The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-12-22

| OiQ lOWu WHClC al LdQ live III IAOil
early girlhood, and she brought &
spirit that stirred to life many tender
memories. She had had her sorrows
Widowed and made childless in the
second year of marriage, she had tc
face the world and turn the art thai
she adorned into packhorse to sus
tain her life and carry her over hare
bridges.
Now the three had met, and-well
they felt young again, and acted SO.
"Three old pieces Of driftwood
toughened by the tide said Estella
"Too old to celebrate anything, ever
a day as antique as Christmas
81 have heard that driftwood
makes beautiful fire for warmth and
color" said Penelope, softly.
YES added Urania, land an
open fire is SO comforting. Three logs
and pair of well polished and
irons"
An unexpected laugh rang out
Estella was certainly forgetting
nerves, and cold, age and infrmity.
"Do you remember" said she,
"that awful Christmas we were fore
ed to spend at Miss Verplanck' S
boarding school? Bless me, girls, it
will be so years this Christmas. Sure
1y you remember it ?"
"Well, I guess we do" chimed in
| PeneloDe. ''I was exiled because of
scarlet fever at home; you because
your mother and father were called
to London, and dear Urania, here,
stayed lest we should be unhappy ;
bless her !'
"Yes," added Urania, with slight
flush, land do you remember the
feast in Este1la's room? How you
knitted something soft and white,
and Estella played minor things on
the piano, till tear dropped on one
of the apples was roasting for sup
per, and how you stuck your knitting
needle in that apple, so that I should
swallow my own tear. Then, how
we danced the Highland schottische,
till little Miss Verplanck put her
head in the door, and said, with that
little cough of hers: "A little less
noise, young ladies, if you please. -"
"Let us do it all over again, cried
Estella. "Come to my rooms on
Christmas night at five O'Clock.
Urania may send the cooked chicken !;
you, Penelope, shall send the nuts
and candies, and I will do the rest. !"
Prof. Wensel did not become richer
in pocket through these old ladies,
but if, as he said repeatedly i'll his
lecture, spiritual rewards always
found and enriched him, he must
have been in affluence after this night.
People wondered why Urania
laughed so much, one old boarder
saying some one must have left her a
fortune. Another thought she must
be on the lookout for a husband, after
which astute conjecture he gave ex-
ira attention to his hair and clothes,
and tied his scarf with wondrous care.
Penelope worked with such zeal
that her employers were surprised.
One day she hummed little tune to
herself, at which the junior partner
remarked:
"By Jove there's plenty of cour-
age and work in the old girl yet"
Estelle spent every spare moment
in making her two rooms beautiful
and immaculate. She had ceased to
grumble about the chimney place be-
ing draughty. 1t was no longer "an
unsatisfactory heater and quite out of
date" 1t was now glorious, such a
perfect ventilator and so cheerful.
On Christmas day she was prompt
at church. The anthem passed off
capitally. Everyone was pleased.
She visited the children's ward in the
hospital, and was so funny and lovely
that the pale little creatures stretched
out their hands to her, and laughed a
little with their hoarse pain-laden
voices. She had emptied her pockets
of pennies to the beggars that beset
her homeward path, and at three
O'Clock in the afternoon had busted
every article in the quaint room to a
fine polish.
Two great broad windows over
looked sloping hill and the roofs of
many houses. Beyond lay the great
gray ocean. A side window was
shelved from top to sill, and filled
with potted plants that bloomed pro-
fusely and overran the ugly red clay
that inclosed them.
Across one corner stood the piano.
1t was the only really new thing at
hand, and its polished surface took on
shadows of the ancient grandeur about
it, as if in apology for its presence
here. Opposite the flower window
was another recess filled with book
shelves, where goodly reading was tc
be had between the shabby covers oi
many an old treasure.
A few easy chairs and tables lay
cozily about and the great brick fire.
place, with its brass andirons and high
old mantle shelf, was the heart anG
core of the room.
Estella laid the fine thin old cloth
carefully on the round polished table,
garnishing it by pinning little sprigs
of holly on its satiny surface.
She placed Urania' S chicken by the
warm hearthstone, and on a stoo
a pile of bread with the great toast
fork on guard. With much pride O
manner she turned out glass of crab
apple jelly into an old glass dish, anc
fanked it by another dish of branded
peaches.
THAT will surprise the girls" sh'
said and laughed a little as she show
cred Penelope's lavish supply of can
dies in every conceivable little recep
tacle she could find.
Estella looked queenly. Her blacl
satin gown was old, but she haC
drawn over the patched waist 6chl
of soft yellow lace, and fastened il