The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-14
MISS TABITHA CRANES VALENTINE.
IT CAROLINE FRANCES LITTLE.

Bx CAROLINE FRANCES LITTLE. fCopyrizft, 1904 by Daily Story Pub Co.)
 Miss Tabitha Cranes house stood back from the street, and on each side or the narrow, straight walk were round nower- beds, surrounded by low borders Of oox. The beds were covered with snow now for 1t was February.
 She stood by the window watching nle{gh full of young people, that was Just leaving the gate. Her niece, with her f5axscee. were of the party, and they were xoane to Amesbury for an oyster supper
 ssYes. 1t was twenty-five years ago" said Miss Tabitha, for she had way or &aylxing to herself, "a quarter of cen- turv since Dan took me to Amesbury, and then sent me valentine the next day. I thought he would speak then, but he never did"
 Goinx to an old-fashioned desk, she let down the outside cover and opened a little Recret drawer. From 1t she took out a faded valentine with two flaming hearts ]. on is, pierced through with an arrow. Be meath 1t were these lines:
 ''The rose are red, The violet's blue: I.,i st Sugar is sweet, '- -'
 And so are you"
 On the inside, beneath a quaint pie fure of pair of lovers. were these words:
 eff you love me
 As love you,
 No knife can cut
 Our love in two."
 With a sigh she laid away this relic of her unfinished romance, and turning Co the open fire piled on more wood. Her meighbors used air-tight stoves. but she chung to the open fires, such as her mother and grandmother had used before her. Musing before the bright flame. she 1acalled what she had heard her niece saying recently to her lover:
 s.fSo. auntie never had an affair of the heart, so I think considering 1t she is very indulgent to me-"
 AS lonely Miss Tabitha sat there and watched the burning hickory logs, an idea came to her.
 1T suppose" she said, "that Dorothy thinks me and old maid. We'll, sup poae am, but would like to make them think I have a romance. Yes, will do 1t. I'll send myself a valentine, and when eige brings up the mail tomorrow she'll think that I have lover as well as her aeif'
 Here her training asserted itself,. and asked. Would 1t be strictly truthful?' For there is no more rigorous accuser than the conscience of a New England woman.
 eonly this once" she said to her in- wisible monitor, 'I don't like the young folks to look upon me as a well pre- served fossil" She hastily put on her beaver coat and bonnet much too large for her. which she drew down close over the soft, brown hair, which as yet show ed no trace of gray. Dorothy often wish ed auntie would not wear such old-time garments. Locking the door behind her she went down to the village.
 The assortment of valentines was much larger than in the olden days, and she could find none with the rhymes of her carefully preserved treasure; but she chose very pretty one, and hurried home with ft. Old Mrs. Wiggins, who sold the valentine had looked very curiously over her glasses, until Miss Tabitha felt so guilty that she fairly blushed. When once home she hastened to direct it, her hand trembling as she wrote; for her thoughts were back in her younger days when she had supposed her name would De 'Mrs. Daniel Upton" She heard a noise and hastily finished her work, she put away the pen and ink, and started for the postofice. She dropped the mis- @1ve into the letter box and returned home. As soon as she was seated before the fire. the foolishness of the little farce which she had intended to enact before her niece seemed vividly apparent
 What shall I say if she asks who sent it to me?" she queried, almost in agony. She even thought of going back fo the offic@ and asking for it. but what excuse could she make to the postmaster for having directed a letter to herself? There seemed no way out of the dilem- ma.
 Valentines day passed slowly by. Doro- thy brought up the mail during the morn- ing. It consisted of "The Dexeter News Letter and '"The Christian Herald" Miss