Newspaper Page Text
February 10, 1909. T]
ly well at his lessons, and sister and 1
planned to put him through college and
have him take to one of the professions,
'then, dear me! What did he do but go
and fall in love with Old Tim Nelson's
daughter, and first thing we knew, he'd
married her! Nobody could say anythinc
against the girl?she was a quiet, modest,
little thing?but her family was far
beneath the Hollingsworths; Old Tim
was a drunkard and his wife a poor,
weak, broken-down creature witn nardiy
enough spunk to breathe?she didn't la^f
long; d!ed and then Agnes, the daughter,
had to shoulder all the burdens, and I
guess It was out of pity that our Eben
married her, though he says to Chatty
and me, holding his handsome head as
high as could he, 'I love my Agnes with
all my heart and I mean to make her
happy; we'll have a good home just as
soon as my last invention is patented ant
put hi the market!' But lawsy me! 1
guess Eben's had a hard time since we've
let him shift for himself. .Chatty says
I've been too hard?not having anything
to do with him or his?but dear mi!
Eben's been such a disappointment."
Neither of them ate very much; both
were thinking of the empty cupboard and
the forlorn family in the Pine Tree Cottage
a quarter of a mile away down the
road.
After the dishes were cleared away and
the turkey-red spread put on in place rl
the white one. Miss Chatty took up her
knitting and her sister fell to rummaging
among the bookshelves for something *o
read. As she took down a copy of "Snowbound"
a slip of paper dropped out
"Hanph! What's this?" she said "A
bill or a receipt?"
She took it to the tablp and smoothed
it out in the white circle of the lamplight;
her sister came and looked over
her shoulder. A much-bet ham bed sheet
it wag with a strip of silver-embossed paper
pasted around its edges and a fat
heart pierced by a clumsy dagger?all
done in red ink?occupying the place ot
honor in the center. Scores of forgetmenots?(blue
ink was used this time) ?
were" scattered here and there and writ
ten beneath in a sprawling, boyish hand,
were the words?
"This fond heart pants
For its dear aunts.
"Respectfully dedicated to Miss S. Hollingsworth
and her sister, Miss C. Hoi
lingsworm."
"That's a valentine Eben made and
sent us years and years ago when he
was a ?.?.tle hoy"?Miss Chatty laughed In
a queer, httle, choking way as she spoke.
Miss Statlra didn't say anything; she
put the little valentine away carefully in
a drawer of the old secretary; then she
went and took down the grape-basket
filled with the eggs and gazed at it mus
"Siy.
"You had only a dozen for Mrs. Johnson,
did you say, Chatty?"
"That was all; Bessie told me her ma'd
line more, but of course I didn't know
you were going to bring in any more."
"Well, suppose we take these over: it
isn't storming now. the snowplough's
been around and the moonlight's fine;
I'd sort of like a walk, wouldn't you?"
"I'll be ready to go in a minute," she
HE PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
said briskly. She donned her hood and j
cloak and then, taking a little hand-lamp. ,
went into the adjoining pantry; she was j
in there some time and there was a rat- j
tling of dishes and a rustling of paper;
her sister inferred that she was covering
u|/ uic taiauitfs su i iuti I iiu wiiuse IIIUI"- j
als were none of the best?would not
sneak in and get them. A few minutes
later, the two sisters sallied forth.
It was a perfect winter night; the
moon rode high in the heavens and its
light made a glfstening pathway over the
white eartn. The damp, clean sweetness
cf new-fallen snow was still in the air;
there was a restful hush, a silence broken
only by the faint melody of the far away
village bell ringing for some evening
gathering. "'Quiet and nice, ain't it?'" sahf
Miss Chatty as the two went briskly down
the road.
"Yes 'tis," her sister replied and then
she added slowly and reflectively, "Somehow
it seems as though the Lord likes
peace best of all; there's a good deal
about it in the Bible."
"I?I think He wants us to like it, too"
?there was a little quaver in Miss Chatty's
voice. "Somenow friction and quarrels
and misunderstanding?and?and?
unforgiveness?take the holy feeling right
out of a person!"
Miss Statira made no rejoinder to this;
she only stepped forward a little more
briskly and her sister had hard work to
keep up with her.
A turn in the road presently brought
into view the huge cone of a large pinetree
ulack against the luminous sky;
its shadow hovered over a humble, little
cottage from one of the windows
of whirh tho Inmnli ch t flnrwlo,! m/Utlir
-- a
the snowy yard outside.
The feet of the two sisters loitered?
then stopped altogether; eyes were
turned wistfully toward the uncurtained
window; they beheld an Interior of most
humble furnishing, and in a chair, with
his head supported by a pillow, was
seated a man young and handsome but
having a pale, worn and sad face. And
the womanly face bending over him so
qnlloitniialv WQ? nolo worn on/1 ""'I
"Um?um?I guess Eben and poor
Agnes have had it pretty hard." whispered
Miss Chatty, drawing her breath
with a sympathetic sigh.
"I?I rather think so"?Miss Statira's
voice had a curious note in it and as
she spoke she turned suddenly and
swiftly into the little gateway.
Miss Chatty caught hold of her sister's
shawl.
" 'Stiry! What you going to do? Why
we started to take Mrs. Johnson her
eggs and"?
"You shut up." Miss Statira ordered
with a martial mein. "Mrs. Johnson
m?i 6ci luri h ciBcwiiere: one isn't
our own flesh-and-blood nephew, is she?
Guess you and I?especially I?have
been fools long enough! I'm going to
take these eggs in here for Ehen. He
looks as though he needed them, poor
fellow!"
Miss Chatty giggled hysterically? she
threw back a fold of her cloak and revealed
another basket.
"While you were putting on yonr
overshoes, I packed up some biscuits,
beef and honey and a big hunk of the
cocoanut cake; I thought that maybe
4 *
m. 25
while you were talking with Mrs. Johnson,
I'd have a chance to get a few
steps ahead and slip in here and leave
the things on Eben's steps!"
Miss Statira smiled.
"I calculate that leghorn hens ain'r
the only sly creatures in these regions!""
she said, as her black eyes twinkled
roguishly.?The Christian Intelligencer.
Whitney-Central Trust
& Savings Bank
621 GRAVIER STREET,
Next Door to the Whitney Central*
National Bank.
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
CAPITAL STOCK - - $200,000.00'
UNDIVIDED PROFITS. Net 10.000.00
Organized July 1, 1908, and owned by .
the stockholders of the Whitney Central
National Bantc.
We offer to the readers of this paper
every facility afforded by the best
equipped Trust Companies in the United
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We pay 3V6 per cent interest on sayings
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Charles Godchaux, Pres't.
O^l XX 7 1 tn r? x
oui ?* cAici, v ice-treat..
Jno. E. Bouden, Jr., Vlce-Prest.
H. O. Penick, Cashier.
Geo. E. Egdorf
Practical Painter and Decorator.
2231 Constance St. New Orleans.
Phone Uptown 2396-L.
Contractors' and Dealers' Exchange,
Telephone Main 327.
Estimates Cheerfully Given.
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Robt. T. Hardie Eben Hardie
Wm. T. Hardie & Co.
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