The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1899-08-30
! MISS R0SEANNA
AND
{; The Tall Clock.

"Things are in the saddle and ride man
kind"
Miss Roseanna Meggs lived in n
house of her own-a very commodious
and comfortable one-on the corner Of
the principal street of Brambleville.
She had but one companion, an anti
quated woman called Lizette.
Miss Roseanna's ancestors we're
people Of quality, and her house con
tanned mdny valuable relics indicative
of by-gone grandeur; indeed Lizette
herself was little more than relic,
for as she was very old and very deaf
and rather cross tempered, Miss Rose
anna had no excuse for keeping her
except that she had served all her life
in the Meggs family.
But the inanimate heirlooms, the
mahogany table and writing desk, the
cherry clock, the brass candlesticks,
the pewter plate and flowing blue
china, these were almost as dear a.
life itself to Miss Rosean ia's heart.
Especially was the tall cl ,ck priced
not only because IL was oil 4 cherry
and hundred years old, il day, but
|
down with it, to wit, that General
Washington had sat for few moments
in great, great uncle's parlor while
the tall clock priced, not only because
it was solid had been brought to
Roseanna's home by a maiden aunt
who had grumbled at Roseanna's
board and growled al her bed during
five years of invalidism, and died at
last, leaving behind a clean record for
nnamiabiIity, but not Q farthing in
m6ney-only the tall clock and some
old clothes by way of conf ensation.
The fact Miss Roseanna never COM
planned or so much as limited that her
departed aunt's disposition was not
altogether angelic, is evidence Of the
store she set by the tall clock.
1t is not strange that she was quite
overwhelmed with sorrow and chag-
rim, when, rummaging through n
chest of old letters one June day, she
Glanced to find little slip of paper,
neatly folded and innocent looking as
a school girls note, but, alas, how
deceiving are appearances! The note
ran:
"When am gone (Which am convinced
won't be long, seein' I'm situated as | be),
when I'm gone want the cherry clock that
was Uncle Daniels, and that has the honor
of being licked In G.. Washington's hearin',
l want to go to Sarah Maud Pitkins, and
nobody else. And to this will and testa-
ment hereby set my hand and seal under
heaven this day.
'Jane Ann Meggs."
The slip dropped from Roseanna's
hand, but she did not move or cry.
Through the open winnow she felt the
breath of the pleasant June breeze
and saw her log cabin and goose chase
and coyerlets tluttering on the line,
and wondered in dazed way, if she
could be identical with the light
hearted woman who hung them there
an hour ago.
"Oh, would rather part with any
thing else in the house-anything
else" she mourned at last. "And
that it should go to Sarah Maud, Sarah
Maud Pitkins of all people! If it had
been any of the other cousins -"
Roseanna's breast heaved and she
burst out crying.
Now every neighbours child in
Brambleville could have told you that
there had been feud of many years
standing between the two cousins,
Roseanna Meggs and Sarah Maud,
who married Pitkins. But though
everybody knew of the rupture, very
few pretended to know anything Of
the cause, and the stories of those
who made such pretensions were so
contrary that no one could be be-
lieved.
Some said that Roseanna had con-
sidered Lem Pikins beneath the
family dignity, and quite unfit for her
first cousins companions; others de-
clared that Roseanna was jealous;
that she had wanted Lem Pitkins her.
self, that was where the shoe pinched,
while large faction said that the
whole trouble had come from Rose
anna having said In Sarah Maud's
presence that 'she would never marry
man with such one. e.sided, shamby-
pamby gait as Lem Pitkins had, -
whereupou Sarah Maud had fred like
q fuse and gone off in a rage that had
never cooled since.
But whatever the cause, the fact OF
the feud remained. Seven years had
passed since the cousins who had
been like sisters in girlhood = had
passed pleasant word. Roseanna
had never seen Sarah Maud's youngest
child, though she was now past three,
and as for the others she barely knew
them by sight.