF valentines
In his hand, and that when presently
he should have finished distributing
them to his eager sons and daughters,
her nephews and nieces, he would come
and bring one to her-or else? He
would not do this last. 1t was this
dread that brought the crimson Spots
to her cheeks.
II there was one for her he would
presently come, and, leaning over her
shoulder, he would say, as he dropped
upon her lap the larger, handsomer
one than all the others; This looks
nightly suspicious, Sis Minnie" or,
''Well have to find out about this or
maybe, as he presented it, he would
covertly shield her by addressing him
self to the younger crowd after this
fashion:
EFF had a lot o. boys and girls,
an couldn't get bigger valentine from
all my sweethearts an beaux than my
oil auntie can set still at home an git,
why, I'd quit tryin'-that's what /
would"
There was always a tenderness in
the brothers manner when he handed
his sister her valentine. He had
brought her one each year for seven
years, now, and after the first time,
when he had seen the look of pain and
confusion that had followed his playful
teasing as he had presented it, he had
never more than relieved the moment
by a passing jest.
The regular coming of Aunt Jemi-
mas valentine" was a mystery in the
household.
1t had been thirteen years since she
had quarreled with Eli Taylor, her
lover, and they parted in anger, never
to meet again. Since then she had
stayed at home and quietly grown old.
Fourteen years ago she had been in
the flush of this, her only romance, and
st. Valentines day had brought a
great, thick envelope, in which lay
fragrant with perfume, a gorgeous val
entine. Upon this was painted, after
the old Dresden china pattern, a beau
tiful lady, with slender waist and cork
screw curls, standing beside a tall
cavalier, who dotted his hat to her as
he presented the card that bore her
name, SO finely and beautifully written
that only very young eyes could read
It unaided.
BY lifting this card, one might read
the printed rhyme beneath-the rhyme
SO tender and loving that it needed
only the inscription of a name on the
flap above it to make 1t all-sufficient In
personal application to even the most
fastidious.
This gorgeous affair was so artfully
constructed that by drawing its pic
tured front forward it could be made
to stand alone, when there appeared
a fountain in the background, and
brilliant peacock with argus-eyed tail,
a great rose on a tiny bush and
crescent moon. The Oldest children
had been very small when this resplen-
dent confection had come into their
home. Some of them had not been
born, but they had all grown up in the
knowledge of it.
There had been times in the tender
memories of all of them when Aunt
Minnie" had locked her door, and be-
cause they had been very good, let
them take little peep at her beautiful
valentine, which she kept carefully
locked away in her bureau drawer.
They had on occasions been allowed
to wash their hands and hold it-just
a minute.
1t had always been thing to wonder
over, and once-but this was the year
II came-when her sky seemed as rosy
as the ribbon about her waist--Miss
Jemima had stood 1t up on the whatnot
In the parlor when the church sociable
met at her brothers house, and every
body in town had seen 1t, while for her
1t made the whole corner of the room
beautiful.
But the quarrel had soon followed-a
foolish lovers quarrel-Eli had gone
away in anger-and that had been the
emf.
Disputes over trifles are the hardest
to mend, each party finding it so diff
cult to forgive the other for being
angry for so slight cause.
And so the years had passed.
For ten long years the beautiful val
entine had lain carefully put away. For
i've years Jemima had looked at 1t with
fearless eyes and a hardened heart.
And then came the memorable first an
niversary when the children of the
household began to celebrate the day,
and tiny comic pictured pages began
Hitting In from their school sweet
hearts The realization of the new
era was a shock to Miss Jemima. In
the youthful merriment of those bud
ding romances she seemed to see sort
OF reflection of her own long-ago Joy,
and In the faint glow of 1t she felt
impelled to go to her own room and to
lock the door and look at the old val
entine.
With a new, strange tremor about
her heart and an unsteady hand she
took IL out, and when in the light OF
awakened emotion she saw once more
its time-stained face and caught its
musty odor she seemed to realize again
the very body of her lost love, and for
the first time In all the years the
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