Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-11-30

Hdu Deeu uuOccupleu since neE boy mad
slept there.
81 wasn't a-lookin for you,n she said
then, ungraciously enough, "but |
reckon you can stay a few days till
you git rested up"
"Oh, thank your cried Dorothy
sweetly. This is lovely old place
Aunt Polly! How you must love itp'
She was looking out of the window
as she spoke. Inside the house every
thing was bare and unattractive, but
when she glanced around her only
thought was. How pretty it might be
NADER
She began making it that very day
Even Miss Polly's stern face relaxed
when she looked in upon it that even.
ing. Pretty pictures and tiny shelves
with dainty silken hangings brighten
ed up the walls, and all about the room
were charming nothings that pleased
the eyes of the old woman. And yet
she did not acknowledge it. No, in
deed! She said something sharp in
stead about "all that dummery" and
intimated that it was nothing more
than "a trap to catch the dust"
"Oh, I'll never let the dust get into
themw said that strange girl brightly
"And it is so easy to make a home
prettyw
And then pretty things began to
bloom out all over the house, even in
Miss Polly's room, that stiff room with
its hard bed and its straight backed
chairs Somehow the stiffness and the
angularity melted away as if by magic
Bits of bright ribbons looped back the
curtains. In one corner suddenly ap-
peared little shelf with the daintiest
pink vase upon it and rose in the
vase.
Oh, she was a wonderful girl this
Dorothy! One day she went up and
laid her fresh young cheek against the
old woman's shoulder.
"Aunt Polly" she said, 81 miss my
piano very much. | left it boxed up
ready to ship Suppose we send for it. >
And Miss Polly sent-grim old Miss
Polly, who had always considered mu-
sic of every kind an invention of satan
When the piano came and the people
saw it carried into that house. they
crowded around the gate and stood OF
tiptoe and peeped over the fence. Sew
eral were heard to declare that Miss
Polly was undoubtedly crazy. She came
out then and shook her fist at them
and that was so much like her old sell
that they concluded her mind was al
right after all But, if not crazy, then
what?
And Dorothy's musicl She liked best
to play when the twilight was in the
house, and the old woman would sit
over by the dim window and look at
the sunset sky and listen. Dorothy
knew little about classic music or bril-
liant effects, but she could play many
of the old time pieces and sing them
too, in a voice sweet and tender.
At last something happened that
showed the lonely old woman that this
was not quite so bad a world as she
had thought it and that she had even
misunderstood herself. Dorothy was
taken i'll. 1t had seemed nothing but
slight cold at first, but by the nexi
evening it was so much worse that
Miss Polly herself put ON her bonnet
and ran for a physician. And so fol
many days they battled with the dis
ease that had laid its hold upon the
young girl and would not give her up.
Then Miss Polly began to learn Peo
pie that she had not spoken to in years
came to the door and asked if they
might help take care of Miss Dorothy
An old woman that had been Miss Pol
ly's mortal enemy and whom she had
passed in the street a hundred times
with her head turned eontemptuously
away now haunted the house with
dainty dishes which she hoped might
tempt the invalid.
Even the boys of the neigbborhood
between whom and Miss Polly there
had been bitter warfare, hung about
the gate now, and when their ancient
enemy appeared they asked her if they
couldn't ''be sent on an errand or some
thin
Il didn't think she knew one O. these
people" said the bewildered Miss Pol
ly. 81 didn't suppose she knew any
body but me-"
And so it came to pass that when the
doctor came out of that quiet room
one day and told Miss Polly that the
crisis was past and that Dorothy would
get we'll the old woman sat and looked
down at the two tears that had fallen
upon her wrinkled hands and said to
herself:
"Well, don't spose anybody ever
saw the likes O. thatr'
One day, when the invalid had grown
strong enough to sit up and was in the
great armchair all wrapped up in
blankets, Miss Polly said in her own
abrupt way:
Tim goin to keep Thanksgivin. Doro-
thy.
Dorothy's eyes flashed with surprise
and pleasure.
eDon't haven't you always kept
it?'i she asked.
ssNo, I've never kept it. | thought
the day was nothin to me, and so
shut myself up and worked harder
than ever and hated other people for
maxim so much Of it. But now this is
different I'm goin to cook good din.
ner, my dear, and you shall ask the
guests for your part. reckon you'd
better invite the choir people. some OF
'em, and Colonel Days daughter
that's been here to see you so many
times"
mo, Aunt Polly" was all that Doro-
thy said, but her pretty pale face was
suddenly flushed, and her mind was
already busy with plans. What a
Thanksgiving they would havel
Cook ever so much. Aunt Polly
she said coaxingly. "We shall want
the two long tables put together, and
| want them fairly filled, because the
people that will be here would not
have had any Thanksgiving at home. +"
The next day Miss Polly stood at the
pantry window and watched the guests
come The first arrival was that poor
old Mrs. Day, who had not walked q
steD or been outside of her own mis-.
cradle house for more than 15 years.
| Dorothy's friends, the boys, had car