The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-07-31

VI CueEIlSo lTolu nllu, anu lHe ulue
rascal charged me 10 cents quart for
'em."
"Fifteen cents a quartz echoed Al
berta in dismay. They told me down
to the store they'd take all l could
spare for s cents. That boy must
have made $3.50 Off my tree. That's
mans wages" Alberta was becoming
excited.
Miss Green only paid cents
quart to have hers picked" said Mrs.
Snively significantly, ''and she sold
'em for IL making 13 cents quart.
thought 1t was too bad he should be
making all the money off you. and so
l ran in to tell you. l got to run
along and get ready for prayer meet
ing now. You comlngr
"By and by" groaned Alberta weari-
ly. II got to think this cherry busi-
ness out first. l feels If that boy had
cheated me. I've good mind to 20
over there and make him give me
some of that money back. l didn't
know that cherries was selling SO high
or I wouldn't have let him pick on
shares"
even sharesT' demanded Ellen
Snively.
Quarter shares. And that's enough"
PLENTY enough" agreed Ellen.
II don't know as l can get down to
meeting, Ellen, but you might as well
take along my contribution to that
missionary vacation fund. l promised
So said Alberta with conscious gen.
erosity. She brought the money and
placed it in a small envelope. II ex-
pect it's hard work for them mission
aries to convert the heather to the
Golden Rule" she sighed.
"Hiram says he should think the
heather would want a vacation in
stead of the missionaries giggled El-
len Snively fripolously as she pocket
ed the money.
I'm sorry Hiram amt processing
Christian-its a great comfort" OBJ
served Miss Ely primly as Ellen dis
appeared around the corner of the
house.
Half an hour later she returned from
a trip to the little brown house. She
=
money and had amended her bargain
by paying him cents a quart for the
cherries he had picked and thus re-
duced his earnings to 81. She felt very
uncomfortable over the matter also,
for once inside the modest brown cot
tage she found herself in refined sur
roundings. Mrs. Bartlett was n charm
hn1 {n%
husband, DIR. Bartlett, whole souled,
genial man, who inwardly chuckled at
his little sons business venture, but
outwardly treated it with great seri-
BUSINESS and consideration, much to
Duncan's comfort.
Alberta Ely surmised that her new
neighbors were far from being in
straitened circumstances and had mere
ly sought the little cottage for a
summers recreation in the valley.
Their simple courtesy put Alberta's
niggardly errand to shame, and her
cheeks flushed hotly as she tossed the
money down on her kitchen table. "I
wish Ellen Snively had stayed at
home,@ she said impatiently. 1--WE
Is
and it's dark now"
She lighted a lamp and set it down
in the cellar; then while the darkness
closed in and the air grew more hot
and sultry every moment she toiled up
and down the stairs, carrying basket
after basket of the canned fruit she
had worked so hard to preserve. At
& prtn1 10 of oh
and halfway down the steep stairs she
stepped on her skirt, tottered and then,
overbalanced by the basket of fruit,
she fell down the remaining steps,
twisting her ankle badly as she did so.
For many dreadful moments Alberta
Ely lay there on her cellar floor unable
to move her foot Pangs Of exquisite
pain stabbed her ankle to be succeeded
by hot burnings. She felt it swelling
within her shoe, and at last she extri-
Gated herself from the mass OF crushed
cherries and assumed a sitting posture,
but it was impossible to move farther.
Thunder roared and shook the house
to its foundations. The fermenting
jars Of 1907 cherries yielded to the
ports. At last there came a Kissing.
sizzling flash Of white light outside the
cellar windows, followed by a deafen-
ing crash, succeeded by another crash
of splintering glass Alberta Ely faint
ed from pain and fright,
When she regained consciousness she
was in her own sitting room, sur
rounded by the entire Bartlett family.
The doctor had skillfully bound her
injured ankle, and his wife was hold
ing wet cloths TO Alberta's brow, while
Duncan pressed strong smelling salts
to her thin nose.
Your preserve shelves came down
last night and 1t looks as though you'd
lost all your fruit" explained Mrs.
Bartlett after awhile. "I'm afraid
that's not the worst of it, Miss Ely.
The lightning struck your cherry tree