Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-01-14
AUNT MANS MISSION
BY M. quad.

Being she had never married, and be-
ing she had reached the age of forty
five, most of the people of the village
of Millville spoke of Miss Spooner as
Aunt Nan. and she raised no objec-
ton. She had an income, and she
lived alone. 1t was said of her that
she was q disappointed woman. She
was, but not in the sense that she had
loved and lost. So far as any one
knew she had never loved at all,
though several widowers had cleaned
their muddy feet on her doormat and
tried to interest her In affairs matri-
monial. Just what was the matter
with Miss Spooner was that she was
woman with mission, and did not
know exactly what that mission was.
Up to the age of thirty she had
/ thought it was to convert the heather
of China and Africa, but the returns
were so uncertain that she had finally
decided that she was on the wrong
track. Then it dawned on her to take
up the temperance question, but here
she was handicapped. Old Sol Pritch-
+, ard was the only one in the village
that got drunk. and his wife said
that she would rather have him come
home drunk than sober, as he broke
fewer dishes.
There is nothing more discouraging
than feeling that you have a mission
and having that mission lodging you
and keeping you in suspense. The
only thing that can be done. however.
is to wait. Miss Spooner waited, and
at length her mission hove into view.
1t was in the form of a tramp. 1t
called at her house for something to
eat. She sat it down at the table and
babe it fill up. While it was doing SO
she ran into neighbours to see If that
neighbor couldn't spare an old coat,
and when she returned the tramp had
departed; also her watch and chain
and other things.
Miss Spooner was justly indignant
She gave the alarm. the fellow was
overhauled. and before night he was
In Jail at the county seat, six miles
away, on q three months sentence.
The justice of the peace. the constable
and others applauded her action. and
for two or three days sho felt that
BIC udu uOut utE uulJ. ueu tu6 SUN
small voice began to whisper to her.
She had tempted the wayfarer. He
had probably been driven TO trampism
by misfortune. He might have been
an honest man up to this time. In
fact, she made q dozen other excuses
for him, and all at once it dawned on
her that here was her long sought
mission. There would be more Joy
over saving one tramp than in sending
4 million tracts to the heather. She re-
called that the man looked lonely and
downcast. as if he realized that the
world was against him. and she wasn't
quite sure that he didn't have tears
in his eyes as he sat down to the
spread.
You probably know how conscience
works when it gets cut of leading
strings, and it is useless to relate that
within a week Aunt Nan was asking
admission to the county Jail She had
a friend in town and had driven over
to tell her all about it and to stop for
few days. She began with the tramp
by begging his pardon. He would
have been no tramp at all If he hadn't
taken his cue from this. He pleaded
sudden impulse and stoutly asserted
that he had turned about to restore the
property when arrested 1t was the
only theft he had ever committed. He
had been poor but honest
There was q second visit and a third.
The tramp grew more mellow at every
visit. He was ready to and did prom.
sGn hi rrr IA.
truth. sobriety. industry. economy, am.
bition and excelsior Then Aunt Nan
went home and enlisted the aid of her
minister in the mission. They worked
for a pardon. but failed to get it. No
one else seemed TO have a spark of
sympathy for a downtrodden man who
wanted TO climb up. Then came a
mental struggle in which the minister
did not participate. 1t was all Miss
Spooner's secret. She wanted that
tramp out Of jail that he might lose
no time beginning a new life
When Miss Spooner visited the jail
again she carried q couple of files
with her, and they were left there.
She had convinced herself that her
mission was greater than the law. It
took the tramp two nights to file
through the bars but on the third
night, as the spinster sat alone in her
house with swelling heart. he entered
by the back door She was expecting
him. She was to give him $40 to go
far away and make a new start.
He was to keep her in his thoughts as
he climbed up and write her once a
fortnight. The money was ready for
him. as well as a package Of pro-
visions. She was giving him sisterly
advice as to his future conduct when
all of a sudden she was thrown to the
floor. Before she could scream a sec
Ond time there was gag in her
mouth, and then her hands and feet
were tied, and she was helpless.
Then the tramp hummed a cheerful
tune as he began search OF the house.
IL 49, T.. H..