Year: 1878

home to recruit for the evening.


There were few faint, polite remon-
strances when I declined to take any &C
tive part in the evenings entertainment.


'We must leave that part to the young
and attractive, said, and there was
general buzz of acquiescence. 1 had
the consolation of hearing several re-
marks upon my extraordinary good
sense and practical capability.


/ was graciously allowed, after I had
hulled whole crate of strawberries, to
hold step-ladder and some nails for
Mrs. Smith, the apothecary's wife, while
she hung some gorgeous drapery, and
otherwise deformed the cool gray walls
of our little chapel, so that I was pretty
well tired when 1 went home at night
fall. Mamma met me at the gate, and
looked at me 80 dolefully that / burst
out laughing.


" Never mind, mamma" said /; "I
won't look so cadaverous after I'm rested
and dressed for the evening""


But I'm afraid was rather painful
object for the gaze of doting and once
ambitious mother when I had donned my


black silk, and was ready for the evening.
My hair was neither crimped nor curled.


You see, l had depended upon the switch,
which was bought for purposes of that
kind, and failed me ignominiorsly at the
last moment. My head ached, and I
could not bear many hair-pins thrust
into my scalp; in no other way would
the obstinate thing be induced to stay on.
Mamma was heart-broken, and 1 was
perverse at times. thought perhaps
the switch was grieving over beloved
and lost head of which it was once part
and parcel, and forgave it, and left it
to its perverseness from that time on
ward.


When I reached the church was i'm
mediately seized upon for something
they called "the grocery counter AN
brought about by the advent
of well-to-do grocer in our midst. q
widower, a stock-raiser and man aff1ict-
ed with many maladies, of which he
loved to talk. He had generously sent
down from the city, in pound packages
and tin cans, samples of his available
goods, and proposed this grocery
counter to the young ladies, which they
desp1sed and would have none of. The
grocer himself found favor in their sight.
They fitted about him, filed his button
holes with bouquets, his pockets with
bon bons; they looked up in his face,
and tried to talk to him, poor childrenl as
best they could. But they appealed to me
to take the ugly counter, with its sordid
pound packages for home necessity, and
L took it with an ill-concealed avidity,
The truth was, kind of heart-sickness
seized me when thought that the eve
ming must be passed in making myself
agreeable, and 1 felt that to
wander about this place, distorted out of
its sweet SAVIOR of godliness and quiet
rest so dear to weary soul-to wander
about among the flags and wreaths and
tents and arbors, with a smile for one,
nod for another-was like the protracted
and agonizing pilgrimage of lost soul
beyond the boarders of the Styx.


So I speedily put myself behind the
counter, which comfortably hid more
than half my tall, gaunt figure, and was
so glad of the shelter that 1 found N.Y.
self becoming interested in these de-
spised articles piled up before me. Il
determined, if l could, to make nv
mission a success, so that 1 and other
poor weary women might have this
refuge to fly to in these gala seasons of
misery.


The successful grocer, who had not
been very we'll pleased with the open in
gratitude for his bequest, took heart aud
up when he saw me giving
an air of smartness to his goods. He
extricated himself from a bevy of young
and fair ones, and came generously over
to help me. In sheer gratitude began
to praise his young colt that was pastur-
ing in field adjoining our garden, and
he remained with me. Shortly after,
when he found that q queer feeling in
his head agreed with the same discom-
fort in my poor Uranium, he brought a
chair behind the counter, and in low,
tender voice he detailed te me the inter-
esting diagnosis of his pet malady.


On the other side of me the minister's
son, who was home from college, and suf-
fering from that period of egotism which
comes to young men of his kind, re-
manned during the entire evening, to
show his contempt for the young, the
fair, the frivolous. A few old married
friends, whose wives were sick or away,
lowered about the grocery counter, so
that it really did happen that was sur
rounded by men. The evening was
passing pleasantly enough. My dark
corner was well patronized. and every
woman who has to do with church en-
tertainments will understand my graft
fication and relief when 1 found it was
nearly ten o'clock and all was well. At
this time letter was put into my hand
by one of the post-ofliee messengers
we always made feature of the post
Office at our festivals, where pink and
parti-colored missives, with doves and
other doting designs upon the envelopes,
were distributed at extravagant rates of
postage. 1 had just been favored with
liberal offer from a customer, and,


elated with my bargain, proceeded to
put up my bundles. not giving much


heed to the love-letter from the neigh


boring booth. Truth to say, I felt


little tingling of the blood at the idea of