The age-herald., 1899-06-25

''Who can that be?" asked one of group of laughing girls who were seated on the lawn, under spreading oak, in the long ago. Well might she ask, for a per feet stranger was as rare as bird of Para disc in that drowsy little village, where everybody for miles around, and every body's relatives unto the fourth and fifth removed cousins, were. well known; and where it was useless for any girl to try to keep back her age. no matter how lacking she might be in either books or beaux.
 The stranger a man of medium size, dressed in black, had alghted from the stage which brought him to this little town so far from the changing railroad, of which, indeed, Alabama could boast but few in those days; so, valise and umbrella in hand, he was vending his way down the struggling street when spied by the girls sitting on the grass before one of the old colonial homes.
 "Who can he be? persisted Kate.
 Why don't you know?" asked Olga. "He's my sweetheart, and he's coming to ask fathers con"
 The sentence died on her lips as the stranger opened the gate and came hes- taingly up the broad graVeled walk. Amid the suppressed mirth of the girls Olga rose in her capacity of hostess, and went to met him.
 "If Major Brandon is at home, I should like to speak to him." he said, coolly as he could, considering the battery of bright, curious eyes he faced. This apparently harmless statement following closely on Olga's jest, brought another litter from the girls, and bright pink to the little hostess face
 "Father is at the postoffce, but" not all the gggling girls in christendom could make her break the good old southern rule but won't you go in to see mother, and have some cool water?"
 "Thank you, no; I must see your father at once, as my business is urgent" and he beat dignifed retreat, while the ur- gency of his business brought another smothered laugh from the girls who were just at that age when mirth bubbles up spontaneously.
 As soon as the man had disappeared be- hind the mock-orange hedge, Oga's tenn porary dignity disappeared, and she joined heartily in the laugh at her own expense.
 "Oh I know" said Lulu, "he's the new teacher though he wasn't expected until next week."
 ''If l had known that, he might as well have left his vase, for the teachers al ways board here because it's so near the school"
 '.How tiresome 1t must be for you, Olga, to have to see him out of school as well as in,'. said Kate
 Well, you know I stay over at grand mas most of the time, and then this man is So kind and gentle looking"
 ''They are the very ones that make you work yourself to death before you know it." argued the irrepresslble Kate
 "Oh, girls, suppose he falls in love with Annie, wouldn't that be lovely?" said Olga. with all the enthusiasm of her age.
 Meantime, Major Brandon and the teach CT, Mir. Howard had settled weghtier matters, and now, after the manner of the time and place, they were industriousy hunting for mutual acquaintances. or even distant relatives Their search failed to bring to light any nearer tie than the fact that Maior Brandon lost his arm on the same battle field which cost Mir How ards father his life. In those days this was a bond as binding as blood; so it was with the air of bringing home a lifelong friend that Major Brandon introduced Mr. Howard to the two ladies that were on the porch enjoying the twilight-''his wife, Mrs. Brandon, and his daughter Miss An nie"
 Then the major spoke with pride of the two sons who were trying their fortunes in the west.
 And there's Olga, who stays most of the time with her grandmother, who lives alone in that large house across the way; but you will see her at school, as this is her last year."
 
 fair justice to Aunt Deey's famous bis- cult, fried chicken and peach preserves, he excused himself to write to his mother He eased her heart with full description of the pleasant home into which he had been received and concealed from her his disappointment at the small school and smaller salary, for was she not burdened with enough already? She and his sister, so used to every comfort, were now entire- ly dependent on him. only the old home in Georgia was left, but some of the broad acres that had surrounded it before the war. And he. oh, he felt himself such a failure so unable to cope with the new or- der of affairs. The place in life he was intended to fill had been swept away, and he seemed incapable of hewing out a sphere for himself; 1t was not lack of will, but a want of adaptability.
 The most of MT. Towards slender sal ary went back~to the old home in Georgia, and very little was left for his own modest needs; though scrupulousy neat his clothes were soon shiny and threadbare. The pleasant home where he spent his leisure hours did much to console him. as did also the cultivated class of children he had to teach Of all the girls, however, he was most drawn to Olga, though she was not the prettiest or even the brightest of that fair bevy. Her pure pale face would occasionally break into a mischievous smile, as fascinating as it was unexpected. She was still quite child in years and mind, in spite of her tall figure and stately walk and her heavy plait of brown hair had not been twisted into any of those compromise fashions by which young girls
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