Year: 1875

tune, and they made him think OF Mells-
sa. OF course there was no resemblance
between the flowers and Deacon Osgoods
"help," for she was white and dropping
like lily, and they were in full, rich
bloom; but she was pure like them, and
sweet like their breath, and they made
him think of her With the thought of
her came memory of what his old aunt
said to him the night before be came to
Lynton.


"Judson." she said, in hei broad Eng
lish, "you're going away with the grace
of God in your heart; you've got the old
Ridgely muscle, and the marrow of the
spirit is in your bones, and your feet are
well shod, but you lack one thing, you
need a helpmate Ay, my boy, you're
not complete. You'll find it out some
day, and when you do, follow the lead
ings Of your heart. You've got an honest
Ridgely heart, my boy, and it'll not lead
you amiss"
Why did the roses make him think OF
Melissa? Why did the thought Of her
bring his aunt's words to his mind? He
certainly could not have loved her when
he had only spoken to her once. did you
say? No, | suppose not. l believe it
isn't called love in the beginning.
Johnnie and the minister became very
intimate after that night. Johnnie liked
him because he had once been little boy,
and he often went to the widows to visit
him. He told him about Melissa's crying
the night he was at their house to tea, and
he also told him that she had q lot OF
books in her bedroom that used to belong
to her father-he guessed there was as
many as five hundred, altogether


One day the minister plucked two or
| three posies, a rose and a few geranum
leaves from the widows flower bed. and
sent the new bouquet to Melissa by John
ME. Johnnie told him the next day that
she had kissed it after she thought he was
out of the room, but he peeped through
a crack in the door. and saw her do it.
He went to the deacon's often after that,
but he never could get chance to talk to
her alone


One night, when none of the family was
to prayer meeting but herand the Deacon,
he undertook to go home with her alone,
but before they had gone two squares the
Deacon came putting up to them, and
talked ''new pulpit" until they reached
the gate.


BY the last of September the minister,
like everything else, had ceased to be new
Martha Samson had tried to get him, but
failed; Amarantha Peabody had tried, and
failed; Fannie Gauss had tried, and failed,
and he was looked upon as belonging to
1.-the church,


But he was not the church's He was
not his own Next to the Master he loved
and served, he belonged to Melissa Perry.
But he did not know it then.


One bright October day the knowledge
came to him with its burden of sweet
hopes and trembling fears. Would Me-
lissa take what belongs to her, he Won
dered. How could he ever find out? The
Lord, through the mouth OF Johnnie Os-
good, told him how.


One morning Johnnie went to the wild
owls and STAYED with the minister until
the clock struck twelve, when he caught
up his hat and started for home


"Stay and eat dinner with me, Johnnie,
SAID the minister


II can't said Johnnie; II have to get
| have TO wipe the dinner dishes tor Me-
lissa, she's goin' to the butter woman's this
afternoon, Why don't you 60 and see
her?n


Il WILL" said the minister
Johnnie meant the butter woman, but
the minictnr r,onnt NJ olinn..-
He went to the butter-woman' (she
was a member of his church,. and had
been there an hour when Melissa came.
She wore a dark calico dress and carried
bright tin pail on her arm. On her way
| out to the house Git was more than a mile
from the town., she saw a little bunch of
scarlet berries lying near the road. There
was no bush near Them they were alone
in their warm. bright beauty, and she
| oI tLo,, ~, o,,j f,c tba,,, bar
dress at the neck, wondering where they
came trom-just as the minister had often
wondered where she came from The
minister saw the berries, and he forgot
| whether her dress was calico or not.
| After she purchased the butter She took
the tin pail on her arm again and went
out at the kitchen door. The minister
saw her 90, and he went out at the front
door and overlook her and insisted on car
rying the pail. They talked in general
way until they reached a bit of woods
through which they had to 60, and then
he persuaded her to sit down by him on
an old log and rest. Something-perhaps
it was the bright day or the independent
autumn air-made her forget that she was
Deacon Osgoods ''help," and she talked
unrestrainedly with an Intelligence that
surprised him. AT last with delicate tact
| he led her to talk about herself, and she
told him how her parents were both bur
led on one day, leaving her penniless and
| friendless, and how she had been bound
to Deacon Osgood until she was eighteen
years old.


"They are kind to you, are they not ?"
he asked


"Yes, they are kind but and she
stopped abruptly.


.'But what? Tell me all about it" he
sad encouragingly.


They do note tor me, she answered
with great tears in her violet eyes They
do not love me-and nothing can live with
out care and love-" she added.


The minister's heart was swelling under
his coat, but he kept very calm.


GLOW old are you?' he asked quietly.


81 am nineteen


"Why not leave them? You are not
obliged to stay"


II have no home, no place to 60 to-"
she answered sadly.


Come to me" said the minister


She looked at him wonderingly a mo-
ment, then she understood and went to
him.


When she lifted her head from its nest
| IN MS gray cOaJ nef eyes were SloWlHSs
and the sweet, pale face was beautified,
transfgured.


"Where did you get that bunch Of ber-
RESP" he asked touching it caressngly,
as little CLEAN of sunlight looked through
an opening in the trees and feasted a mo-
ment on its warmth and brightness.


81 found it lying alone in the road and
| took it up-as you have taken me- she
answered softly.


The bright tints that were gathering in
the west warned her that supper time was
approaching, and the minister took the
pail of butter from it's resting place at the
end of the log, and they were soon at the
Deacon's gate. The Deacon was in the
barnyard feeding the fowls, and the min
ister went out there. Melissa went to the
kitchen. Johnnie set on the steps with a
piece of apple pie in his hand, and she