' "SnunW'""'
"& T ,4'"r"9v
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"'VAWPf IW "TPP"
L
Q O riot-
SIE11SK1
W3!
-?' n ttrmTr n... lfmfni'
.'. 'J H UiOII !' """I"'
i1 ijh wore IKlW
llk thorn! Unit
once 1 know,
When Jenny wor
(lu bonnet plain.
wlthilbboii-bowH
of liluo:
AVIim we walked to Hunriny ineolln' o'er
Ihu men 'lows KtoiMi mill MWeot,
"Where HIIon waved In welcome, Willi vlo
letH (it our feet.
It iiln't the fancy tlxln's I tnlml ho much
the IiIIIm
For lilnU and Huffy feuthorH all the line.
new-fannled frills;
For I know that fiiHlilon elnuiKeB that It
ruleH thu world eomolete;
Hut the ohl-tlmo KnHtor boniiol wuh mo
simple- and ho HWuetl
ItH rlhhoiiH matelied tho eolor of the. blue
sky ovrrhead,
.An' the llm that smiled beneath It Heemed
to mean the wordH they wild!
The llpii that ntnlleil ho Hweetly never
Unowln any art
An' the oyciH wlutae Htinny kIiuicch made a
llltht around your heart!
I've nothln' 'kuIiihI the fashions they've
not to have their day;
Hut 1 love the slmplo bouuetH of tho far
an' far away;
An' thlnlcln' how nhe looked In 'em there,
In the loiiK ai;o,
1 nigh, an' pralHO the Lord from whom all
ttkiHilii's tilled to How
1' li. Stanton, In Atlanta Constitution.
Ki A v?V
A'fWlUl
TBI
1HJSA HI LI, had
conii' into the lit
tle front .yard for
u bit Mth of fresh
air, before tilt injc
on the kettl . for
Irn. Her life was
encircled by micli
n nariow horizon
Hint this was the
s-
chief event, of her tiny. She. then look
lime to look up nnd down the lone; vil
lage htroot, to exchange grcotingH with
passers, to inquire ttboul the sick, and
10 receive I lie latest bit of village nous.
She mid her mother lived like two
Kparrows in the small, weather-brown
liouso. with llio .$300 mortgage on it.
The debt had been incurred in "poor
father's" time; and after bis deatii the
two patient, toiling women strove vain
ly to reduce it. Whenever they had
wived u few dollars of the principal,
aewlng would be slack, coal and pro
visions ltiglu r, taxes increased, or Mrs.
11 ill would have one of her "poor spells,"
and (lie money would melt like spring
enow, leaving the debt no mmller.
Tlnisii had tried working in the silk
mill in the next village; but she was
far past youth, her ilngerr were too
rough mid awkward for the delicate
winding and spooling, and her appre
hension wan slow. Her place was vimt
I'd for a younger, swifter worker, and.
"with humiliation and secret tears, she
took up again the making of sheets and
pillow cases, or the fashioning of sim
ple garments for children and unfns
tidlous "help."
Standing at the gate, her faded blue
yes gazing into the perspective of the
ipilet street, Thusa 1 Li 11 did not look
like n subject for romance. The
straight, scant folds of dark blue cal
ico fell at i Illy about her thin little fig
ure, thu sun of early April cast chilly
fleams on the plain bands of ash-colored
hair done up In a small knot, her
houlders were curved and her chest
was hollow. Yet, in the years gone by,
a lover's voice had whispered to her on
long, sweet summer evenings, and a
tender hand had stroked her brown,
abundant hair.
JIow different life might hnve been,
if Henry (ilcasou had not misuudqr
stood that ride with Nathan llurnside!
True, she had promised Henry that
she would bo at home that, evening;
and when ho met her driving with
Nathan In answer to a sudden ami
urgent appeal from Nathan's sister
Henry had given her one swift look,
proud and stung, and had turned on
liis heel, following In the dust of Nn
than's wheels.
J I is look had aroused her defiance, and
she would not send a word of self
justilieatlon. He might have had more
faith in her she had expected to be
Inline long before It was time for his
visit. And so, as young hearts are
prone to pride, the note was never
written, the word was never spoken
justly as Henry was entitled to it and
weeks and mouths glided into years, till
Thusa was 10.
Henry had married his eounln, a
feather-brained, selfish creature, whose
own folly and vanity brought on her
ileath a few years later. Now he lived
in his childless home, with a hired farm
boy and a bustling housekeeper. On
winter evenings, sitting alone by the
tire, the thought of his early love some
times flitted across his mind, nnd he
felt sorry for her struggles, both be
fore and after the deatii of her father.
Hut a man's pride Is a hard possession
say what you may about the obsti
nacy of a woman and Henry Cilcason'a
was like- the granite of his native New
.England hills.
H
Wa
JTV)
CM
V5 B
mm.
ThiiKii went Into the house, stirred
the lire and flllid the kettle. Her
inolher v.mt hemming, pillowcases in
the tiny nil ting-room beyond, and
called out, as she hi aril her daughter's
movements:
"There'H a few of those stewed
primes in the buttery, Thusa. Couldn't
we have them fornuppur Iimtead of in u
pie? I Nccm to crave something besides
tea and bread and butter. Hut it's just,
as you nay."
"Of eourac we will have them for
supper, If you want them, mother,"
said Thusa. "I don't know as I want
to spend time to-morrow rolling out a
pic, utiyunj. Theie's that nightgown
of Sally .Myers to be finished, for we
need the money right away; anil I
promised logo and watch with Cynthia
Warner to-morrow night. She's very
bail, they say."
Her mother looked at. her donbt-
"You don't look any too well your
self, Thusa. I don't believe you're
strong enough to watch with the sick.
Folks that work hard's you docan'tTie
broke of their night's rest without pay
ing for it."
"I know It," was the answer, "but
Cynthia would come and watch with
me, If I was in her place."
She set the table in the little sitting
room they played at being well-to-do
in numberless innocent, childlike ways,
these two slim sparrows-and put on
the I wo little brown-flowered plates,
the I wo thl n china cups and saucers with
the tiny faded rosebuds and the almost
Invisible line of gilt, and the worn sil
ver spoons, the last of the mother's
wedding outfit. Thusa eut the bread
and butter, set the tea to draw, then
went to the buttery for the prune!'.
The window looked on a aide lane, and
Thusa was startled lo see that it was
open, while a white, wolfish, hungry
face was framed In the aperture, and a
desperate hand was emptying the. bow!
of prunes, scattering the purple juice
recklessly over the snowy shelves.
Thusa suppressed a little scream,
that she might not startle her mother,
and stared at the ml ruder. The crea
ture, as if I timed to stone, held its hand
mi m! I! t- -
i ill ill Ih ill iti If I f.u i3i m7T?"'i- wi! ' .-,
iiiiiiiiiiiiL fysr
m i Ira -fev
U44rfyIna'
tlllriP llJ-t
"1113 SAID YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND."
arrested midway from bowl to mouth.
A childish terror began to overspread
the sharp features, and Thusa stepped
nearer to the window.
"Poor soul!" she said, gently. "Arc
you so hungry that you have to rob
our shelves? Don't be frightened. I
wouldn't hurt you for the world.
Take this."
She quickly buttered a .slice of bread,
and the marauder, clutching it, burst
into tears, which she. wiped away with
her juice-stained lingers, creating a
fearful effect.
"I never stolcd!" she cried, "but I
ain't had scarcely a bite for two days,
an' when I see them things in the!
dish, L jest had to take 'em."
"Come around to the. kitchen
door," said Thusa, pityingly. She
spread a second slice of bread, and
poured Into a little pink-sprigged cup
her own slender allownnce of milk.
In view of such abject misery, what,
mattered milkless tea and a short
ened ration of bread and butter? The
girl slipped around to the kitchen door
and stood there, ragged, unkempt, al
together wretched. Thusa watched
her coinpassioniitely, as she afe and
drank like a starved animal for the
time being she was little more. Tak
ing the cup from the grimy lingers,
and going back to wipe the shelves,
Thusa brought out a third slice of
bread and butter.
Hy gentle questioning, she learned
that the girl's name was Llll liurdcll;
that she was lit years old; had lived
with a woman In New York, who beat
and abused her, trying to make her
steal; and that she had run away;
tramping and begging by day; sleep
ing in barns at night; honestly try
ing to get work at the farmhouses;
anil nervously warned off the prom
ises of most, with a few cold pieces,
as if she had smallpox, that dread of
rural districts.
Her clothing wns literally rags
fastened about her, hcuvcu knovro
howl yet there was a certain frank
and independent look about the small,
sharp features, despite the stolen
prunes. Thusn's starved maternal
feelings yearned over the child. She
brought her in to sit by the lire, then,
softly closing the door between
kitchen and sitting-room, she told
her mother the pitiful story. Mrs.
Hill let the tea grow cold in her cup
as she. listened.
"I was thinking." said Thusa, as
she refilled her mother's tup, "that we
might -if you are willing take this
poor child in, to help around the
house, and give me a chance to do
more sewing."
"If you think it would be best,
Thusa. J should hate not to take her,
if it wouldn't be flying In the face of
Providence with the interest money
to meet, and all."
1 "'l'l... ,..iul,...u nlwmt rtvf 'I'lin
I lit; iriii n uuifuw w v . .. j
Lord seemed to put it into my head.
I believe He'll open the way for us to
afford it. And I don't see how it can
lie Hying in the face of Providence, to
follow the verse that says: 'Feed my
lambs.' "
"Well, you're the one that keeps
things a-going, Thusa. You've the
best right to say," and the old lady
drank the last of her tea, and ate the
remainder of her bread and butter,
looking fondly at her little brown
llowered plate as she did so.
It wns long past the hour for steady
going villagers to be in bed. bill liur
dcll, fed, washed, consoled, was sleep
ing like an infant, in one of Thusa's
lavender-scented bedgowns. Her ben
efactress sat by the small window,
gazing out across the fields SJie
was restless, and her thoughts were
of her old lover. iMinistcring to the
starved and homeless waif had set her
thinking of what might have been, if
she hat) not been so prou I and defiant
in those early days. Henry had sure
ly been entitled lo an explanation.
Ah, but that bitter, reproachful look
of his! She could not forget it. He
might, have had more faith in her, in
stead of marrying Cicely Mellon with
in a month. If he lniil waited, he
would have scon that Nathan ISurn
siile was nothing more than an or
dinary friend. (Alas! he had seen it,
after he. had forged his own fetters.)
So pride and regretful love battled
in the lonely heart. The night wore
on, and Llll Hurdell dreamed lavender-scented
dreams. It was halfway
to dawn when Thusn, reproaching
herself for wasted time and strength
crept Into bed beside her adopted
child.
Henry Gleason was also keeping
vigil with memory. A chance word
with Nathan Hurnside had led to an
explanation of that summer evening
ride so long ago. Was it too late to
sue for pardon? Would Thusa be de
ficient In proper pride, If she would
listen to a second avowal? She still
remained young and lovable in his
eyes. Yet, after all, she had been to
blame in not explaining the breaking
of the appointment.
So pride anil affection contended in
the widower's heart also. The circles
made in the ocean by the casting in of
a pebble go on widening; and phi
losophers tell us that every physical
movement produces never-ending vi
brations in the cosmic ether. The
thoughts set vibrating in those two
practical, middle-aged hearts were to
have swifter results than either
dreamed.
Two or three days later, just before
Kaster, Llll Htirdell was carrying a
basket, along the village street. She
wore a made-over calico gown of Miss
Thusa's, shoos and stockings, warm
underclothing, and a neat straw hat
on her smooth hair. Proud of her de
cent apparel and the trust reposed in
her as represented by a "quarter"
tightly clinched in one hand, she ex
amined the houses along the street,
and finally stopped hesitatingly be
fore one.
"Miss Thusy said, "a white houso
with green shutters,' but 1 can't re
member whether she said thu first
or the second. I've forgot the name,
too, so J must run my chances.
There's some hens a-squawkin', any
way." She opened the gate and walked
boldly up the flagged walk to the front
door. The true cMy gamin, male or
female, is untroubled by bashfulncss.
Her ring was answered by n tall,
thin, gray-haired man with melan
choly gray eyes. Lill held out the
basket in one hand and the quarter
In the other, saying:
"Miss Thusy says will you please
let her have a dozen fresh eggs
for Easter, an' she wants 'cm good
an' big."
Henry Oleason stared at the odd
little figure, who stood stock-still aft
er delivering her message.
Miss Thusy! Was the world com
ing to an end? Then the explanation
occurred to him. Thusa must have
sent this queer child to his next
neighbor, Mrs. Wilson, who sold eggs
regularly, and the girl had mistaken
the house.
A sudden thought whirled into his
mind. Not being widely read in the
poets, the line
Take tho Roods the fjods provldo thee,
.lid not occur to him, but he acted on
the principle implied. He took the
basket and the money, nnd bade the
child come in. He was alone, the
housekeeper having gone to the next
town to do some "trading," and the
hired boy was plowing.
Easier eggr! Thusa should' hnve
such an Faster basket as no young girl
in the village could boast. In the bot
tom of the basket, he arranged two
dozen of the finest, freshest eggs he
could find in the henhouse. Then he.
wrote a hurried note not high-sounding,
but with true love in every line.
Truly he was making up for lost time.
He slipped the money inside, sealed the
letter and hill it on the eggs, folding
a paper over all. Then hi-went to the
housekeeper's cherished window plants
and loaded liif basket to the very
handle with Faster lilies and roses.
"Ain't there no change from the
quarter?" asked sharp, city-bred Lill,
looking curivisly from him to the
flowers and back.
"Inside in an envelope. Miss Thusa
will understand."
"Did he spose I'd lose it, if he gave
it to me in my hand?" raid Lill to her
self rather scornfully, trudging ofT
with her fraerant load. A little later,
the flower-laden basket was dumped on
the Hills' kitchen table by breathless
Lill, who had come as near to running
as the safety of the eggs would iierniit.
"He sent you all these lots an' lots
of flowers, Miss: Thusy, an' the eggs an'
change is at the bottom of the basket,
lie said you would understand."
He! What was j child talking
about?
"Didn't you go to Mrs. Wilson's,
Lill?"
"I went to Ih'.' first white house with
green shutters'' Miss Thusa dropped
white and trembling into the little
kitchen rocker "where the hens was
a-squawkin', an' the man that come to
the door give me the eggs an' the tlow
ers. 1 didn't sec no woman any
wheres." Thusa sprang suddenly fiom the
chair and lifted out the flowers, Lill
bringing wattr for them In an old-
fashioned pitcher. When the note ap
peared, Thusa caught it up and fled to
her room,, soicoly glancing at the
eggs. Kneeling beside her patchwork
covered bed, Thusa wept and smiled by
turns over her old lover's note, in which
he told her he would be with her in an
hour. Then, womanlike, she got up
and began to freshen and improve her
faded face and hnir, her plain gar
ments. Hut the greatest beautifier was
the soft light in her changed eyes.
On a loxely summer morning, Lill
liurdcll, plump and rosy from weeks of
care and kindness, stood on the back
porch of the Cleason farmhouse, scat
tering corn to a Hook of hens. Mrs.
Hill sat near, shelling peas freshly
picked in the morning dew; and Thusa
Hill Gleason, looking years younger
and prettier, was stirring in a house
wifely fashion about her spaeion1
kitchen, getting ready a substantial
breakfast.
"Look, grandma," said Lill, "ain't
they pretty? An' squawkin' jes' like
they did the day 1 came for the eggs
an 'neither mo nor them a-dreamin'
how soon we'd all be liin' here to
gether." Ah, Llll, you little guessed what you
were doing that day, when you stopped
at the wrong house the first house
where the hens were "a-squnwkinM"
Nor did your Miss Thusy who will al
ways bo "Miss Thusy" to you realize,
on thnt cold spring evening, that the
ragged, tempted little tram), with
whom she shared her own scanty meal,
was an angel entertained unawares.
Leslie Dane, in Good Housekeeping.
HIcnxIiik of tilt' IIoiihc.
Anions the Gregorian Armenians the
periodical "blessing of the house" talces
place at Kaster. This consists of the
repetition of a prayer by the priest,
accompanied by tho burning of in
cense, and the sprinkling willi holy wa
ter in the "sain" or central room of
the house.
l'lnu Trees iin IMMliifeotnnt".
Pino trees are asserted to bu a sure
safeguard ityninst many of tho jirov
nlent epident'o diseases. Cincinnati
Enquirer.
nntclnnd'H Armored Tratnn.
The magnificent armored trains used by
England in her war with the lioers will trana
port her troops, pioteet bridges nnil tele
graphic communications in about the name
way that Hotetter's Stomach liiltcrs drives
dyspepsia from the human stomach and then
mounts guard that it does not return. Tho
Hitters has won in every case of indigestion,
biliousness, liver and kidney ttouhlc for tho
po3t fifty years. It is invaluable at all times.
-
He who dors not love honesty ia a thief
nt heart. L. A. W. JluHclin.
&&$&&
HAVE IT READY
Minor accidents tro bo frequent
ntul r.ucli hurts so troublesome
no hounchotd should bu -without
a bottle of
Si Jacobs Oil
fe
for
Instant
use,
nstlie
world
kuows
it is a
PERFECT
CURE
for
PAINS
and
ACHES
ft V W 'JVi- lfi" W "7R' 71V 'JO? flv1 '72c 'Sit'
rters
Little Liver Pills.
Must Scar Signature o
r&ZZ
See FooSlmtle Vrcppcr Below.
Very nninll nnd an easy
to tauo ns angar.
FOR HEADACHE.
FOR DIZZINESS.
FOR BILIOUSNESS.
FOR TORPID LIVER.
FOR CONSTIPATION.
FOR SALLOW SKIN.
FOR THE COMPLEXION
Price
20 Centt
llJtUIMi MUrmv W)MATUI.
trwCr
CURE SICK HEADACHE.
The Best
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SUCK!
Keeps both rider and saddlo per
fectly drv in the hardest storms.
Substjtutes will disappoint. Ask for
1097 1 I5ii urana I'ommei ancKCr
it is entirely new. If not for sale In
iur town, write tor catnlomio to
. J. IUWUK. Uoston. Mass.
W. L.
S3 &3.5Q SHOES
Worth S4 to 56 compared
vmn oiner iiiukus.
liidnrsttd by over
l.uoo.OOU wearers.
Tim aenuine haveW. L.
Douglas' came and price I
stamped on bottom. lake(
no lubstitute chimed to be
as cood. our dealer
should keep them If-
not. we will send a pair1
nn rrfnt nf nrirft ami 2KC-
extra for carriage. State kind of leather.
siie. and. width, plain or can toe. Cat. free.
W. L DOUGLAS SHOE CO., Brockton, Mas.
VALUABLE PREMIUMS
The Round
Trade-Mark
On every tno pnnnil pricing
of ruiKNIiS' OATS entitle, you
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FRIENDS' OATS,
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FOR SALE BY ALL GROCERS.
Dr.BulPsSSS
Cough Syrup Solf.
uflercr will soou be cured. Trice only 35 eta.
Mfr. sV 'l V SVs .V
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