Year: 1877

A Thanksgiving Story.


Miss Jane Finch was lonely; the n
sation was an odd one, and she was at a
loss what to do with it. She had lived
for fifteen years solitary life, had
prided herself for a decade aud a half
on being independent Of and Indifferent
to the rest Of tho great human family.
and now she grew suddenly weary of
her self-imposed solitude. It might be
because it was Thanksgiving week, and
everybody about her was so busy and
bustling and happy, or it might be from
many other reasons but, whatever the
cause, the fact remains that, on certain
sunny morning in November, Miss Finch
awoke to the knowledge that her condi-
ton was not to be envied.


I'm vain she tried to argue herself
back into her old self-satisfaction. It
was just as true now as it was yesterday
that her brother James had married Sa-
rah Jones-a girl she thought she had
good reason to hate but, somewny,
there was no pleasure to be gained from
comparing their poverty with her riches


She tried to WOO back her old content,
by thinking of the seven little Finches
who could be SO well-dressed, SO we'll
educated, and SO altogether comfortable
with her money, and a0hO should 7aeUe7'
get q cent Of It, But this, contrary TO
all past experience, only had the effect
of making her feel more uncomfortable
than before. She tried to picture the
cold Woman's Home" she was going to
endow; but the great, massive piece of
architecture brought with it no eonsola-
don whatever


A monster turkey was just being
brought into her next-door neighbours
1t reminded her that the following day
was Thanksgiving, and also reminded
her that she had yet to provide herself
with the culinary wherewithal without
which nc Thanksgiving day might be
properly celebrated for Miss Finch was
Massachusetts woman, and not once,
in all her fifteen years of social exile,
had she failed In the outward observance
of this holiday.


It always made Miss Finch's face
burn to think of Capt. Abel Jones'
first cousin to her obnoxious sister-in-
law. Long ago, when she was in her
teens, they had been lovers, and every
body knew that, as soon as he got his
ship, Abel Jones and Jenny Finch were
to be man and wife; but one evening
she ran over to Sarah's Ghey had once
been bosom friends), and hearing voices
in the parlor had stopped moment to
discover who was there. In that mo-
ment she had seen Miss Sarah crying, as
if her heart would break, with her head
Oh Mr.. AbePs shoulder.


Quite ignoring the fact that these two
had been brought up together, and that
Abel had time and again told her that
Il, ,,-44 - L..
dear sister, Miss Finch grew righteously
indignant; yet she was just-very just,
indeed she would not judge them on
this evidence, although to most any one
it would have been proof enough of a
very disagreeable fact; but she would
wait and see how their conversation ac-
corded with their position. So she
waited.


"Don't cry" said Mr.. Abel Jones,
pleadingly 81 am sure [ can fix it ali
as you think; and you know, Sarah, how
dear you are to her. I'll break it to her
gently, and Tn sure she'll give me up
Of her own accord"


Now, Miss Finch hadn't Jealous na-
ture, not at all but the most unsus-
picious idiot in the universe couldn' t





very evident he wanted to be free from
her. So she stole gently out, without
letting them know of her presence,
walked home at railroad speed, and,
with a very proper self-respect, imme-
diately tied up bis picture, his few pres
ents, and bis lever letters, and sent
them back to him, with the pretty false
heod that she found she didn't like him
well enough to marry him, and should
be obliged if he would release her from
the engagement


She didn't propose to be tilted by
i8l-and she wasn't.


Then she went off on a visit, stayed
Gwo months, and came home to find her
brother James engaged TO her false
friend and her false lover nowhere.


In vain she endeavored to prevent this
marriage. Her brother would not be
convinced, without absolute proof, that
Sarah Jones was not perfect woman.
She begged, pleaded and urged. But
pride prevented her giving him the one
fact of which she had become possessed,
and so the two we're married, and she
took her fortune Cleft her by her father S
only sister, and herself to another town,
gradually withdrawing herself more and
more from the world, until, at twenty
* i, she WAS a confirmed misanthrope,
ee ing no one.


This sort of existence she lad kept up
until the time our story opens.


Why Sarah Jones married James
Finch, and why Abel Jones was still q
bachelor sea. Captain, were..mysteries she
did not trouble herself to explain. Sure
of their treachery, what mattered it to
her how they spent their lives?


To-day Miss Finch, in thinking over
her past, acknowledged to herself for the
first time that she might have been hasty
not SO far as the stalwart sailor was con-
cerned, but about her brother.


81 don't suppose I ought to have ex-
pected him to give up his sweetheart
without any reason she thought. 81
wouldn't have done it myself. l believe
I'll send them good Thanksgiving din
her. From all I can hear. they ain't
able to do much il that line for them
selves ;" and with a sudden twinge OF
conscience, the more acute from being
unusual, Miss Finch hurried on he,
bonnet and shawl, and started off Il
market.


Oh, the marvellous purchases she
made PumnkIus and crsnherries anC