The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1905-01-19
cAaIsrMAs svG GHOSTS.



over hcr specisclss At the smsli black maid
serysn', with ali thu, air of srpersusiefiil
ils, vsry scnila ~omen ssspme when the,
desire TO ,how most severity.
BE dote, T,mple Keep TO your stitch
itsl
nmpls dug her black heels DEEPER Int
The sand Al the foot ~ the side gallery
st.ps and stitched fail ase mlautes Ia sii
snee.
Ths white wintsf sun fell softly over the
old-lime garden, sim periumed with blos'
somlrg roses, though II wA Christmas
eve. ssftened by distsrce came the laugh
ter. gong aud frequent sufisws Of tie plan
ision regroe,, ciowding The stores that
faced either side 81 the one main street of
he town. They were Up from the nslds,
nov spending gsyly fer de Christmas'
b. whuIe proceeds Of their years labor.
New Years would find them without a
cen, In their 20. ker, poor as bessars and
happy as tibgs.
A brass band, or, rather, the broken bits
OF one frcm the rich Ridgewsy place, where
the negroes rever bad failing CRAP" /"
and siaays ou,did their fellow blacks In
every way, was playing from house to
house, gathering into cocoa racks the old
clothes and pfosisiods Lung cut to them for
pay and "Chrlstmss gill;" All this iabllant
noise and the knowledge OF sundry pack
ayes kept to surprise her on the morrow In
The ,bottom drawer Of Miss Lsliy's big
bureau made Temple feel unusually self
satisfied.
| With that purring whine with which
only spoiled little negro maids N ct the
world, Temple asked sgain.
Miss Lslty, why didn't you never Rit
ms'y'ds
Miss Lslty turned q severe glance mp TO
the tall cedar, 10 whose top mockirg
bird was trillirg the gsyest Of Christmas
carols.
Temple, be done. Mind your wedding.
Weedln'f
Knitting, then.
Knittln',
Stitching, letting her eye fall on the
ofierd ding maid and notirg her oecupa-
tlon.
Yas'm.
Temple had never made out" 10 put this
question before, though she had intended
to do go full many times.
The children passing by chsttered OF the
wonderment Of Christmas, OF what the
stocking hung by the chimney would In the
morning, OF what the tree would hold in
the evening.
Christmas spill. was abroad in the balmy
sir Of the South as iI the snowy atmos-
phere Of the North. The mocking bird had
completed his carol, and now ere the hour
SELF appointed for him to sing 1t over, he
Was suttering downward from limb to
limb OF the cedar. giving out as he drop
ped little promisaory notes Of inestimable
value.
II was an afternoon for musing on old
times and old things, and Miss Lalty's fin-
gers went more and more slowly through
the strings and bobbins Of her tatting, as
she drift,d into that maybe emotional, but !
as yet unwritten, volume: San Old Maids {
Rever!e." The question put by the imper
tinent little iDquisitor set Miss Lalty, for
perhaps the first time In her busy life, on {
musing upon its answer. IL
She knew IL WAS not always the most I
favored ones on earth that marry. She had
sheltered In her sure little home too many q
otherwise homeless, incompatible. misiltly /
mated ,impecunious wives to put an unalter-
.bly high value on mstrimony Otter, also,
he hu. bands--out OF work-of these same
wives, we're added to her household. These /
las, often employed lhtir native genius or 4
heir college wit In drawing plans for en- 8
srglDg her house (large enough without q
he additions Of their households), or offer.
ID suggestions for cleasiDg the garden Of '
ts old msguolias, iessamines and camellia
aponicss to give room for their own pet n
botanical experiments. As they became p
bsorbed In the study Of the mocking bird, 0
minus poly elottos OF the family leotry- b
hldae, and kept the whole household sil. II
mt as the grave while ita notes were being 1
to be s'uisd" on Mlss Lalty's al
inklIng piano from IL p. m. to a. M, tt
lightly. Yes. The discerning critic, Pop Ia
lar Ussge, had been right In coinipg the lie
,hrases, "mar led hsppintss" and single es
A.. ~ La 40 uadlp hQtnir % /
OF superlaiivily. II
Yer. the futject oLce preached, 1t was q q,
eep one; and Miss Lsl.y laid her tsttiDg az
own and fold, her little hands with their to
ull purple veins and gave herself to alb ia
Drbed thoughts. The Willingness to wed
truck indiscrimit a.ely - here q aiddy ht
there stAid woman Of forty, q tn
esuiifui heiress, a penDiless nobody, al
Ieeping widow, brilliant creature, q sim So
ering fool. Everybody marrying some OF
ody whom Nobody would think OF being di
he any body suited to the otnerbody. th
Iaryelous ard unaccountably to Miss oil
Atty. to
While Miss Laty mused the evening he
III. The revelers drifted Indoors 10 town
I'd out 90 country roads TO collect In tire. M
le force on the morrow for the grand el
Christmss git" rout, gr
Mia Lalty reused herself sharply to re. so
.ember family Of proteaes unattended to, II
OF own old slavery time nurses grand ris
q bakers dozsn In number. Come, be
tmple. There's string bag Of toys for ag
W, Dlcey . grandchildren. Go, put your pa
aa ~ ever your bead and take Il to Aunt co
,Iee,'s. Don't let the cAildren peep At a Al
iirg. Temple pouied. Toys to children ba
her own color ard klnd WAS but goods ca
the geds wasted to Temples sense Of 10
ahteousress. Everything Miss Lalty had w
, Give wss by fisht hers. da