The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-05-03
SOMERSET, PA. WEDNESDAY. MAY 3. 1899


sense of his desolation burst upon Don.
He lay sobbing far into the night. and
refused TO be comforted. Mrs. Smith.
had every wish to be kind 10 him, but
she had houseful OF unruly children
to manage, and Don's ways were
strange to her. She complained to the
neighbOrs that he made himself fair
silly WI frettin'." When he was not
crying he was perplexed and frighten-
ed by his new surroundings. The chill
dren quarreled over their games and
their mother usually quelled the dis
turbance by dealing out slaps with a
generous hand. Don came in for a
share of these with the rest; he was |
missing soon after and was not found /
till nightfall fast asleep on his mothers
grave. Mrs. Smith considered she |
must break him Of bad habit, so she |
beat him again and told him he should |
not see Mairly If he went there any |
more. That night he cried so that the
other children could not sleep, and |
after week in which blows, scold-
ings and cajolings all failed to ''break
him of the habit" he was put TO sleep |
in an out building, that the household |
might have peace. For the rest he was
dull and docile enough, listening with
pathetic credulity to Mrs. Smiths as
surance that Mairly would come soon,
which was her formula when she want
ed TO be kind.
Mairly had been taken 10y the vicar
to her new home. She looked such
quaint little figure in her long lilac
print gown and white apron, the
uniform of the orphanage, that the vi
cars daughters called her a sweet
little dear" and gave her silver six
pences, and the servants kissed her and
cried over her. She was some years
younger than the usual age of admis-
sion, aud the girls at the home seemed
very big to her The long rows of
lilac print frocks and white aprons he
wildered her, and the ssmeness Of voice
and expression never ceased TO perplex
and distress her. If there were some
who were inclined TO tease and torment
her. there were others who would have
liked to make pet of her, but Mairly
never distinguished between these; she
suffered the caresses of one in exactly
the same spirit as she endured the petty
tyranny of another.
The teacher found her good and obe-
dent, and she went through the daily
routine with immovable patience, but
without interest. When there was
some unusual sound in the house, or
visit from a stranger, Mairly's face
sharpened into look of intense ex-
pectancy, and then settled back in
awhile to the same dull patience. One
day, when visitor had come and gone,
Mairly's disappointment expressed
itself in a sudden demand of the ma
tron:
"Please, ma'am, when shall | see
Don2'
"You will see him some day, if you're
a good girl, /" said the matrnn, kindly.
.'But when, ma'am, pleased"
''I can't tell you that, Mary"
"It's much easier to be good if 1
know when," pleaded the child; but
the matron could make no promises,
and Mairly abandoned her hope from
that day.
One night in the early spring, she
awakened with the sound of DOn's
voice in her ears, crying "Mairly :"
most piteously. She lay quiet until
the usual time for getting up, and when
the household assembled for prayers
she went up to the mstron with the
customary bob and eurtsey.
"Please, ma'am, must go to Dom"
''You can't do that, Mary, Pm
afraid"
~ must go, must gor' sobbed the
the child, her fOrtitude giving way for
the first time. "Don wants me, he
keeps crying and crying; he walked NE
last night with his crying ~
1t was in vain they tried to comfort
her-Don was in trouble, she must go
to Don. She kept sobbing this out, till
at last she was pronounced naughty" I"
and put in a room by herself to get over
it.
AIairly was very quiet when she was
let out, and by evening the scene was
forgotten. In the early morning she
awoke again, and sat up listening, but
without making any sound. She crept
out OF bed and put on her clothes in
the dark, pausing now and then to hear
the steady breathing of the sleepers in
the long dormitory; then she took her
shoes and went out along the corridor,
past the open door of the teacher 3
room and down the ereaking stairs Iu
the basement she got her cloak and
bonnet, and, by standing on a chair,
shot the heavy bolt of the playrOom
door, and 30 into the yard. There was
no way out Of the grounds, but ct the
end was space rallied of for hens
aud out of this a small opening had
been made for them into the field be
yond. The door into the hencoop wa
only latched, and, by dint of grea
struggle, Mairly was out through tht
hole. leaving part of the lilac print be
hind her.
There had been sickness and fever
Lsngton, and one of Mrs. Smiths chil
i dren had been dangerously i'll. Witt
this trouble in the house, it was no
noticed that Don was ailing also. On
+ day he could eat nothing, and at nigh
he tossed about, dreaming, when b
, slept, of strange places aud people
[ Toward m Drning he awOke in q frigh
; and fell 10 calling: "Mairly - In tn
: day he was better, he took his meal
t with the rest aud played on the dool
a steps with the other children; but 8
night the same tOrmenting dream
2 came back, and he awoke agai
/. crying: "Mairly Mairly v' Tn
e time it seemed to him she answered
: "Wait bit, Don, I'm coming" II
{ lay still contentedly till it was time
a get up, and then, without waiting Il
g 4