Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1920-05-07
FROM HEAVEN
VIA CAROLINE
BY Fl. LOUIS EAYHOLD

'hei!i Scant front hair twisted i'm .ro-
tesque curriers'. the two Nelson sisters
were saying their payers. To be ac-
curate' 1t was Sarah who was doing
The actual petitioning, but her words
Iouhd an ardent echo in Fanny's heart.
Dear Lord, send us a sign. We're
ut the end Of our rope. 0 Lord, you
know we must decide tomorrow. If it
De meant that we keep our little place,
SEM us sign from heaven. Let it be
that the money we take in over the
counter comes to five dollars-was il
nFe. Fanny? II we don't get that much
we'll know that it was best for us to
sell. Amen"
ooiemniy arising. they climbed into
thelr high four-postcr, and without n
WORD, folded their withered hands be-
meath the patchwork comfortable and
sought refuge from their worries in
f1tful slumber.
The last of their line. except for an
errant, harum-scarum nephew tout
west IN Kansas" the Nelson sisters
mad been facing for some years a
steadily decreasing income. So far
they had managed to hang on to the
Old homestead by closing up the main
portion Of the house and living in an
ell, one room Of which they had turned
INTO tiny shop, the proceeds of which
seldom averaged four dollars day,
but served To pay their taxes and very
semi-occasional repairs.
Not many people nowadays in Farm
ingdalc remembered when the Nelson
girls" were young. To the newer gen.
Grafton they were just two old maids,
who kept Il little store "where you can
buy anything you want, my dear, from
little cakes and souvenir spoons to
Chinese lily bulbs that grow in stones
set in water"
School children stopped In on their
way to school to buy penny's worth
Of candy. out-of-t town visitors drifted in
and poied around, and-thcre was Car
oline.
The sisters often said they would
have had to go out of business long ago
had 1T not been for Caroline. Ever
since She was q brown curled little
thing of five she had been regular
customer. And she was the only one
who heard ut all regularly from Billy,
the harum-Scarum nephew.
To Caroline. and indeed to everyone,
the two women often declared ii was a
great trial to them to keep the shop.
1t was not right that women. particu-
larry Of their bringing up, should have
to "work."
AS matter of fact, interest In their
little store was the one thing life held
to color their gray days. Without it,
they could have done nothing but sit
In the windows of the big house and
watch life go hy-go by without ever
turning to wave hand at them. No
there was one other thing they could
do besides that, and it seemed more
than likely that that was just what
they would have to do. They could
sell the old house. and with the pro-
ceeds take out q lease until death Of
brightly furnished, utterly unindivid-
ual room in the Home for Aged Won
en-.
For several years. Charlie Wallace,
estate agent. had DcStcred the life out
of them with offers for the housc--not
very large offers. AS long as the
meager earnings of the little shop had
been just sufficient to carry them by,
they had refused. But recently, since
thrift campaigns had swept the coun-
try, people hadn't been so DESTROYS Of
h,,u ~;
nese lily bulbs guaranteed to bloom by
Easter.
Letters to Billy. whom they had
brought up as their own son until he
had grown old enough to seize wild
opportunity to go West and make q
"pile," had not been answered. Earn
estly and often, the aunts assured
each other that the letters had never
reached him. Yet deep in their old
hearts each felt that the only man in
the family To whom they could go, even
for advice, had failed them. -
And now the day of decision was at
hand. Charlie Wallace was coming
around at eight o'clock that morning
to get their final word as to whether
they would SELF. And true to their
New England tradition, they had laid
their burden In the hands of the
Lord.
III the morning, Sarah arose an hour
earlier than usual to take down the
shutters. A passing mllkman, fortl-
flying himself with a cruller, might
make the very difference between five
plus and Ave minus.
Little by little during the day,
trick1ed in the pennies and dimes and
occasionally quarters. Along about
three o'clock, the tin box held nearly
three dollars. At Ave, Jimmy Will
llams' purchase Of crackers and cheese
brought the total UP to thrce-Gfty. A