Year: 1876

.I | Soott WV iiSS So - 'O''N '''N~


furnishing us with different fruits 70
a number of years, and had becom


very much attached to her. But sh


was poor girl, did not go into tn


best society, and, therefore, coul'
hardly be expected to come to m.
birthday party. But still | was YER.
anxious to have her, for she was ;
nice girl, and thought it might dc
her great deal OF good to become ac
quainted with those who belonged t(
better class. But then, again,
knew that she would not be very cor
daily welcomed by some OF my othe
friends, who would turn up their no
ses at her, and mate fun Of her, lit
tie strawberry. girl, and, perhaps, make
fun of me for having invited her, Sc
hit upon this plan: l determined
that would invite Marie to my party
to hand around the coffee and cake
and in this way she would have apar
of all the nice things, and see how tho
girls dressed, and hear their conver
sation, and, perhaps, would be just as
well satisfied as if she came as az
equal with the rest.


"The birthday came, and was pass
ing off splendiGly, An event occurred
however, to cast damper on the
pleasant occasion. My mother hac
been dead five years, and she haC
owned a magnificent diamond ring.
had begged my father for the permis
sion of showing that ring to my
friends at my birthday-party, an(
when our party was passing along
pleasantly, and there seemed to be
little break in the conversation,
took from my pocket the beautiful
ring that had belonged to my mother,
and showed it to the girl who sat next
to me. She admired it very much,
then passed it on to another, and then
to another, and, finally, it went around
the whole circle. Now Marie, the
strawberry girl, who was waiting on
the table, vas standing beside me,
and was going to take cup of coffee
to the other end of the table. Ishow.
ed the ring to Marie, and not thinking
anything more about it, commenced
to converse with the girl who sat
next to me. In few minutes, how
ever, ] thought of the ring again, and
asked Marie where it was. Marie
said she had laid 1t down on the table.
However, | had not seen her do it,
nor had any of the rest of the girls,
and the fact was, it looked as if Marie
had taken the ring and put it into her
pocket. l did not feel very pleasant
after that, as you can well imagine,
and after the party was over, and the
girls had gone, | SAID to Marie, who
had staid to help me fix up little af-
ter all the company had left, these
words ....


81 believe you took my ring. Amt
you ashamed OF it 2


HNow, Marie knew that | had sus.
pScted her before, and | saw that she
looked very sad. But when I said
these words it was very plain that
they pierced her very soul, and she
began to weep as if her heart would
break. did not know whether to be
glad or sorry that 1 had said what |
did. When l thought of the valu-
able ring l was glad of it, and when l
saw poor Marie weeping, l felt sorry
for it. Marie declared that she had
not seen the ring after she had laid 1t
on the table, and yet it did seem to
me as if she must have hidden it
somewhere about her, and that / had
altogether paid her too much atten.
ton in inviting her to my party,
though rather as a servant than as a
guest. - ..t


''Seyeral months passed by after
this, and yet no news had been heard
Of the beautiful diamond ring, that |
loved SO much, because, as | have
said, it had belonged to my mother.
One. morning / received this letter:


My DEAR Mss JosEpHINA have
been very sick abed for the last four
weeks, and the doctor has said this
morning that | shall never get well
again. / hope you do not suspect me
still of having stolen your beautiful
diamond ring. i'll ever have done
you any wrong, l hope you will for
give me. The ring, you may be sure,
was never stolen by me. Do come
and see me before l die, for it is not
likely that can live over three or
four days longer. MARIE