The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-04


but make them something like Mrs.
Jamieson's."
Soon afterward two real sensations
stirred Crawford to it's depths. The first
was the marriage of Lady Glenmire and
Mr.. Hoggins and the second was the loss
by Miss Matty of practically all her little
fortune by the failure of a bank in a
neighboring town.
The honorable Mrs. Jameson was furi-
GUS at the messalliance Of her sister-in-
law and spoke Of the newly welded pair
as Those Hogginses." But Miss Mat
tvs misfortunes we're a more serious mat
ter. and the ladies of Crawford assembled
In council to devise ways of helping her.
Mrs, Jameson was away on visit at
the time, and 1t was probably just as
well that she was. Each of the poverty
stricken gentlewomen wrote on slip of
paper, which they sealed and handed to
Miss Smith, the amount which they could
afford to contribute yearly to help out
Miss Matty. Afterward Mrs Forester
called Miss Smith aside and confessed to
her how little she really had to live upon
lest, upon opening the documents, Miss
Smith should think she had been niggard-
ly In her contribution. But it was the
twentieth of all she had, poor woman,
and that all was so little 1t was won
der how she managed to exist at all,
Mrs Fftz Adam also called Miss Smith
aside and confessed that she had not put
down as much as she could afford to, be-
cause she was afraid II she made the
contribution she wished to make, and it
became known, the other ladies would
feel as If she had been ostentatious. But
she would like to do something secretly.
The laws of the Crawford Modes and Per-
SLAMS which forbade the mention of either
poverty or riches were beginning to be
shaken.
1t was finally arranged that Miss Matty
should start a little tea store in what
had been her front parlor. The question:
OF whether, If she sold tea, she would
still be eligible to Crawford society was
decided by Mrs. Jameson. who decreed
that, whereas, woman who marries
takes the rank Of her husband-as for ex-
ample, the ci-devant Lady Glenmire-yet
a single woman held the rank OF her
father and, as Miss Mattys father had
been rector and cousin to Sir Peter Arley,
the gentle spinster was still in society
even IL she did sell tea
Miss Matty took her loss Of fortune very
weekly and greved more over the losses
of other people who had been ruined by
the failure of the bank in which she had
been stockholder than she did over her
own. It was wonderful what a mania
for tea possessed all Crawford and its
vicinity as soon as Miss Matty opened her
little shop. She expostulated with her
customers upon the amount they were
drinking and never sold green tea with
out warning the purchaser Of the evil
effects of an overindulgence in the decoc-
ton Of this vicious form of the herb.
She continued her shopkeeping for a
year, with the secret help of the contri-
buttons of the ladies' of Crawford, of which
she knew nothing, the money being paid
to Martha, who insisted on being still her
servant. So she managed to get along
comfortably.
Then a strange thing happened. The
long-lost Peter came back! On Miss Mat
tvs loss of fortune Miss Smith had writ
ten her long-delayed letter to the Aga
Jenkyns He was Peter after all, and as
soon as he learned that his sister was
still alive and was in want he sold out
his indigo plantation in India and settled
his affairs in that country and came
home
He had written years before to his
father and to his mother. but his letters
had come back marked Dead" and re-
ports had reached him that all his kith
and kin in Crawford were dead also. He
came back not with the wealth OF a ma
bob but rich for Crawford, and Miss
Matty lived in such luxury as her simple
tastes would permit ever after.
1.-The Lord hath blessed me greatly
she said, and would scarcely allow Peter
out of her sight, SO afraid was she that
she would wake up some day and find
that her happiness in his presence was
only dream.
AS for Peter-Peter Marmaduke Arley
Jenkyns-he not only came into Crawford
society," but managed it to such an extent
that he even effected a reconciliation be-
tween the Honorable Mrs. Jameson and
those Higginses," and actually entered
the assembly room at special perform
ance by Signor Brunoni-of which Peter
bore the entire expense-with Mrs. Hog
gins on one arm and the Honorable Mrs.
Jameson on the other.
Since then the old friendship and cor
diality has been re-established In Gran
ford society. which pleases Miss Matty
almost as much as to be able to hold her
brother by the hand, SO great is her love
for peace and kindness.
Next Sundays one-page classic will be
Catherine" by William Makepeace