Bisbee daily review., 1911-09-17
THROUGH THE
 PANTRY WINDOW
By cLAUDINE SESSION

! m ar riCkety plcket gate nnd diS- ! mounted before the porch of a tiny,
 shabby. neglected house. With the reins upon her arm she stood look. : ing about her with tender, remember ! ing eyes. The little yard was grown ! up with mingled grass and weeds. In
 one corner was a bit of garden where ! corn had Tipened and was curing
 where 1t stood, where a few red to- mRtoes which the birds had not eat en glowed Jewel-wise upon fading vines. and a yellow pumpkin and a
 green Hubbard squash lay side by
 side. At the right side of the narrow
 path which led up to the door a
 flower bed showed a few scarlet
 geranium blossoms. Upon the shelf
 within the little porch stood m oxalis and cactus dead for want of mois-
 ture. The house blinds were shut
 It was very pititul little, house. Ike shell without it's mollusk or a body
 without its soul.
 Tears came to Eisie's eyes as she thought of the dear woman who had animated t with her kindly presence. She felt that she would like to go in and look about and try in imagination to refurnish the abandoned rooms and
 to people them with the gentle fig ures that had once frequented them.
 The thin old horse, a freckled gray from the livery stable in town, was pulling at the reins in an effort to get his nose to the grass. Elsie sought for some place 10 make him secure and remembered the little barn. If the door was not nailvd up she could put him in there.
 The door was not nailed up. It slid open easily and she led the horse in and tied him to the stall which had held only cobwebs and hay dust for long time. A little hay re- mained fin one corner. She carried 1t to the horse. who received 1t as eagerly as if it had been the freshest of fodder. Then she went to the house
 It was locked securely. She went about trying the shutters. At last she found one partly of the hinges blown or by a high wind, no doubt She swung 1t clear and put her hand to the window underneath. To her surprise, it raised as she pushed upon ft. She seemed to hear a familiar voice saying fin her ear:
 The ketch on that pantry window needs fixing bad, but l can't seem to do it. But, la what difference does it make? There ain't no burglar com ing in here for the little trash I've got If one did come in he'd be glad enough t6 get out again after I'd giv- en 1t to him good and lively with that old pair of brass tongs I keep handy for the purpose"
 Aunt Hopes dear voice! Aunt Hopes own remembered words! And this was the pantry window. Elsie looked in. The tiny place was neat, the cupboard doors shut; an old iron spider hung against the wall. It looked perfectly natural and right, quite as If Aunt Hope had just step. ped out. Clarissa Mains. the heiress, had left some things as they should be.
 The window-sill was only knee-high from the ground, and Elsie climbed over 1t easily. She let down the win dow behind her. The floor gave back an empty sound beneath her feet as she walked across 1t to the kitchen The kitchen, too, was quite unchang- ed. There stood the old-fashioned stove from which she had eaten so many of Aunt Hopes good dinners. In the diningroom the chairs and the table stir stood in their places upon the painted floor But the dishes were gone from the shelves where Aunt Hope had kept them. Clarissa Mains had appreciated the fact that such old blue ware was valuable
 After the dining-room came the par Tor. the room that in Aunt Hopes lifetime Elsie had always loved best. It was a good-sized room in the front of the house She lifted Q window and turned the slats of the closed shutter. The yellow afternoon light came in across the bare floor. h. nUmersble notes danced iR it's rays. Upon the walls @ few old pictures stiIl hung. and the wall paper showed fresh spaces upon it's faded surface where others had been. There was a what-not in one corner; a few chairs waited as if for occupants; shell and a large cheap vase were upon the mantel. Of all Aunt Hopes treas ured parlor furnishings these things only remained.
 Elsie sat down upon one of the ap- pealing chairs and clasped her hands in their riding-gauntlets about her knee. There was chill of freless- | ness and stale air in the room, but she did not feel it. She was thinking of the last time she had been in this room. There had been flowers in the room and many people. In the midst lay Aunt Hope, always hitherto SO gracious and genial, so quick to re- spond to the love of her friends and Her hands were crossed upon a flower; her lips smiled a new little smile of understanding of mems ways and of Gods. Above the hush ed sound of tears rose a dignsfed voice: T am the resurrection and the life"
 How yividly she remembered it ani She had sst here and he had eaf