The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-22
MISS MOLLIE's ROMANCE
nY LOUISE +. HopsEs.

BY LOUISE T. HODGES.
Copyright. 1904. by Daily Story Pub
Coz
Miss Mollie had but recently come
TO occupy the little cottage at No. 20
with only Susan, the maid of all work,
for company. Miss Mollie was q
CHEEKY little body, and she was scrup-
ulous In the care 'of her flowers and
the vines which clustered about the
cool little veranda, and of the canary
whose cage hung, during summer.
among the vines.
Being a stranger in the community
she rarely left her own domicile, and
her life was very uneyentful, Each to-
day was a repetition of yesterday. If
Miss Mollie sometimes wearied a lit
tie of the monotony she only sighed a
faint little sigh and said nothing. for
there was no one to hear IL she said
anything.
The one event that varied little the
daily routine of Miss MoIlie's existence
was the coming once a week of the
weekly" newspaper Miss Mollie wa5
recent subscriber" and taking
newspaper was new experience with
her. Therefore when the paper arr
rived each week she always began at
the top of the first column and read
straight through to the end of the last
paragraph, never skipping a word
OF course she did not read 1t all at
one sitting, but marked little crease
with her thumb nail, and when she be-
gan again she was CAREFUL to note the
mark.
Chestnut Street was not a populous
one. and as 1t was in the outskirts of
the TOWN the tf-io ho~
No. 20 were few. Therefore the COM
ing of the postman each day. aside
from the Thursday which brought the
newspaper grew to be something of
an event to Miss Mollie. On Thurs
day she was always on the veranda
waiting to receive the paper She
had learned the hour that the post
man was due at No, 30 and he, be-
ing very methodical and punetuaI
young man tnot SO very young either
judging by the lines on the kindly
face), was seldom late. Finally 1t be-
came habit with her to walk out on
the yeranda at a certain hour every
day; but she was not conscious of the
eagerness with which she watched for
the coming Of a well-known figure.
He always glanced UP. lifted his cap
and with a pleased smile said: Coed
morning, Miss Mollies He knew that
her name was Miss Moilie Sparks.
from seeing 1t on the little slip on her
newspaper. She usually seemed to be
casually adjusting the vines, picking
on the dead leaves, ETC., or looking az
ter the comfort of birdie. The vines
and birdie required good deal of at
tention these days. and Miss Mellie
was not one to neglect duty.
One Saturday morning Miss MoIlie
was thrown into quite a little futter
of excitement by seeing the postman
turn and come up the steps instead of
passing on after his usual greeting,
1t was not the day for the paper to ar
rive, what then could be bringing him
She dropped the dead leaves which she
had just picked off the vines, instinc-
lively smoothed her hair and came to
meet him. The reason of his coming
was soon explained by his holding ont
to her letter. In her excitement 0t
was such an unusual occurrence fer
her to receive a letter. she failed to
Keep her hold on it as 1t left his hand.
and 1t fiuttered to the floor. Both
reached for 1t, and in doing so their
heads came into such proximity that
button oh his cap caught in her hair
Miss Mellie laughed a little embar-
raised laugh while she franticaIlv
tried to disengage the button. He
laughed Also and Joined ia the en-