The Forrest City times., 1900-04-13

way"
 She opened the gate and walked boldly up the Jagged walk to the front door. The true city gamin, male or female, Is untroubled by bashfulness. Her ring was answered by tall, thin, gray-haired man with melan- eholy gray eyes. Lill held out the basket in one hand and the quarter in the other. saying:
 Miss Thusy says will you please let her have a dozen fresh eggs for Easter, an she wants 'em good an big"
 Henry Gleason stared at the odd little figure, who stood stoek-still aft CT delivering her message.
 Miss Thusyi Was the world com ing to an end? Then the explanation occurred to him. Thusa must have seat tais queer chill to his next neightor, Mrs. Wilson. who sold eggs regularly. and the g.gl had mistaken the house.
 sudden thought whirled into his mind. Not being widely read in the poets, the line
 Take the goods the gods provide thee. did not occur to him. but he acted on the principle implied. He took the basket and the money, and bade the child come in. He was alone, the housekeeper having gone to the next town to do some trading" and the hired boy was blowing.
 Easter egg! Thusa should have such an Easter basket as no young girl in the village could boast. In the bot tom of the basket. he arranged two dozen of the finest. freshest eggs he could find ln the henhonse. Then he wrote a hurried note-not high-sound- ing. but with true love in every line. Truly he was making up for lost time. He slipped the money inside, sealed the letter and lail it on the eggs. folding a paper over ali. Then he went to the housekeeper' cherished window plants and loaded the basket to the very handle with Easter lilies end roses.
 "Ain't there no change from the quarter?" asked sharp. city-bred Iill. looking euri pnsly from him to the HoNefs ana haek.
 sInside-in an envelope. Miss Thusa will understand"
 Did he spose I'd lose it. if he gave it to me in my hand?" said Lill to her self rather seornfully. trudging of with her fragrant load. A little later. the fiUwer-la6cn basket was dumped on the Hills kitchen table by breathless Lill, who had come as near to running as the safety ol the eggs would permit.
 'Iie sent you all these lots an lots of flowers. Misa Thusy. an the eggs an change Is at the bottom of the basket. He said you would understand"
 Hel What was t-5 child talking about?
 Didn't you go to Mrs. Wilson's. Linz"
 q went to the first white house with green shutters"-Miss Thusa dropped white and trembling into the little kitchen rocker-"where the hens was a-squawkin'. an the man that come to the door give me the eggs an the flow CTS. I didn't see no woman any where's"
 Thusa sprang suddenly from the chair and lifteo out the flowers, Lin bringing water for them In an old. fashioned pitcher. When the note ap- peared. Thusa caught it up and fed to her room, scarcely glancing at the eggs. Kneeling beside her patchwork covered bed, Thusa wept and smiled by turns over her old lovers note. in which he told her he would be with her in an hour. Then, womanlike. she got up and began 10 freshen and improve her faded face and hair. her plain gar ments. But the greatest benutifier was the soft light in her changed eyes. On a lovely summer morning. Lin Burdell. plump and rosy from weeks of care and kindness, stood on the back porch of the Gleason farmhouse. seat tering corn tJ flock of hens. Mrs. Hill sat near, shelling peas freshly picked i:. the morning dews and Thusa Hill Gleason, looking years younger and pre-; tier. was stirring in a house. wifely fashion about her spacious kitchen, getting ready a substantial breakfast.
 Look, grandma" said LII, "ain't they pretty? An squawkin' jes' like they did the cay came for the eggs an neither me nor them a-dreamin' how soon we'd all be Twin here to- gether."
 An, Lill, yon little guessed what you were doing tha, day, when you stopped at the wrong house-the first house where the hens were "a-squawkir' |" Nor did your Miss Thusy-who win al- ways be Miss Thusy" to you realize, on that cold spring evening. that the ragged, tempted little tramp. with whom she shared her o~n seanty meal, was an angel entertained unawares.- Leslie Dane, in Good Housekeeping. Blessing of the House. AmapU fhe fsreworinn AruanfanS tb A.