The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1900-04-07
Y
,ETITlA'S
5 DAUGHTER.
( BY ZOE ANDERSON NORRIS.
E ANDERSON NORRIS.
Copyright, 1899. by Zoe 4. Norris.

in the diminutivc -latticcwork She was
weaving III the spot where the heel of
the stocking had been.
| That's true enough" said she, land,
as / say. it begun to look like Letitia
was havin things all her own way. She
was widow and pretty yet and smart.
| There never was Il church sociable but
what Lctitia had every man In the
room around her a-splittin of their
sides lauGhin at the funny things she
said right off plank down. while the
rest of us thought of what we mought
have said after we'd got half way
home"
She slapped her hand over her mouth
in the effort to concca! q slight yawn.
yes" she concluded 'she was
smart-therc's no dcnyin that--about
| most things. But there was one thing
| she want smart about"
And what was that:" demanded
Eliza.
| when everything was Goin her way
and Tom had popped the question or
was about TO pop it. and that"-hcre
| she grasped the stocking more secure
| ly ana looked cross eyed rs she ran the
needle back the other way. the point
| toward hor--"WGS one thing | never
! could quite make ont. whether he ever
asked her in SO many words to marry
| him or not. If he didn't. all I've got
| to say IS that he was mighty near it.
srndin her littlr sweet smcllin bokRys
| and scttiD out on the front porch with
her till al hours O! the night and. as
| said before. han%in on the gate: not
only that, but comm sometimes early
| in the morEin before I'd had time 10
| get my dishes washed: so early that if
| ycu hadu'' known better you'd thought
he'd been hangin there on that gate
the ,ivelong night"
Eliza was in spasm OF suspense.
"What did she do that want
smartE" she begged to know.
Tabitha had finished darning the
stocking. She laid it across her knee
smiled compaccntly at the dizziness of
| her own landiWork and slipped the
darninG ball into its mate.
"She brought that big girl of hers
home out OF the boartlin school," she
|
gust. That's what she did"
"And Tom fell in love with her?'
"Of course! What else could she
have expected, "a like to know? Lett
tia's pretty, but her daughter is pref.
tier. Besides, she is II years younger,
and that makes Il good deal OF differ
ence with 4 man."
TON Jones is every bit and grain as
old as Lctitia Kinsman," declared Eli.
! "a Indignantly.
She shipped off n stray thread with
her scissors.
"And | was right" she went on. at
was From that time on it was Tom
and Letitia's daughter a-Scttin out on
the porch together and hangin on the
| gate together. and it was the girl that
! got the little hokays and put 'cm in
| the vase on The mantclpccc in the par
lor where they could scent up the
whole house while Letitia stood by
| and looked on.
when she first come. Lctitia was so
bright and CHEEKY you'd taken 'cm for
sisters il you'd seen 'om Scttin side by
I! side, but it want many weeks before
Letitia begun to get hollow eyed and
| white and showed her age, every day
Of ii, jest when shed oughtcr been
a-bloomin her very pretticst if she
| wanted to be any sort of match for the
girl at ali. 1t was pitiful to see the
! change in her She got so she didn't
| make any more of her cute little jokes,
| and she never laughed any more.
| missed that laugh of hers. | used to
| like 20 hear It, Sottin here by the Win
! dow SEWN. The girl laughed a-plenty,
but Lctitia she got Quictcr and quietcr
| until ut last you'd thought it was
ghost Of a woman crecpin about the
house at her work. laggin sort of tired
like ana worn out rs if she'd somehow
| come to the end Of her row."
She sighed as she unwound the darn
ing cotton from black ball bit off the
| end and once mora threaded the large
eye Of her needle.
Don't know that? But he's n man,
| remember. and men don't get old, they
say. Anyway, the older they get the
better they likes to hang around a girl
| that's Jest about fryn size. And that's
the reason l says the mint | see that
young thing jump out Of the bus and
run up the walk to the house. her
checks a-bloomn like roses and her
eyes a-shinin, It's all IN with Lett
tia" Them was my very words, It's
all up with Letitiar
"Onc night last week" she continu-
ed, 81 saw Tom and the girl out in the
| moonlight together as usual hangin on
the gate. | could hear it crcakin,
| swingn backwards and forwards. The
| girls laugh come Goatin to me once in
awhile, too, Il pretty laugh like Lett
tia's, only younger and gayer. So
thought now Letitia is in the house in
the dark all by herself, and I'll go in
and keep her company. l had borrow
ed spoonful Of tea from her the day
before. 1t would be good excuse to
| pretend I'd come to pay it back. I
| went around TO the kitchen door, 1t
was the nearest way; besides. them
two was out in front. and | knew they
wouldn't want to be disturbed. The
door was open. Lctitia and me has
been neighbors so long that didn't
think nothin of walllin right on in
went through the dinin room to the set
tin room and stood still in the middle