The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-11-24

W lAAdl tiC Illliu dlC Will d ICl ldl
daintiness. She did not "smear th
tablecloth all over, as Miss Amy ha
expected. She did not ask embar
RAISING questions. She was yer
quite, but her large brown eyes wan
dered about the room and somehow
managed to express little of the ad
miration she felt for the beautiful
grand things about her.
Winnie had straight, co1orless hair
her features were small, and she wa
very thin. She was one of Cod
small mysteries-for why was a cir
of nine years old left alone i'll tn,
world?
The only conversation during tn,
meal was when Miss Amy brought
herself to ask, "Do tell Haven
you ever had a hat to cover youl
head ?"
"It blew out of the car window, .
said Winnie. 'It had brown bow
on it that Mrs. O'Hearn gave me
You said you would get me another,
but please, l don't want to go home
tomorrow -
Perhaps the hostess was hattered a
little. If so, she showed it by frown-
ing slightly and applying herself tc
the completion of her meal. Miss
Hodgkins firmly believed in letting
people alone. She always declared
that she never had words with any
one. Winnie's last remark seemed
for moment to suggest an approach
ing conflict of wills, but there was,
after all, way to solve the difficulty.
"Well," " thought she, "I shall let
her stay if she wants to, and let her
alone while she's here" In this
way, Miss Amy flattered herself, she
was consistent, and faithful to her
own principles.
Next day her thoughts ran in this
wise: II amt going to have rag
baby round, even for a month p
Forthwith Winnie was clothed in
neat gingham dresses, and became
in appearance a well-kept village
maiden.
Miss Amy failed to see that this
was not exactly letting the creature
alone. She maintained a strict at
titude of self-defence; yet old recipes
came out from kitchen drawers, and
delectable viands were placed on the
silent table at meals. Before a week
had passed a bloom came into the
child's face, and her cheeks began to
round softly. One day a stranger
came to town. In the steeple of the
only Westinghouse in East Parish
was clock, and this clock had, from
the first, been one of Winnie's chief
joys. She loved to hear it strike, and
she loved to look up at it against the
blue sky. But one day the hands
and the figures all disappeared, and
ladders went up, and high in the air,
on a seat of apparently thrilling in
security, sat man painting the empty
place where the clock had been.
Winnie longed for sympathy over
really grown almost companion to
the lonely child, and at dinner a tear
rolled silently down her cheek while
shyly glancing at her opposite neigh
Dor. Miss Amy saw it.
"Of all things p groaned she. in
wardly. "What'll come next? I
never did know what to say to any
body It cries" She looked severely
at the tablecloth and shut her lips
tight.
Presently she said abruptly, ''You
haven't got any parents, have you ?
1 believe they wrote me that you
hadn't any,"
mo, ma am"
"Have you got any aunt p
"No, ma am"
WELL" putting a practical tone
into her voice, "you can call me aunt
Aunt Amy, you know, and then
you'll have an aunt, any way"
1t fascinated Winnie to watch the
painting of the steeple, and she spent
the next morning lowering about the
base of the church. At noon the
man came down who had been dang
ling in mid-air so mysteriously, and
like any ordinary person, seated him
self under tree and proceeded to
open his dinner-pail, quite unaware
that within the past hour or two he
had become an object of hero-wor-
ship. He was tall and lank, with
curly, very gray hair, and big, gray
mustache. His eyes were SO kindly
that Winnie could not help speaking
to him.
"I've been watching you all the
morning." she ventured to say, softly.
HE did not seem at all surprised.
II suppose you thought I looked
mighty funny, away up there, like a
monkey on a stick" he said, in a
pleasant, comfortable voice, as if he
had known her all his life.
eff you fell down 1 was going to
pick you up" said Winnie, in pro-
tecting tone, and the man laughed.
Thus two congenial spirits began to
be cronies. Next day they were SO
intimate that Winnie had disclosed to
Joe Kelley her innermost soul-that
she hadn't anybody in the world who
loved her very much that she was a
"fresh-air child )" that she must &c
back to Boston toward the last OF
August that Aunt Amy didn't like
children and all the story that made
up her life and shut sunshine and
heaven out of it.
She cried on Joe's shoulder very
comfortably, while he put his big
mustache down on her silky hair
She had never known what it was tc
have jelly cry before; it was very
refreshing, and she was very happy
after it.
Joe told Winnie how he hadn't any
wife, and how his little girl, who al
ways used to be with him, had beef
so naughty as to marry a young fel