Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-09-15
CUPID AND GHOSTS,
A Vacation In the Country That
Didn't Effect a Cure.
BY DONALD ALLEN.


Press.
1t had been decided in family con
ciave to send Hilda to the country
| for the summer
Hilda was not in a decline. Her ap-
petite was good. What troubled her
father and mother was to find that
! Hilda was in love.
| John Wayne. her father, was law
yer of note. and when the ease" was
| put into his hands by the mother he
handled it like lawyer. In this In
stance he constituted himself counsel.
Judge and jury, and the verdict was
that Miss Hilda was to be packed of
to the home Of maiden aunt In the
country for three months
| The mother doubted, but the father
was confident Hiida had only reach
ed the childish age Of nineteen. This
affair was only tribe. Aunt Judith
was an old maid and had no sympathy
with such nonsense and would give
the girl sage advice. That conclave,
consisting mostly Of the father, set
tied things in half an hour. There Is
popular complaint about the laws de-
| lay. but there are times when It moves
very swiftly.
Hilda was not told In so many words
why she was packed of to summer
| with the geese and bumblebees AMI
milkweeds. but she had her suspicious.
Cha nnfhinu NJ If 10 w
but she at once set to work to beat
the lawyer. Aunt Judith was grim
and watchful and unsympathetic and
held Cupid In contempt, and that was
where her case was weak. Within a
week of Hilda's arrival by means of
/ the towheaded boy on the next farm,
the girl was receiving and sending let
tiers.
! The aunt had figured it out to her
1 self that her niece would sulk for
about four weeks and that she would
have to read her at least a dozen lee
| lures. She was thus agreeably dis
appointed when Hilda did not sulk.
Out in the orchard. under an apple
| tree. rested an old soap box. Twice a
week the towheaded boy came skulk
| ing across the fields to leave letters
under that box and take away those
he found there. He was receiving 10
| cents letter. and he had career be
| fore him. The soap box was not quite
/ as romantic as a silver chest would
have been. but 1t was a fairly safe
postoff1ce.
| By and by letter told that Walter
| Allen would have his two weeks vaca.
ton beginning at a certain date and
| that a certain event might be expected
to happen. This letter was worth an
extra dime to Hilda, and she conscien-
tiously left the same under the box
| when she replied. She also sang so
| often and was so cheerful In and out
| Of the house that Aunt Judith held a
conclave with herself and amusingly
| there:
Il have delivered only three lectures
on the foolishness of calf love and the
duty of children to their parents, but
| they have been sufficient TO open the
dear girls eyes and make a different
4 being of her."
An hour before dark one summer even.
! ing Hilda was asked IL she wanted to
| carry a berry pie to poor old woman
living in cottage half a mile down the
road. Hilda did, and she was hum.
| ming to herself as she set out. 1t was
/ by this very road that within day oil
two she might expect -. But she
had to carry that berry pie very care
fully and not expect too much.
| Between her aunt's home and the old
woman's was deserted farmhouse
standing close to the highway. Win.
dows and doors were gone. the roof
falling in and the yard grown up to
weeds. The towheaded boy could have
told Hilda that 1t was haunted house
and that ghosts had been seen troop
ing in and out.
One can't simply hand In berry pie
to poor old woman and then rush
away. She must be questioned about
her rheumatism and other ailments
and cheered up to live another twenty
years By the time the good Samaritan
was ready to say goodby 1t was dark.
She hadn't paid any attention to the
sunset and the gathering clouds. and
she had hardly gone ten rods when a
big raindrop struck her cheek. She be-
gan to run, but the drops came faster
and faster. and by the time she had
reached the deserted house she wss
drenched and thought only of finding
shelter until the worst Of the storm
was passed.
|
Hnda thought OF ghosts as soon As
she was under shelter. but, owing to
the leaks in the roof, she had to move
back until she was against the wall Of
what had once been the large front
room OF the house. There she covered
and trembled and shook and wept. II
she was heroine she didn't know It.
Ten-twenty-thirty minutes passed
and then ghost walked. Despite the
noise Of the downpour. HIlda heard