Norwich bulletin., 1911-05-27
SOCIAL CORNER STORY
ALICE ALDEN'S SURPRISE

To be discouraged on this of all
mornings seems to Alice Alden to be
little short of SHINING, when one should
be especially thankful that God had
given one the privilege of living in
world so full of opportunities; but how
was one to help it when that most am
bilious of persistent little images
NEATLY labelled vain regrets, and sit
ting on the imaginary shelf with a
lot of other images) constantly be-
sieges one with sad memories of the
past and dark forebodings of the fa-
ture,
"Ah. well, one could escape into the
always interesting out-of-d doors" So
forcing a smile to her lips and dom
ming wraps, for it was rather cool
this beautiful summer morning, Alice
Alden descended into the kitchen,
where Martha, dear, faithful Martha,
at once both an inspiration and prac-
teal saint, was, 1t seemed more lively
than ever, cheerfully doing her morn
ing work
SO you're goin' fer a walk Miss
Alice? Well, it sure is a beautiful
mornizP to be walkin, an I hope the
good Lord will be after givin' ye pleas
ant memories this day
Why. Martha; why should one have
pleasant memories today any more
than any other day.
Why? Because" stammered Mar
IHd- wen, you see, MISS Alice. sup
pose, bein' as it's such a beautiful
mornin', just couldn't help wishin, We
pleasure. You, as has always done SO
much for others, don't we be after
thinkin' you're fogettin all those
Years you have lived the life of a
teacher. given up all your time and
sacrificing yourself.
Indeed, if I'm not mistaken. there's
many a one owes their successful
life to your startfn' 'em right when
things was mostly against en-
'Oh, Martha, I don't believe I've
done bit more than my share of
helping, and anyway. what are we
here in the world for if not to help
those about us? If I were to make a
guess I should say you were the one
who has done the most helping: and
I'm going to step into the store and
bring you back some of your favorite
| tea as tiny gift to show you my ap-
| probation of your kind wishes this
morning. You have cheered me more
| than you realize
The dear, faithful old soul., sighed
Alice, as she joyously shifted the fresh
air: she surely remembers it's my
birthday today-thinlSs I have forgot
ten and is planning a lovely little sur
prise supper for me. To think one
could get blue, with such a faithful
| friend as Martha to live with, though
true friends seem to leave one behind
| when one has passed beyond the more
active siege of the worlds work" In
] fact, disguise it as she would, the real
ity remained that Alice Alden was
somewhat disappointed with life
| though, as was natural for one witn
| her broad views of life, she felt that
| somehow the fault was her own. One
| of her keenest disappointments had
| been the gradual dropping off of the
| correspondence with her old pupils
| For several years since leaving Pine
Y ~1,o he fost f,rIl l. avSf ~
| ing, the occasional replies from diff
| ferent ones becoming fewer and far
| Their between, until at last the cor
respondenoe had ceased altogether
| She had hoped that the stress of cir
| cumstances such as illness or any one
4 of many emergencies in life, had beer
| the cause of her failure to write, YET
| at last she was forced to believe ths
| cold, bare truth, that her pupils Of
| other days had forgotten her: ant
| though the morning stop at the pos
| office was kept up, why she hardly
knew, for 1t was getting to be dis
| tinctly distasteful to hear:
Nothing but the newspaper, this
morning. Miss Aldent"
Yet the thoughts of what the day
| would be without the pleasure O
| reading the morning paper made he
feel decidedly more thankful, for sh.
Thought, there are many who canno
| have that luxury" So she cheerful.
asked:
ANY mail, this morning. Mr.. Post
| master ?"
why, I'm sorry to say, Miss Alden