The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-11-24


slept there.
II wasn't a-lookin for you," she said
then, ungraci0usly enough, 'but
reckon you can stay a few days till
you git rested up"
ION, thank your cried Dorothy
sweetly. "This is lovely old place.
Aunt Pollyl How YOU must love itl'
She was looking out Of the window
~ she spoke. Inside the house every
thing was bare and unattractive, but
when she glanced around her only
thought was, "How pretty 1t might be
nader
She began making It that very day.
Even Miss Polly's stern face relaxed
when she looked in upon 1t that even
ing. Pretty pictures and tiny shelves
with dainty silken hangings brighten
ed I'D 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 fummery" and
intimated that it was nothing more
than "a trap to catch the dust"
"Oh, I'll never let the dust get into
themv' said that strange girl brightly.
~And 1t is so easy to make a home
prettyp
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 it's 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 a 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, II miss my
plano very much. left 1t 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
Jaw 1t carried into that house, they
crowded around the gate and stood on
tdptoe 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 self
that they concluded her mind was all
right after all. But II not crazy, then
whatf
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 q voice sweet and tender.
At last something happened that
showed the lonely old woman tina. this
was not quite 30 bad a world as she
had thought it and that she had even
misunderstood herself. Dorothy was
taken ILL 1t had seemed nothing but
q slight cold at first, but by the next
evening 1t was so much worse that
Miss Polly herself put on her bonnet
and ran for q physician. And so for
many days they battled with the dis
ease that had laid It's hold upon the
young girl and would not give her mp.
Then Miss Polly began to learn. Peo-
pie that she had not spoken to In years
came to the door and asked II 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 contemptuously
away now haunted the house with
dainty dishes which abe hoped might
tempt the invalid.
Evsn the boys Of the neighborhood,
between whom and Miss Polly there
had been bitter warfare, hung about
tho gate now, and when their ancient
enemy appeared they asked her II they
couldn't 'Sbe sent on an errand or some
thin"
II didn't think she knew one o. these
people," said the bewildered Miss Pol
y. 4 didn't suppose she knew any
body hut M"
And % n came 10 pass that when ths
doctor came out Of that Quist room
one day and told Miss Polly that tho
crisis was past and that Dorothy would
get well the old woman sat and hooked
down at the'two tears that had fallen
upon her wrinkled hands and said 70
herself:
"Weu, I don't s'pose anybody evsr
saw the hikes o. THAR
One day, when the invalid had grown
strong enough 10 SIT up and was in the
great armchair all wrapped up IN
blankets, Miss Polly said In her own
abrupt way:
I'm goin to keep Thanksgivin, Doro-
thy"
Dorothy's eyes flashed with surprise
and pleasure.
Don't you-haven't you always kept
ttr' she asked.
"No, I've never kept It. I thought
the day was nothin to me, and SO /
shut myself up and worked harder
than ever and hated other people for
maxim % much Of 1t. But now this Is
different. I'm goin to cook good din