Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-03-18

MISS WRAoo's SACRIFICE.
A Romance of EVERYDAY Life.

SoCluNeu WIN every important event IN I
our family history, as well as in our every
day life. She never made our very best
dresses Those were given out, so had |
to be treated with special reverence, and
we never really enjoyed the use of them
until they had been made over 10y Miss
Wraeg's ninhle fingers. She loved to
use rp old materials or to make down
my sister discarded garments for me- !
mine for the next in order Everything
might be at skies and sevens peace de-
scended when Miss Wtagg arrived We
Just had to sit down and quietly sew with
her during the precious week or two she
had saved for us and let outside worries
go their way. II the cook had been on
the verge of leaving, we knew 1t was
Miss Wragg who had talked her round
when she had occasion to go into the
kitchen to do bit of ironing, telling her
how hard good places were to obtain and
how there was something to object to in
every one of them If our father lost
his absentmnded look at meals and ac-
tually seemed to have forgotten his bust
ness troubles for half an hour, he knew
1t was because he was interested in Miss
WraCg's local gossip though he would
not have owned it for the world. Indeed
we all looked forward to her coming for
that very reason Living out of the way
as we did she gave us news of the whole
countryside that could not otherwise have
reached us. she knew eVerybody's affairs
how could she help It? Sitting together
day after day in the close intimacy en-
gendcred by a common desire to make
the clothing BETTING d two tAoJsand-a-
year income look like a teu-thousind one.
We ourselves told her far more Of our
private aff"rs than We did to either doc
tor or minister. and what we dit not tel,
her she saw for herself. Yet We know
that we We're entirely safe i'm her hands
judging by what she told us or rather bv
what she did not tell us OF what went on
in other houses We never heard her say
an ill-naturcd word IF ANYBODY. which
was the more surprising as we learned for
Il fact that many r1f her customers would
pay her the very last on their list of
creditors. The fashionable drcssma<er
could not Ice put off as Miss Wragg could
If ever we asked the truth of some scan
dalous rumor she would explain it away
with the essence of Christian charity.
and once when we were sure that a
damaging tale rust be true and she could
not di;prOve it., she quoted Burns at us:
who made tho heart, tbs He alone
Decidedly can try US,
lie knows each chord-its various tone.
Each spring-its various bias;
Then at the balance let's be mute,
We never can adjust it:
What's done we partly may compute
But know not what's resisted"
1t was when she was assisting at my
elder sisters trousscau that the subject
turned naturally upon weddings and !
gently insnuated that l supposed every
woman had a chance to marry some time
or other.
Yes" replied Miss Wragg, and as her
mouth was fun of pins ! excused her from
further speech at the time. but pursued
the subject when we were alone in
willy way that ! knew would fetch her.
m, al fro I',,, h,
old maid. Miss Wragg."
You might do worse"
You are not sorry you have never
marriel?"
Not bit. Tho man WAS engaged to
turned out far too good for me"
Who was he? Anybody I know"
You know him well enough"
oh do tell me, Miss Wragg. l am
inst dying Of curiosity"
you will never breathe a word of it,
Never where it will he known who you
are"
Then I feel like telling you It is
many Il long year since l spoke of ii to "a
soul, but my experience may help you to
bear Your own lot better. whatever it
may turn out to be l was engaged to
George when was II and he was 81. He
was a blacksmith by trade and ! was a
dressmaker's apprentice, so that, if any
thing. my position was better than his
q W
iadN like hands"
They are pretty yet"
MY work has not been the kind to
roughen them | had much admiration
for his brawny muscles. Yes; George
and | were very fond Of one another He
was a fine young man, fine-looking. too.
with a big, sonorous voice that filled the
chapel when he spoke in meeting
He was lay preacher"
Not at first, but he had a natural GIFT
for speaking, and a rich man who heard
him by chance at campmeeting offered to
send him to college"
Il cannot 60 Katy he said to me. I
have no money
" Put your schooling is to be paid
That is only part of it, There's moth
er and Bessie. Who'll work for them
when I'm gomez"
" I will l meant it and kept my word,
though Mt first George was loath to re-
ceive anything from me-"
Whatever is yours Is mine told
him. and whatever is mine is yours,
I'll be proud to be the wife of a scholar
and all the prouder If l have helped ever
so little to make him one
He Welded At last, saying he would pay
all back to me once he was through coll
lege,"
ard lid hc?"
THAT is neither here nor there. He
certainly offered to do so, but I would
rot take the money"
That was whom he had graduated?"
Sometime afterwards; he was too poor
just II first
you would meet In the long vacation"
NO not after the first one. He came
nome that summer, and worked on a farm
near by. Those We're happy days"
Miss WraSP's eyes dimmed behind her
glasses, and for a wonder she was gaz-
ing out of the window instead of at her
work.
THE next year he got a chance to go
abroad as a kind of tutor and caretaker
to young lad. and Of course he went.
would not have had 1t otherwise, though
| had been looking forward to his sum-
mer homecoming as a condemned Grim
inal would to his freedom. His letters
were a great treat: / have them still /
They make me feel as if I, too had been
to Europe. BY the next winter l was be-
ginning to be ashamed Of my own poor
letters to him; they were so different from
his own So it went on till l wrote less
and less. He scolded me at first, but
bye and bye ! was sure he did not care"
You should have tried to improve your
own eduCationn."
What time had I? All day I worked
for Miss silk often till late at night. too |
and then l took in extra sewing to help |.
along"
Il had forgotten YOU had his own pco-
pie on your hands"
"Th"y never knew that the help did not /