Reviews - Books I Read - DRJG: August 2020

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The Short Story Collection (1896-1922)

(143 stories)

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1. A Case of Trespass

Sam French tried to dissuade Dan Phillips from his intention of meeting Mr Walters and informing him about having fished on his property as he was unaware that this new owner objected. But Dan was set on the course of honesty determined by him and his widowed mother whom he helped support the family, and so met Mr Walters despite trepidation. Mr Walters gave him written permission to continue fishing, offered to buy what he fished at market prices, and offered him a job, too, for being honest.

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August 11, 2020 - August 11, 2020.
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2. A Christmas Inspiration

Few girls at the boarding house who couldn't go home for Xmas but had received plenty of gifts by mail themselves, noticed that Miss Allen hadn't received any. They hadn't liked her until then, but we're inspired to give her gifts themselves. She was quite transformed on seeing them.

""How lovely the world is," said Jean.

"This is really the very happiest Christmas morning I have ever known," declared Nellie.

""I never felt so really Christmassy in my inmost soul before."

""I suppose," said Beth thoughtfully, "that it is because we have discovered for ourselves the old truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I've always known it, in a way, but I never realized it before."

""Blessing on Jean's Christmas inspiration," said Nellie. "But, girls, let us try to make it an all-the-year-round inspiration, I say. We can bring a little of our own sunshine into Miss Allen's life as long as we live with her.""

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3. A Christmas Mistake

Mrs Grant had to inform her half a dozen children that they wouldn't have a Xmas dinner, what with their father having died a year ago, bills to be paid, and so on. But the schoolteacher came over to inform her that Miss Miller had invited them all, children and mother, for Xmas dinner. She was a cousin of Mrs Grant, estranged for years, so Mrs Grant was surprised, and happy to accept. But the teacher had made a mistake and conveyed invitation to Grant family instead of the intended Smithsons. Miss Miller was glad when he told her, and asked him to invite Smithsons as well. The two cousins were friends again, and children happy. Miss Miller was grateful for the mistake.

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4. A Strayed Allegiance

Marian and Esterbrook, engaged recently after having known one another for ever, met Magdalen the niece of a poor family in The Cove, a fishing village, and were struck with her beauty, but differently. Esterbrook returned to The Cove to meet her, and Magdalen told him off, commanding he never meet her. But he returned and insisted he'd be with her. It took him two weeks of meeting her before conquering himself and making up his mind to keep his promise. But Marian knew, and asked him to free her from the engagement.

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5. An Invitation Given on Impulse

Carol Golden was permitted by her family to invite a friend for holidays, and intended to invite Maud Russell, but found out Ruth Mannering was orphaned and had no home to go to; she fought her impulse to invite Ruth, but did it next day. At home, Carol was surprised, everyone liked Ruth. To the surprise of everyone, it turned out that their very rich neighbour Swift, who'd lost his wife and daughter, was a half-brother of Ruth's mother, and they'd lost touch when their mother died. Swift insisted Ruth at once come live with him, but allowed her to continue the holiday and return to school meanwhile.

""I shall graduate next year, Uncle, and then I can come back to you for good."

"That evening when Ruth was alone in her room, trying to collect her thoughts and realize that the home and love that she had so craved were really to be hers at last, Golden Carol was with her mother in the room below, talking it all over.

""Just think , Mother, if I had not asked Ruth to come here, this would not have happened. And I didn't want to, I wanted to ask Maud so much, and I was dreadfully disappointed when I couldn't-for I really couldn't. I could not help remembering the look in Ruth's eyes when she said that she had no home to go to, and so I asked her instead of Maud. How dreadful it would have been if I hadn't.""

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6. Detected by the Camera

Amy was invited by neighbours to photograph their beautiful orchards in bloom, and incidentally it so happened that the neighbours' poor protege Ned Brooke was caught on camera in act of stealing the wallet of the master when he thought - quite rightly - that no one was around.

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August 12, 2020 - August 12, 2020.
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7. In Spite of Myself

Carslake was asked by Aunt Lucy to look after their business while her husband was away, although her daughter Augusta thought there was no need since she could do so; he went with a prejudice against her, taking leave of his very feminine and diminutive fiancee Nellie for the few weeks. He had arguments with the cousin and lost them, and she found him conceited. But they were thrown together and he found his attentions changing. It ended well, in two separate weddings - Nellie had an old beau return rich from West.

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8. Kismet

They met unexpectedly at the race track.

"They had not met for five years. She shut her eyes and looked in on her past. It all came back very vividly. She had been eighteen when they were married-a gay, high-spirited girl and the season's beauty. He was much older and a quiet, serious student. Her friends had wondered why she married him-sometimes she wondered herself, but she had loved him, or thought so.

"The marriage had been an unhappy one. She was fond of society and gaiety, he wanted quiet and seclusion. She Was impulsive and impatient, he deliberate and grave. The strong wills clashed. After two years of an unbearable sort of life they had separated-quietly, and without scandal of any sort. She had wanted a divorce, but he would not agree to that, so she had taken her own independent fortune and gone back to her own way of life. In the following five years she had succeeded in burying all remembrance well out of sight. No one knew if she were satisfied or not; her world was charitable to her and she lived a gay and quite irreproachable life."

The short story describes their reactions and uncertainty, and the unexpected coming together again.

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9. Lilian's Business Venture

After her father's death their fortunes had sharply declined, but she could cook, and turned the fortunes around by supplying the town with various necessities from bread to preserves to party catering.

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10. Miriam's Lover

Mrs Sefton and protagonist discussed spirits.

""Surely, Mary," I exclaimed, "you don't mean to say that you believe people ever do or can see spirits-ghosts, as the word goes?"

"I didn't say I believed it. I never saw anything of the sort. I neither believe nor disbelieve. But you know queer things do happen at times-things you can't account for. At least, people who you know wouldn't lie say so. Of course, they may be mistaken. And I don't think that everybody can see spirits either, provided they are to be seen. It requires people of a certain organization-with a spiritual eye, as it were. We haven't all got that-in fact, I think very few of us have. I dare say you think I'm talking nonsense.""

""Possibly not. Try me; I may be convinced."

""No," returned Mrs. Sefton calmly. "Nobody ever is convinced by hearsay. When a person has once seen a spirit-or thinks he has-he thenceforth believes it. And when somebody else is intimately associated with that person and knows all the circumstances-well, he admits the possibility, at least. That is my position. But by the time it gets to the third person-the outsider-it loses power."

Protagonist having persuaded successfully, Mrs Sefton tells about Miriam and her fiance, love of her life, who communicated without material means.

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11. Miss Calista's Peppermint Bottle

Miss Calista needed a man to work for her, but had refused Ches May in who was an orphan, because the community branded him after his father; but when she surprised a midnight prowler in her house and threw a bottle at him as he escaped through the window, she recognised him next day due to the scent, and caught Ches. He was honest in telling her why, and she offered him the job. He proved her right.

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12. The Jest That Failed

Grace didn't know her college girls looked down on her because she was poor, and the invitation to prom night from Sidney Hill was a prank by them; Sidney got her acceptance note, understood someone had played a prank on her, and decided to honour that invitation. At the prom not only she was a success with the guys but Sidney's family too, and his brother recognised her as the sister of the doctor out West who'd saved his life. The Hill family told her she must consider their home as hers, and the girls who'd played a joke never knew why it failed.

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13. The Penningtons' Girl

"At the end of a fortnight Riverside folks began to talk about Winslow and the Penningtons' hired girl. He was reported to be "dead gone" on her; he took her out rowing every evening, drove her to preaching up the Bend on Sunday nights, and haunted the Pennington farmhouse. Wise folks shook their heads over it and wondered that Mrs. Pennington allowed it. Winslow was a gentleman, and that Nelly Ray, whom nobody knew anything about, not even where she came from, was only a common hired girl, and he had no business to be hanging about her. She was pretty , to be sure; but she was absurdly stuck-up and wouldn't associate with other Riverside "help" at all. Well, pride must have a fall; there must be something queer about her when she was so awful sly as to her past life.

"Winslow and Nelly did not trouble themselves in the least over all this gossip; in fact, they never even heard it. Winslow was hopelessly in love, when he found this out he was aghast. He thought of his father, the ambitious railroad magnate; of his mother, the brilliant society leader; of his sisters, the beautiful and proud; he was honestly frightened. It would never do; he must not go to see Nelly again. He kept this prudent resolution for twenty-four hours and then rowed over to the West shore. He found Nelly sitting on the bank in her old faded print dress and he straightway forgot everything he ought to have remembered."

He proposed and was accepted, before her identity was out.

""Oh, do forgive me," she said merrily. "I shouldn't have, I suppose-but you know you took me for the hired girl the very first time you saw me, and you patronized me and called me Nelly; so I let you think so just for fun . I never thought it would come to this. When Father and I came north I took a fancy to come here and stay with Mrs. Pennington-who is an old nurse of mine-until Father decided where to take up our abode. I got here the night before we met. My trunk was delayed so I put on an old cotton dress her niece had left here-and you came and saw me. I made Mrs. Pennington keep the secret-she thought it great fun; and I really was a great hand to do little chores and keep the cats in subjection too. I made mistakes in grammar and dropped my g's on purpose -it was such fun to see you wince when I did it. It was cruel to tease you so, I suppose, but it was so sweet just to be loved for myself-not because I was an heiress and a belle-I couldn't bear to tell you the truth. Did you think I couldn't read your thoughts this afternoon, when I insisted on going ashore? You were a little ashamed of me-you know you were. I didn't blame you for that, but if you hadn't gone ashore and taken me as you did I would never have spoken to you again. Mrs. Keyton-Wells won't snub me next time we meet. And some way I don't think your father will turn you out, either. Have you forgiven me yet, Burton?"

""I shall never call you anything but Nelly," said Winslow irrelevantly."

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14. The Red Room

Quite a horror story about beauty, passion, old family Montressor that has a son Hugh marry Alicia from foreign shores of "Indies", with blood of foreign race that the family distrust - although, as per description, it's more Viking than anything different from Europe - and the protagonist Beatrice telling her grandchild about her childhood, when her witnessing the drama, of estrangement between Hugh and Alicia, brought about by a scene she witnessed of Alicia and a lover being discovered by Hugh, and later saw Hugh being killed by Alicia when he attempted to stop her fleeing with the lover!

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August 13, 2020 - August 13, 2020.
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15. The Setness of Theodosia

She refused to go West with her husband, but fifteen years later was told he was sick and dying, and promptly set off to see him; they were united, he recovered, and offered to return, but she decided they'd stay on.

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16. The Story of an Invitation

Bertha noticed her roommate Grace was even more pale and thin since she'd arrived, and having to work through summer wouldn't be good for her health. She asked her Aunt Meg to invite Grace in her stead, and at the end of vacation heard from both - Meg was adopting Grace.

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17. The Touch of Fate

Mrs Major Hill in Dufferin Bluff out West has opportunity to indulge her matchmaking skills when Miss Violet Thayer visits, and has decided on Ned Madison; Violet enjoys the attention, talks to all, narrows down to Ned, but her attention is with John Spencer who's not MP, but works for government. He's not dazzled by her, even when she makes an effort. But he returned unexpectedly next evening, and she began to spend time with him, exclusively, until he suddenly went away. Violet confronted Mrs Hill, who confessed having hinted about her being engaged to someone back home. Mrs Hill wrote and dispatched an urgent letter, and Spencer returned promptly.

""It seems a year of misery since last night," sighed Violet happily.

""You couldn't have been quite as miserable as I was," said Spencer earnestly. "You were everything-absolutely everything to me. Other men have little rills and driblets of affection for sisters and cousins and aunts, but everything in me went out to you. Do you remember you told me the first time we met that love would be a revelation to me? It has been more. It has been a new gospel. I hardly dared hope you could care for me. Even yet I don't know why you do."

""I love you," said Violet gravely, "because you are you.""

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18. The Waking of Helen

Robert Reeves offered to paint Helen Fraser, and pay for her time, because he noticed her in tears when her aunt had been especially bitter. He was surprised at the transformation in her, and again more so especially after he'd been reading to her when she said her aunt didn't allow her to read. But the day she saved his life by coming in the nick of time with a dory when he was caught at high tide in the rocky cove, he was staggered to to realise she was in love with him. He had someone, very different, back home. He had not flirted, and wasn't used to women falling for him. Next day he told Helen about his expected wedding in spring, and since she sounded calm, he left with peace of mind. Helen walked to the cove and sat there as tide came in.

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19. The Way of the Winning of Anne

"Jerome Irving had been courting Anne Stockard for fifteen years. He had begun when she was twenty and he was twenty- five, and now that Jerome was forty, and Anne, in a village where everybody knew everybody else's age, had to own to being thirty-five, the courtship did not seem any nearer a climax than it had at the beginning. But that was not Jerome's fault, poor fellow! At the end of the first year he had asked Anne to marry him, and Anne had refused."

"Three years later Jerome tried his luck again, with precisely the same result, and after that he had asked Anne regularly once a year to marry him, and just as regularly Anne said no a little more brusquely and a little more decidedly every year. Now, in the mellowness of a fifteen-year-old courtship, Jerome did not mind it at all. He knew that everything comes to the man who has patience to wait."

"It was Jerome's fortieth birthday when Anne refused him again. He realized this as he went down the road in the moonlight, and doubt and dismay began to creep into his heart. Anne and he were both getting old-there was no disputing that fact. It was high time that he brought her to terms if he was ever going to. Jerome was an easy-going mortal and always took things placidly, but he did not mean to have all those fifteen years of patient courting go for nothing He had thought Anne would get tired of saying no, sooner or later, and say yes, if for no other reason than to have a change; but getting tired did not seem to run in the Stockard blood."

Jerome had an idea, and it worked - Anne married him, to everybody's surprise.

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20. Young Si

Beautiful Ethel Lennox comes to a fishing village saying she wishes quiet and the picturesque place was recommended by a friend; she wishes to see fishermen, and is told about a mysterious one arrived from elsewhere. She meets him, they know one another. She is a poor schoolteacher and Miles Lesley from wealthy family, they were engaged, but his family didn't approve. They'd quarrelled over Ethel misbehaving at a gathering at his home when she felt ignored, and she'd broken up; he'd vanished. They avoided one another now, until on her last day she went sailing with another fisherman in a leaky boat. The storm had Miles rush in his boat to save her, and they were united.

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August 13, 2020 - August 14, 2020.
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21. A Patent Medicine Testimonial

Prudence and Murray Melville, twins, were being stopped from going to college by uncle Melville, after their father died. Prudence wrote testimonials to liniment companies to be used in advertising, in exchange for a fee that would be useful towards college. Uncle Melville was forced to relent, due to pride of family name.

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August 14, 2020 - August 14, 2020.
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22. A Sandshore Wooing

Margaritas Forrest was in charge of an aunt Martha who wouldn't allow her any freedom, recreation, or socialising, but happened to be seen by the brother of her friend Connie at seashore, and the two managed despite aunt Martha to meet and get engaged.

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23. After Many Days

Ben Butler returns to his old town after many years, where people remember him but don't recognise him; he hears of his benefactor of yore, old man Stephen, having fallen on bad times and expected to be turned out of his home, despite having helped several people throughout his life. Ben didn't think it was sensible to let go of his only lately earned money to help old Stephen, but next day did so, and returned West determined to do better to justify the old man's faith in him, without anyone else being any wiser to his identity.

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24. An Unconventional Confidence

The girl ran into the pavilion on shore out of the rain just as the young man, a stranger, did, just escaping rain; they had to keep to the one seat that was not getting rained on. She began to talk to him, and he thought her adorable.

""Well," began the Girl, "the root of the whole trouble is simply this. There is a young man in England. I always think of him as the Creature. He is the son of a man who was Father's especial crony in boyhood, before Father emigrated to Canada. Worse than that, he comes of a family which has contracted a vile habit of marrying into our family. It has come down through the ages so long that it has become chronic. Father left most of his musty traditions in England, but he brought this pet one with him. He and this friend agreed that the latter's son should marry one of Father's daughters. It ought to have been Beatrix-she is the oldest. But Beatrix had a pug nose. So Father settled on me. From my earliest recollection I have been given to understand that just as soon as I grew up there would be a ready-made husband imported from England for me. I was doomed to it from my cradle. Now," said the Girl, with a tragic gesture, "I ask you, could anything be more hopelessly, appallingly stupid and devoid of romance than that?""

Of course, she's no clue. When they meet at home, she admits she's glad of having promised him to not refuse the guy no matter what.

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25. Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket

Lucy Rose tried, as always in vain, to dissuade aunt Cyrilla from carrying a huge basket of country goodies when visiting Edward and Geraldine, the relatives in town. Uncle leopold said it was going to storm, he thought they couldn't go to Pembroke. It was snowing thick when they got to the train station. But the train stopped several times due to snow and finally stopped in evening, far enough from Pembroke, with woods around. Aunt Cyrilla fed people from the basket, and gave Xmas gifts to children. They shared stories, and connected. Lucy Rose changed her opinion about the basket.

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26. Davenport's Story

About a father of a girl being warned by his long dead brother to stop his daughter sailing on Aragon.

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27. Emily's Husband

Emily had married Stephen despite the family feud, the two very much in love.

"Stephen's mother lived with them. Janet Fair had never liked Emily. She had not been willing for Stephen to marry her. But, apart from this, the woman had a natural, ineradicable love of making mischief and took a keen pleasure in it. She loved her son and she had loved her husband, but nevertheless, when Thomas Fair had been alive she had fomented continual strife and discontent between him and Stephen. Now it became her pleasure to make what trouble she could between Stephen and his wife."

Emily had left Stephen, and never looked back, but now she heard he was dying and went to him. The doctors had given up, but her arrival turned him around.

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28. Min

A minister living in a remote village, despairing of his effectiveness among the locals, about to give up and accept another place, meets the woman most hated by them, and lives of the two change.

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August 14, 2020 - August 15, 2020.
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29. Miss Cordelia's Accommodation

Cordelia, a schoolteacher, had a small house in a four acre land, but a cousin sent her his old horse when he left to go West, and Cordelia got a wagon to cart off factory children to a place of woods and meadows for the day. She met Abraham Smiles whose house and farm she intended to have the children get water from, after she'd fed them on bred and butter, but he offered them milk and jam, and invited her to do this weekly. Come fall, she could no longer keep the horse, but Abraham not only wanted to buy the horse, he proposed marriage, and said they'd go on with the weekly picnics for children too.

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August 15, 2020 - August 15, 2020.
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30. Ned's Stroke of Business

Ned needs to find some money to go to college, and comes up with a scheme to propose to old Mr Dutcher to let his pond be used for skating. When he went to college, Mr Rogers said he could work for him after college as bookkeeper, having showed business acumen.

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31. Our Runaway Kite

Beautiful story about a kite patched up with an old letter becoming instrumental in reuniting family.

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August 17, 2020 - August 17, 2020.
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32. The Bride Roses

Another beautiful family reunion, helped by a rose tree blossoming after twenty years.

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33. The Josephs' Christmas

"From fourteen-year-old Mollie down to four-year-old Lennie there were eight small Josephs in all in the little log house on the prairie ; so that when each little Joseph wanted to give a Christmas box to each of the other little Josephs, and something to Father and Mother Joseph besides, it is no wonder that they had to cudgel their small brains for ways and means thereof."

But the severe storm brought visitors, wealthy couple Ralstons, on their way to visit relatives, who had to find shelter, and were happy to leave contents of their baskets of gifts meant for the relatives, along with a note hoping they could return the hospitality some time.

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August 17, 2020 - August 18, 2020.
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34. The Magical Bond of the Sea

Nora yearned for life beyond the ocean of her fishing village, and Cameron couple wanted to take her as their own. On return next summer, she returned whole, just as her father had done in his time. She'd loved the Camerons and the life they gave her, but her heart was here.

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August 18, 2020 - August 18, 2020.
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35. The Martyrdom of Estella

Bowes family took in boarders sometimes, and this time it was a very beautiful actress. Estella was annoyed that she was in the parlour despite it being the day Estella received her fiance, but she brought him in and introduced him with pride.

"Vivienne LeMar watched the two faces before her; a hard gleam, half mockery, half malice, flashed into her eyes and a smile crept about her lips. She looked straight in Spencer Morgan's honest blue eyes and read there the young man's dazzled admiration. There was contempt in the look she turned on Estella."

Estella was mortified. She confronted Vivienne after a few days.

""Miss LeMar," said Estella in a quivering voice, "what do you mean by all this? You know I'm engaged to Spencer Morgan!"

"Miss LeMar laughed softly. "Really? If you are engaged to the young man, my dear Miss Bowes, I would advise you to look after him more sharply. He seems very willing to flirt, I should say."

"She passed on to her room with a malicious smile. Estella shrank back against the wall, humiliated and baffled. When she found herself alone, she crawled back to her room and threw herself face downward on the bed, praying that she might die.

"But she had to live through the horrible month that followed-a month so full of agony that she seemed to draw every breath in pain. Spencer never sought her again; he went everywhere with Miss LeMar. His infatuation was the talk of the settlement . Estella knew that her story was in everyone's mouth, and her pride smarted; but she carried a brave front outwardly. No one should say she cared."

Quite worth reading, and material enough in the short story for a feature film.

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36. The Old Chest at Wyther Grange

Aunt Winifred and Amy opened the chest a few years after old Mrs Laurence and Eliza were both dead, and having seen the contents, Winifred told Amy about Eliza who was very beautiful but not rich, unlike her namesake cousin the other Eliza Laurence. The beautiful Eliza got engaged to Willis Starr, new in town and very handsome.

""A week before the wedding, Willis Starr was spending the evening at the Grange. We were all chattering gaily about the coming event, and in speaking of the invited guests Eliza said something about the other Eliza Laurance, the great heiress, looking archly at Willis over her shoulder as she spoke. It was some merry badinage about the cousin whose namesake she was but whom she so little resembled.

""We all laughed, but I shall never forget the look that came over Willis Starr's face. It passed quickly, but the chill fear that it gave me remained. A few minutes later I left the room on some trifling errand, and as I returned through the dim hall I was met by Willis Starr. He laid his hand on my arm and bent his evil face-for it was evil then, Amy-close to mine.

""' Tell me,' he said in a low but rude tone, 'is there another Eliza Laurance who is an heiress?'

""' Certainly there is,' I said sharply. 'She is our cousin and the daughter of our Uncle George. Our Eliza is not an heiress. You surely did not suppose she was!'

""Willis stepped aside with a mocking smile. "' I did-what wonder? I had heard much about the great heiress, Eliza Laurance, and the great beauty, Eliza Laurance. I supposed they were one and the same. You have all been careful not to undeceive me.'

""' You forget yourself, Mr. Starr, when you speak so to me,' I retorted coldly. 'You have deceived yourself. We have never dreamed of allowing anyone to think that Eliza was an heiress. She is sweet and lovely enough to be loved for her own sake.'"

On the wedding day, they received a note from him to Eliza, explaining he couldn't afford to marry; she was very ill, and as she recovered they heard he'd managed after all and married the cousin Eliza Laurence who was an heiress, his object from the time he'd come to town.

Winifred asked Amy if she wanted to have anything from the chest, linen or pearls or - Amy declined all except the miniature portrait of Eliza.

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37. The Osbornes' Christmas

The kids were bored with Xmas, but took up the suggestion of Cousin Myra whom they adored, and gave a Xmas to poor neighbour children, and were very happy.

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38. The Romance of Aunt Beatrice

Margaret, with her own little grievance, visited Aunt Beatrice, who had wanted to go to the "at home" in honour of John Reynolds - once her fiance, now M.P. and very wealthy - just to steal a look, but she'd been discouraged by her brother's wife from going without a new silk dress; Margaret fixed that, insisting she go in Margaret's new dress, and she brought the whole ensemble and fixed her hair too. John had come only to see her, and took her off the hall to talk privately. Margaret saw them return before Beatrice entered and having demanded she be invited when they were married, told Beatrice she'd better keep that dress.

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39. The Running Away of Chester

Perhaps the most deeply touching story of the lot, so far anyway! Chester, an orphan who is treated horribly and forbidden to schooling by his father's stepsister, runs away and finds work and a home with Miss Salome Whitney and her housekeeper Clemantiny, and with his hard work and good behaviour and respectful attitude becomes dear to both; when he realises they think it's wrong to run away, and tells them about himself, they in turn realise that he's a nephew of the late mother of Johny, a nephew of Miss Salome, and Clemantiny knew not only his parents but also the horrible aunt. Fortunately for all three, his step-aunt not only does not want him but is rude to Miss Salome as well, and he's brought back for good.

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40. The Strike at Putney

Most delightful! Putney, the exemplary community where there was no trouble regarding church, had one row - Mrs Cotterell, missionary, had been invited by Women's Auxiliary Foreign Missions of Putney, and since she accepted for a sunday when the minister was to be away, they decided on the church instead of the smaller school room since they expected a large gathering to hear her. Then the men including the minister declared that a woman speaking from pulpit in church was not going to be allwed. The women argued, had a meeting, and decided to strike by accepting that women speaking, or doing anything else related to church other than hearing in silence, was not to be tolerated! No singing, no dusting, no flowers, no baking! Men gave in.

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41. The Unhappiness of Miss Farquhar

The beautiful blue blooded heiress Frances was jilted by the selfish guy who married someone else, but didn't let the society see her heartbreak; then for holidays, she visited Aunt Eleanor in the remote country on seaside instead of the fashionable beach, and began to live in contact with realities. The young minister, and his sister who was her own age, helped begin her living a new life.

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August 19, 2020 - August 19, 2020.
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42. Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind

The new teacher was using her new Kodak and happened to catch Mr Cropped stealing plums from a tree that belonged to a neighbour.

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43. A Fortunate Mistake

She wasn't invited to school picnic because her father was only a factory supervisor, and most girls who tried talking to her found it difficult because she was conscious of the status gap that had some look with disdain on her. But accidentally it all changed.

"Winboro girlhood discovered that the Wallace girls were taking Florrie Hamilton into their lives. If the Wallace girls liked her, there must be something in the girl more than was at first thought-thus more than one of Miss Braxton's girls reasoned. And gradually the other girls found, as Nan had found, that Florrie was full of fun and an all-round good companion when drawn out of her diffidence. When Miss Braxton's school reopened Florrie was the class favourite. Between her and Nan Wallace a beautiful and helpful friendship had been formed which was to grow and deepen through their whole lives.

""And all because Maude in a fit of abstraction wrote 'Hamilton' for 'Hastings,'" said Nan to herself one day. But that is something Florrie Hamilton will never know."

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44. An Unpremeditated Ceremony

Selwyn had left because he couldn't see Esme married to Tom, but nobody had told Jen that that engagement had been off; when he returned unexpectedly and met Esme after his younger brother married her younger sister, the misunderstanding was cleared, and he didn't waste time.

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45. At the Bay Shore Farm

The Newburys wanted to to to the governor's picnic, each for a different reason, but grandmother Newbury wrote to ask one granddaughter to come spend the day, and expected Cecilia who was self sacrificing, but was pleased to see Frances, and said she wanted her to meet Mrs Kennedy from down South, a friend of her uncle, who was a guest for a while. Frances was happy to converse with her the whole day, and it was only as she was leaving that grandmother Newbury told her who Mrs Kennedy was.

"The Newburys were sitting on the verandah at dusk, too tired and too happy to talk. Ralph and Elliott had seen the Governor; more than that, they had been introduced to him, and he had shaken hands with them both and told them that their father and he had been chums when just their size. And Cecilia had spent a whole day with Nan Harris, who had not changed at all except to grow taller. But there was one little cloud on her content.

""I wanted to see Sara Beaumont to tell Frances about her, but I couldn't get a glimpse of her. I don't even know if she was there."

""There comes Fran up the station road now," said Ralph. "My eyes, hasn't she a step!"

Frances came smiling over the lawn and up the steps.

""So you are all home safe," she said gaily. "I hope you feasted your eyes on your beloved Governor, boys. I can tell that Cecilia forgathered with Nan by the beatific look on her face."

""Oh, Fran, it was lovely!" cried Cecilia. " But I felt so sorry-why didn't you let me go to Ashland? It was too bad you missed it-and Sara Beaumont."

""Sara Beaumont was at the Bay Shore Farm," said Frances. "I'll tell you all about it when I get my breath-I've been breathless ever since Grandmother Newbury told me of it. There's only one drawback to my supreme bliss -the remembrance of how complacently self-sacrificing I felt this morning. It humiliates me wholesomely to remember it!""

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46. Elizabeth's Child

"Sheldon was a handsome, shiftless ne'er-do-well, without any violent bad habits, but also "without any backbone ," as the Ingelows declared. "There is sometimes hope of a man who is actively bad," Charlotte Ingelow had said sententiously, "but who ever heard of reforming a jellyfish?""

Funny, the author - and whosoever coined that idea about jellyfish - seem to have no clue about being stung by one: it isn't funny!

But the story, about reconciliation between family members after seventeen years, is lovely.

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47. Freda's Adopted Grave

"The northeast winds swept whistling up the bay and blew rawly over the long hill that sloped down to it, blighting everything that was in their way. Only the sturdy firs and spruces could hold their own against it. So there were no orchards or groves or flower gardens in North Point.

"Just over the hill, in a sheltered southwest valley, was the North Point church with the graveyard behind it, and this graveyard was the most beautiful spot in North Point or near it. The North Point folk loved flowers. They could not have them about their homes, so they had them in their graveyard . It was a matter of pride with each family to keep the separate plot neatly trimmed and weeded and adorned with beautiful blossoms."

""Freda can't plant anything," said Winnie Bell cruelly, although she did not mean to be cruel. "She hasn't got a grave."

"Just then Freda felt as if her gravelessness were a positive disgrace and crime, as if not to have an interest in a single grave in North Point cemetery branded you as an outcast forever and ever. It very nearly did in North Point. The other little girls pitied Freda, but at the same time they rather looked down upon her for it with the complacency of those who had been born into a good heritage of family graves and had an undisputed right to celebrate Graveyard Day."

Freda had been brought by Mrs Wilson from orphanage and had no grave to plant flowers, nor did Mrs Wilson approve of the custom, but Freda found an untended grave in a corner. Mrs Wilson said it was of someone disreputable, and the only relative had been a beautiful little sister who'd been adopted by a rich family and taken West.

"Thereafter, Freda spent her few precious spare-time moments in the graveyard. She clipped the blueberry shrubs and long, tangled grasses from the grave with a pair of rusty old shears that blistered her little brown hands badly . She brought ferns from the woods to plant about it. She begged a root of heliotrope from Nan Gray, a clump of day lilies from Katie Morris, a rosebush slip from Nellie Bell, some pansy seed from old Mrs. Bennett, and a geranium shoot from Minnie Hutchinson's big sister. She planted, weeded and watered faithfully, and her efforts were rewarded. "Her" grave soon looked as nice as any in the graveyard.

"Nobody but Freda knew about it. The poplar growth concealed the corner from sight, and everybody had quite forgotten poor, disreputable Jordan Slade's grave. At least, it seemed as if everybody had. But one evening, when Freda slipped down to the graveyard with a little can of water and rounded the corner of the poplars, she saw a lady standing by the grave-a strange lady dressed in black, with the loveliest face Freda had ever seen, and tears in her eyes."

It was the sister.

"That summer was a wonderful one for Freda. She had found a firm friend in Mrs . Halliday. The latter was a wealthy woman. Her husband had died a short time previously and she had no children. When she went away in the fall, Freda went with her "to be her own little girl for always.""

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August 20, 2020 - August 20, 2020.
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48. How Don Was Saved

Old Paul had seen Don, Curtis's dog, with Ventnor's dog, on Tuesday evening, and lost six sheep that night; he insisted the dog be shot, or else they pay. Curtis's uncle agreed about shooting the dog, although Curtis protested Don was innocent. But that night the schooner struck rock as it came ashore and the sea being high, men of the village couldn't rescue them. Don swam out and brought the stick thrown by Paul's son who was on the schooner, and the villagers secured the line, so the sailors were saved. Paul said Don couldn't be shot, and if he wanted sheep he could have them. But Don was proved innocent thereafter, when he was kept chained to separate him from Ventnor's dog.

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49. Miss Madeline's Proposal

Lina was pretty as aunt Madeline had been in her time, except Lina was now engaged and Madeline had never received a proposal. But the day after their talk, a letter came from reverend Thorne for Miss Madeline Churchill, and it was a proposal. He came the next day, saw Lina in the garden with her fiance, and Madeline came down to answer him. She declined.

"Mr. Thorne put his hand over his eyes again. He understood now that there had been some mistake and that Miss Madeline had received the letter he had written to her niece. Well, it did not matter-the appearance of the young man in the garden had settled that. Would he tell Miss Madeline of her mistake? No, it would only humiliate her and it made no difference, since she had refused him."

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50. Miss Sally's Company

Ida and Mary Seymour stopped at Golden Gate Cottage, the home of Sally Temple, for a drink of water, and the lonely old woman welcomed them to tea. They asked if they could visit again, and bring friends.

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51. Mrs. March's Revenge

Louise Carroll had insulted Anna March, nee' Bennett, when they were young, because Trenham Manning was paying attention only to Anna; Louise had come up to them at the party.

"'Miss Bennett, Mother told me to tell you to tell your ma that if that plain sewing isn't done by tomorrow night she'll send for it and give it to somebody else; if people engage to have work done by a certain time and don't keep their word, they needn't expect to get it.'"

Anna had run away crying, and never forgotten. Now she'd inherited wealth from a brother they'd mourned forty years ago, and bought the Carroll place, while Louise had married a no good Dency Baxter and was down, they knew not where. After Anna had fixed the house and moved in she heard about Louise staying at a hotel, dying of consumption. Next day Louise came, in cold gusty wind. Anna forgot about the revenge she'd looked forward to, and took care of the dying woman.

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52. Nan

Bryan Lee, not understanding Nan, foreclosed on John Osborne, just as his aunt died.

"A week later the Osborne homestead had passed into Bryan Lee's hands and John Osborne was staying with his cousin at Thornhope, pending his departure for the west. He had never been to see Nan since that last afternoon, but Bryan Lee haunted the Stewart place. One day he suddenly stopped coming and, although Nan was discreetly silent, in due time it came to old Abe's ears by various driblets of gossip that Nan had refused him.

"Old Abe marched straightway home to Nan in a fury and demanded if this were true. Nan curtly admitted that it was. Old Abe was so much taken aback by her coolness that he asked almost meekly what was her reason for doing such a fool trick.

""Because he turned John Osborne out of house and home," returned Nan composedly. "If he hadn't done that there is no telling what might have happened. I might even have married him, because I liked him very well and it would have pleased you. At any rate, I wouldn't have married John when you were against him. Now I mean to."

"Old Abe stormed furiously at this, but Nan kept so provokingly cool that he was conscious of wasting breath. He went off in a rage, but Nan did not feel particularly anxious now that the announcement was over. He would cool down, she knew. John Osborne worried her more. She didn't see clearly how she was to marry him unless he asked her, and he had studiously avoided her since the foreclosure.

"But Nan did not mean to be baffled or to let her lover slip through her fingers for want of a little courage. She was not old Abe Stewart's daughter for nothing."

She went and suggested he might need her against being lonely.

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53. Natty of Blue Point

"David Miller had died the preceding winter after a long illness. He had been lighthouse keeper at Blue Point for thirty years. His three children had been born and brought up there, and there, four years ago, the mother had died. But womanly little Prue had taken her place well, and the boys were devoted to their sister. When their father died, Everett had applied for the position of lighthouse keeper. The matter was not yet publicly decided, but old Cooper Creasy had sized the situation up accurately. The Millers had no real hope that Everett would be appointed."

But Natty saved lives of men on a foggy, stormy night, rowing out a mile across to another island after hearing them, and they turned out to be the ones that mattered. Everett got the appointment, and the Millers could stay on, after all.

""It was about a miracle that a boy could do what he did on such a night," said Charles Macey.

""Where's Ford?" asked Natty uncomfortably. He hated to have his exploit talked about.

""Ford has cleared out," said Cooper, "gone down to Summerside to go into Tobe Meekins's factory there. Best thing he could do , that's what. Folks here hadn't no use for him after letting that death trap to them two men-even if they was Lib'rals. The Cockawee druv ashore on Little Bear, and there she's going to remain, I guess. D'ye want a berth in my mackerel boat this summer, Natty?"

""I do," said Natty, "but I thought you said you were full."

""I guess I can make room for you," said Cooper. "A boy with such grit and muscle ain't to be allowed to go to seed on Blue Point, that's what. Yesser, we'll make room for you."

"And Natty's cup of happiness was full."

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August 20, 2020 - August 21, 2020.
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54. Penelope's Party Waist

Penelope wanted a dress for Blanche's party, but they couldn't afford it. Then they received an heirloom quilt from an aunt and Doris made the dress from the lining, which is how they were reconnected with their mother's half sister who was at the party. Their lives changed, with the aunt taking care of them.

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August 21, 2020 - August 21, 2020.
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55. The Girl and The Wild Race

"Of all Judith's admirers Eben King alone found favor in Mrs. Theodora's eyes. He owned the adjoining farm, was well off and homely-so homely that Judith declared it made her eyes ache to look at him.

"Bruce Marshall, Judith's "right one" was handsome, but Mrs. Theodora looked upon him with sour disapproval. He owned a stony little farm at the remote end of Ramble Valley and was reputed to be fonder of many things than of work. To be sure, Judith had enough capability and energy for two; but Mrs. Theodora detested a lazy man. She ordered Judith not to encourage him and Judith obeyed. Judith generally obeyed her aunt; but, though she renounced Bruce Marshall, she would have nothing to do with Eben King or anybody else and all Mrs. Theodora's grumblings did not mend matters."

But the aunt provoked her, Judith said she'd marry the first man who'd ask her, and both men heard at the store. Bruce, coming over fields and risking over creek, managed to ask first.

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56. The Promise of Lucy Ellen

This story deals with a topic somewhat favourite of the author, repeated with variations through her works - that of two old maids, sisters generally, with a promise to one another that they'd never marry, which one of them subsequently wants to be freed from; here they are cousins, and a lover who had jilted the pretty one for someone prettier has returned, now wealthy, to woo the one he jilted. Needless to say eventually the couple is united finally, here because the other cousin relented, despite having made the promise at behest of the jilted Lucy, and having refused a chance to marry herself only due to the promise.

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57. The Pursuit of the Ideal

""' What must my lady be that I must love her?'" he had quoted. "Well, I will paint my dream-love for you, Freda. She must be tall and slender, with chestnut hair of wonderful gloss, with just the suggestion of a ripple in it. She must have an oval face, colourless ivory in hue, with the expression of a Madonna; and her eyes must be 'passionless, peaceful blue,' deep and tender as a twilight sky."

"Freda, looking at herself along her arm in the mirror, recalled this description and smiled faintly. She was short and plump, with a piquant, irregular little face, vivid tinting, curly, unmanageable hair of ruddy brown, and big grey eyes. Certainly, she was not his ideal."

""I haven't met her yet . I have only seen her. It was in the park yesterday. She was in a carriage with the Mandersons. So beautiful, Freda! Our eyes met as she drove past and I realized that I had found my long-sought ideal. I rushed back to town and hunted up Pete Manderson at the club. Pete is a donkey but he has his ways of being useful. He told me who she was. Her name is Stephanie Gardiner; she is his cousin from the south and is visiting his mother. And, Freda, I am to dine at the Mandersons' tonight. I shall meet her.""

"Roger came out to Lowlands oftener than ever after that. He had to talk to somebody about Stephanie Gardiner and Freda was the safest vent. The "pursuit of the Ideal," as she called it, went on with vim and fervour. Sometimes Roger would be on the heights of hope and elation; the next visit he would be in the depths of despair and humility. Freda had learned to tell which it was by the way he opened the snuggery door.

"One day when Roger came he found six feet of young man reposing at ease in his particular chair. Freda was sipping chocolate in her corner and looking over the rim of her cup at the intruder just as she had been wont to look at Roger. She had on a new dark red gown and looked vivid and rose-hued.

"She introduced the stranger as Mr. Grayson and called him Tim. They seemed to be excellent friends. Roger sat bolt upright on the edge of a fragile, gilded chair which Freda kept to hide a shabby spot in the carpet, and glared at Tim until the latter said goodbye and lounged out."

"Roger did not feel as if he wanted to talk about the Ideal. He noticed how vivid Freda's smile was and how lovable were the curves of her neck where the dusky curls were caught up from it. He had also an inner vision of Freda making taffy with Tim and he did not approve of it.

"He refused to talk about the Ideal. On his way back to town he found himself thinking that Freda had the most charming, glad little laugh of any girl he knew. He suddenly remembered that he had never heard the Ideal laugh . She smiled placidly-he had raved to Freda about that smile-but she did not laugh. Roger began to wonder what an ideal without any sense of humour would be like when translated into the real.

"He went to Lowlands the next afternoon and found Tim there-in his chair again. He detested the fellow but he could not deny that he was good-looking and had charming manners. Freda was very nice to Tim. On his way back to town Roger decided that Tim was in love with Freda. He was furious at the idea. The presumption of the man!

"He also remembered that he had not said a word to Freda about the Ideal. And he never did say much more-perhaps because he could not get the chance. Tim was always there before him and generally outstayed him."

It took social discussion about charms of Freda, and praise of Tim who was considered fortunate in being expected to marry her, to wake up Roger; when he heard Tim had returned West, he promptly went and proposed to Freda.

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58. The Softening of Miss Cynthia

It took danger of death for the orphan son of her stepbrother before Cynthia softened enough to admit she had been wrong to send him to a hard master for work, instead of taking care of him.

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59. Them Notorious Pigs

The new neighbour's pigs were ruining the cherished garden of old bachelor Harrington, but he fell in love with the widow and married her, and her son's got a sister now, just as blue eyed and adorable.

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60. Why Not Ask Miss Price?

They were suddenly short of one guest for thanksgiving dinner, and Mrs Allen suggested the daughters invite Miss Price; when she came, they realised she looked like their brother's friend Maxwell Seeley. The two talked, and found they were brother and sister, separated when they were orphaned.

"Frances and Alma talked it all over before they went to sleep that night.

""Just think," said Frances, "if we hadn't asked her here today she might never have found her brother! It's all Mother's doing , bless her! Things do happen like a storybook sometimes, don't they, Al? And didn't I tell you they looked alike?""

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61. A Correspondence and A Climax

A hard worked orphan carried on a correspondence initiated via a newspaper with someone out West, giving herself a life of wealth and leisure in the descriptions, and had no thought of meeting the penfriend. But she signs her own name, and he writes to say he's coming East. It all turned out well, though.

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62. An Adventure on Island Rock

Ned's uncle Richard wouldn't hear pleas of the orphan boy about not selling his dog, but later that day the two saved Ned

"At the breakfast table Uncle Richard scarcely spoke. But, just as we finished, he said abruptly to Ernest, "I'm not going to sell Laddie. You and the dog saved Ned's life between you, and no dog who helped do that is ever going to be sold by me. Henceforth he belongs to you. I give him to you for your very own."

""Oh, Mr. Lawson!" said Ernest, with shining eyes."

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August 21, 2020 - August 22, 2020.
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63. At Five O'Clock in the Morning

Another theme author gives a variation of, about a young man of wealthy family falling in love with a beautiful girl he finds working on a country farm, unaware that she's an heiress visiting and helping out an old nanny.

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August 22, 2020 - August 22, 2020.
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64. Aunt Susanna's Birthday Celebration

The estranged couple each wrote aunt Susanna, and she simply mailed letter of each to the other.

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65. Bertie's New Year

Bertie lent his mittens to his cousin as he went off on errands, and at home of Dr Forbes he was invited in to warm up. The daughters sent mittens for the little cousin of Bertie, and invited both for dinner for New Year. The doctor offered to keep him for errands and school him and find him another place. He was sent off with gifts for both.

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66. Between the Hill and the Valley

Sara Stuart and Jeffrey Miller had been childhood friends, until she went away to school and abroad; she'd lived at Pinehurst on hill, until her father died, but the estate was entailed; Jeffrey Miller still loved her and was not married. He went to offer his help, and seeing her tears, lost the restraint against speaking of his own feelings. She'd always loved him too, it turned out.

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67. Clorinda's Gifts

Clorinda understood meaning of real gifts.

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68. Cyrilla's Inspiration

Writing jolly letters to everyone in the boarding house on a rainy day.

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69. Dorinda's Desperate Deed

Dorinda Page had returned home at fifteen after five years of living with aunt Mary Carter, and saw her mother's problems; she decided she'd go ask uncle Eugene page for help. Grandfather Page had disinherited Dorinda's father at his wedding.

""Anything more?" said Uncle Eugene, when Dorinda stopped.

""Nothing more just now, I think," said Dorinda reflectively.

""Why don't you ask for something for yourself?" said Uncle Eugene.

""I don't want anything for myself," said Dorinda promptly. "Or-yes, I do, too. I want your friendship, Uncle Eugene."

""Be kind enough to sit down," said Uncle Eugene. Dorinda sat.

""You are a Page," said Uncle Eugene. "I saw that as soon as I came in. I will send Leicester to college and I shall not ask or expect to be paid back. Jean shall have her music lessons, and a piano to practise them on as well. The house shall be shingled, and the money for the new dress and coat shall be forthcoming. You and I will be friends."

""Thank you," gasped Dorinda, wondering if, after all, it wasn't a dream.

""I would have gladly assisted your mother before," said Uncle Eugene, "if she had asked me. I had determined that she must ask me first. I knew that half the money should have been your father's by rights. I was prepared to hand it over to him or his family, if I were asked for it. But I wished to humble his pride, and the Carter pride, to the point of asking for it. Not a very amiable temper, you will say? I admit it. I am not amiable and I never have been amiable. You must be prepared to find me very unamiable. I see that you are waiting for a chance to say something polite and pleasant on that score, but you may save yourself the trouble. I shall hope and expect to have you visit me often. If your mother and your brothers and sisters see fit to come with you, I shall welcome them also. I think that this is all it is necessary to say just now. Will you stay to tea with me this evening?"

"Dorinda stayed to tea, since she knew that Jean was at home to attend to matters there. She and Uncle Eugene got on famously. When she left, Uncle Eugene, grim and hard-lipped as ever, saw her to the door.

""Good evening, Niece Dorinda. You are a Page and I am proud of you. Tell your mother that many things in this life are lost through not asking for them. I don't think you are in need of the information for yourself.""

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70. Her Own People

Miss Channing recommended a boarding house in Pine Valley for the bitter and lonely colleague Constance Foster for summer vacation.

"A fortnight later Miss Channing received a letter from Constance.

""I am so happy," she wrote. "Oh, Miss Channing, I have found 'mine own people,' and Heartsease Farm is to be my own, own dear home for always. "It was such a strange coincidence, no, Aunt Flora says it was Providence, and I believe it was, too. I came here one rainy night, and Aunty put me in my mother's room, think of it! My own dear mother's room, and I found her name in a book. And now the mystery is all cleared up, and we are so happy.

""Everything is dear and beautiful, and almost the dearest and most beautiful thing is that I am getting acquainted with my mother , the mother I never knew before. She no longer seems dead to me. I feel that she lives and loves me, and I am learning to know her better every day. I have her room and her books and all her little girlish possessions. When I read her books, with their passages underlined by her hand, I feel as if she were speaking to me. She was very good and sweet, in spite of her one foolish, bitter mistake, and I want to be as much like her as I can."

""I am not going back to Taunton. I have sent in my resignation. I am going to stay home with Aunty and Uncle. It is so sweet to say home and know what it means.

""Aunty says you must come and spend all your next vacation with us. You see, I have lots of vacation plans now, even for a year ahead. After all, there is no need of the blue pills!"

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71. Ida's New Year Cake

Ida Mitchell's fruitcake from her mother sent for New Year was delivered by mistake to the other Ida Mitchell, an orphan, but Ida didn't tell her; instead she made friends with her, and bought other goodies for her own guests.

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72. In the Old Valley

He returned seeking home after having achieved power and wealth, and knowing he needed more. He didn't expect it, but found what was wanting.

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73. Jane Lavinia

She wanted to go to art school in New York, but decided not to, because when she realised she'd forgotten her mother's watch and ran back to retrieve it, she saw Aunt Rebecca crying.

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75. Mackereling Out in the Gulf

Benjamin had loved Mary Stella all his life, but she hadn't given her heart until her cousin Braithwaite came from New York. One day Braithwaite was late coming in as the storm broke.

"Braithwaite and Leon were clinging to the boat. Benjamin Selby, standing in the background, his lips set, his hands clenched, was fighting the hardest battle of his life. He knew that he alone, out of all the men there, possessed the necessary skill and nerve to reach the boat if she could be reached at all. There was a bare chance and a great risk. This man whom he hated was drowning before his eyes. Let him drown, then! Why should he risk-ay, and perchance lose-his life for his enemy? No one could blame him for refusing-and if Braithwaite were out of the way, Mary Stella might yet be his!

"The temptation and victory passed in a few brief seconds. He stepped forward, cool and self-possessed.

""I'm going out. I want one man with me. No one with child or wife. Who'll go?""

He saved Braithwaite for sake of Mary Stella.

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76. Millicent's Double

"When Millicent Moore and Worth Gordon met each other on the first day of the term in the entrance hall of the Kinglake High School, both girls stopped short, startled. Millicent Moore had never seen Worth Gordon before, but Worth Gordon's face she had seen every day of her life, looking at her out of her own mirror!"

Millicent had two invitations conflicting, and asked Worth to take her place, but later they repented and went together to confess and apologise. Hearing her name, Mr Kirby asked Worth about her mother, and told her he was her mother's half brother separated years ago.

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77. The Blue North Room

""This," said Sara, laying Aunt Josephina's letter down on the kitchen table with such energy that in anybody but Sara it must have been said she threw it down, "this is positively the last straw! I have endured all the rest . I have given up my chance of a musical education, when Aunt Nan offered it, that I might stay home and help Willard pay the mortgage off-if it doesn't pay us off first-and I have, which was much harder, accepted the fact that we can't possibly afford to send Ray to the Valley Academy, even if I wore the same hat and coat for four winters. I did not grumble when Uncle Joel came here to live because he wanted to be 'near his dear nephew's children.' I felt it my Christian duty to look pleasant when we had to give Cousin Caroline a home to save her from the poorhouse. But my endurance and philosophy, and worst of all, my furniture, has reached a limit. I cannot have Aunt Josephina come here to spend the winter, because I have no room to put her in.""

""Mother was always very fond of Aunt Josephina ," said Ray reflectively. Sara had her lips open, all ready to answer whatever Ray might say, but she shut them suddenly and the boy went on. "Aunt Josephina thought a lot of Mother , too. She used to say she knew there was always a welcome for her at Maple Hollow. It does seem a pity, Sally dear, for your mother's daughter to send word to Aunt Josephina, per my mother's son, that there isn't room for her any longer at Maple Hollow.""

""I've been poking about in the garret and in the carriage house loft," said Ray, "and I've found furniture galore. It's very old and cobwebby-witness my appearance-and very much in want of scrubbing and a few nails. But it will do.""

Aunt Josephina said she knew someone in Boston who'd pay good money for the old things, and they did - enough to send Ray to college.

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August 22, 2020 - August 23, 2020.
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78. The Christmas Surprise at Enderly Road

Frank and Phil asked little Maggie for directions, and why she was crying.

"The semi-annual public examination was to be held on Monday afternoon, the day before Christmas. Miss Davis had been drilling her little flock for the occasion; and a program of recitations, speeches, and dialogues had been prepared. Our small informant, whose name was Maggie Bates, together with Minnie Lawler and several other little girls, had conceived the idea that it would be a fine thing to decorate the schoolroom with greens. For this it was necessary to ask the help of the boys. Boys were scarce at Enderly school, but the Dickeys, three in number, had promised to see that the thing was done.

""And now they won't," sobbed Maggie. "Matt Dickey is mad at Miss Davis 'cause she stood him on the floor today for not learning his lesson, and he says he won't do a thing nor let any of the other boys help us. Matt just makes all the boys do as he says. I feel dreadful bad, and so does Minnie.""

So they did it themselves, and brought gifts on Monday, too, uniting the two villages.

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August 23, 2020 - August 23, 2020.
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79. The Dissipation of Miss Ponsonby

They'd made friends with the lonely woman across the windows. Then Stephen Shaw came to town.

"Then Mrs. George Hubbard gave a big dance. Jerry and I were pleasantly excited. The Hubbards were the smartest of the Glenboro smart set and their entertainments were always quite brilliant affairs for a small country village like ours. This party was professedly given in honour of Stephen Shaw, who was to leave for the west again in a week's time.

"On the evening of the party Jerry and I went to our room to dress. And there, across at her window in the twilight, sat Miss Ponsonby, crying. I had never seen Miss Ponsonby cry before.

""What is the matter?" I called out softly and anxiously.

""Oh, nothing," sobbed Miss Ponsonby, "only-only-I'm invited to the party tonight-Susan Hubbard is my cousin, you know-and I would like so much to go."

""Then why don't you?" said Jerry briskly.

""My father won't let me," said Miss Ponsonby, swallowing a sob as if she were a little girl of ten years old. Jerry had to dodge behind the curtain to hide a smile.

""It's too bad," I said sympathetically, but wondering a little why Miss Ponsonby seemed so worked up about it. I knew she had sometimes been invited out before and had not been allowed to go, but she had never cared apparently.

""Well, what is to be done?" I whispered to Jerry.

""Take Miss Ponsonby to the party with us, of course," said Jerry, popping out from behind the curtain.

"I didn't ask her if she expected to fly through the air with Miss Ponsonby, although short of that I couldn't see how the latter was to be got out of the house without her father knowing. The old gentleman had a den off the hall where he always sat in the evening and smoked fiercely, after having locked all the doors to keep the servants in. He was a delightful sort of person, that old Mr. Ponsonby.

"Jerry poked her head as far as she could out of the window. "Miss Ponsonby, you are going to the dance," she said in a cautious undertone, "so don't cry any more or your eyes will be dreadfully red."

""It is impossible," said Miss Ponsonby resignedly.

""Nothing is impossible when I make up my mind," said Jerry firmly. "You must get dressed, climb down that acacia tree, and join us in our yard . It will be pitch dark in a few minutes and your father will never know.""

"Miss Ponsonby's long habit of obedience to whatever she was told stood her in good stead now. She obeyed Jerry without another word. Jerry seized me by the waist and waltzed me around the room in an ecstasy."

"We pushed through a little gap in the privet hedge and found ourselves under the acacia tree with Miss Ponsonby peering anxiously at us from above. I wanted to shriek with laughter, the whole thing seemed so funny and unreal. Jerry , although she hasn't climbed trees since she was twelve, went up that acacia as nimbly as a pussy-cat, took the box and things from me, passed them to Miss Ponsonby, and got in at the window while I went back to my own room to dress, hoping old Mr. Ponsonby wouldn't be running out to ring the fire alarm.

"In a very short time I heard Miss Ponsonby and Jerry at the opposite window, and I rushed to mine to see the sight. But Miss Ponsonby, with a red fascinator over her head and a big cape wrapped round her, slipped out of the window and down that blessed acacia tree as neatly and nimbly as if she had been accustomed to doing it for exercise every day of her life. There were possibilities in Miss Ponsonby. In two more minutes they were both safe in our room."

"Miss Ponsonby, as she stood there, was a pretty woman, with fifteen apparent birthdays the less."

They went, taking care to be unseen by Ponsonby.

"We were early, but Stephen Shaw was there before us. He came up to us at once, and just then Miss Ponsonby turned around.

""Alicia!" he said.

""How do you do, Stephen?" she said tremulously.

"And there he was looking down at her with an expression on his face that none of the Glenboro girls he had been calling on had ever seen. Jerry and I just simply melted away. We can see through grindstones when there are holes in them!"

They'd been engaged, but Ponsonby had objected.

""Do you think your father will object this time?" I queried.

""No, I don't think so. Stephen is a rich man now, you know. That wouldn't make any difference with me-but Father is very-practical. Stephen is going to see him tomorrow."

""But what if he does object?" I persisted anxiously.

""The acacia tree will still be there," said Miss Ponsonby firmly."

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80. The Falsoms' Christmas Dinner

Alexina and Stephen had lost their parents, and couldn't afford the education they wanted. A wealthy great uncle wrote he'd visit them on Xmas, and did, but the dinner was stolen just as they were ready. But the neighbours rescued them by bringing over everything, and the satisfied great uncle offered home and education.

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81. The Fraser Scholarship

Elliott Campbell needed the Fraser scholarship he'd won, but didn't know that his last name was a necessary condition, since another one with a similarly stipulated name had barely qualified. On finding out, he told the principal about his last name being that of the stepfather, and the scholarship went to the much less deserving guy who'd barely qualified, but Elliott was reunited with his aunt Mrs Fraser who had lost lost touch with his mother.

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82. The Girl at the Gate

Mr Lawrence had told her about Margaret, her grandfather's sister, who had promised Herbert Lawrence, as she died at eighteen, that she'd come for him.

"As I came up to the little gate I saw a young girl standing on the other side of it. She stood in the full moonlight and I saw her distinctly.

"She was tall and slight and her head was bare. I saw that her hair was a pale gold, shining somewhat strangely about her head as if catching the moonbeams. Her face was very lovely and her eyes large and dark. She was dressed in something white and softly shimmering, and in her hand she held a white rose … a very large and perfect one. Even at the time I found myself wondering where she could have picked it. It was not a Woodlands rose. All the Woodlands roses were smaller and less double."

Next morning they told her he'd died soon after she left.

"After the funeral Mrs. Stewart gave me Margaret's miniature. I had never seen it or any picture of Margaret before. The face was very lovely-also strangely like my own, although I am not beautiful. It was the face of the young girl I had met at the gate!"

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83. The Light on the Big Dipper

Mary Margaret was alone in charge of little Nellie and the house on Little Dipper island.

"Mary Margaret found plenty to do that day and wasn't a bit lonesome. But when evening came she didn't feel quite so cheerful . Nellie had fallen asleep, and there wasn't another living creature except the cat on the Little Dipper. Besides, it looked like a storm. The harbour was glassy calm, but the sky was very black and dour in the northeast-like snow, thought weather-wise Mary Margaret. She hoped her mother would get home before it began, and she wished the lighthouse star would gleam out on the Big Dipper. It would seem like the bright eye of a steady old friend. Mary Margaret always watched for it every night; just as soon as the sun went down the big lighthouse star would flash goldenly out in the northeastern sky.

""I'll sit down by the window and watch for it," said Mary Margaret to herself. "Then, when it is lighted, I'll get up a nice warm supper for Mother and Uncle Martin."

"Mary Margaret sat down by the kitchen window to watch. Minute after minute passed, but no light flashed out on the Big Dipper. What was the matter? Mary Margaret began to feel uneasy. It was too cloudy to tell just when the sun had set, but she was sure it must be down, for it was quite dark in the house. She lighted a lamp, got the almanac, and hunted out the exact time of sunsetting. The sun had been down fifteen minutes!

"And there was no light on the Big Dipper!"

"It was half an hour after sunset and the Big Dipper light, the most important one along the whole coast, was not lighted. What would she do? What could she do?

"The answer came swift and dear into Mary Margaret's steady, sensible little mind. She must go to the Big Dipper and light the lamps!"

She secured Nellie and left, although she heard a little wail, and rowed over, to find uncle George on floor with a broken leg and hurt back.

"That night was a very long and anxious one. The storm grew rapidly worse, and snow and wind howled around the lighthouse. Uncle George soon grew feverish and delirious, and Mary Margaret, between her anxiety for him and her dismal thoughts of poor Nellie tied in her chair over at the Little Dipper, and the dark possibility of her mother and Uncle Martin being out in the storm, felt almost distracted. But the morning came at last, as mornings blessedly will, be the nights never so long and anxious, and it dawned fine and clear over a white world. Mary Margaret ran to the shore and gazed eagerly across at the Little Dipper. No smoke was visible from Uncle Martin's house!

"She could not leave Uncle George, who was raving wildly, and yet it was necessary to obtain assistance somehow. Suddenly she remembered the distress signal. She must hoist it. How fortunate that Uncle George had once shown her how!"

She was rowed over back when rescue arrived, and saw her parents. They'd been unable to come before morning.

""We came in last night," said Captain Campbell, "and it was pitch dark, not a light to be seen and beginning to snow. We didn't know where we were and I was terribly worried, when all at once the Big Dipper light I'd been looking for so vainly flashed out, and everything was all right in a moment. But, Mary Margaret, if that light hadn't appeared, we'd never have got in past the reefs. You've saved your father's ship and all the lives in her, my brave little girl.""

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84. The Prodigal Brother

"Flowers were all Miss Hannah had to give, for she was very poor, but she gave them with a great wealth of friendliness and goodwill."

She was expecting her brother to return, having made his fortune, any day. People thought it unlikely.

"When October had passed and the grey November days came, the glory of Miss Hannah's garden was over. She was very lonely without her flowers. She missed them more this year than ever. On fine days she paced up and down the walks and looked sadly at the drooping, unsightly stalks and vines. She was there one afternoon when the northeast wind was up and doing, whipping the gulf waters into whitecaps and whistling up the inlet and around the grey eaves. Miss Hannah was mournfully patting a frosted chrysanthemum under its golden chin when she saw a man limping slowly down the lane.

""Now, who can that be?" she murmured. "It isn't any Prospect man, for there's nobody lame around here.""

It was Ralph.

""It's a poor wreck of a man I am come back to you, Hannah," he said. "I've never accomplished anything and my health's broken and I'm a cripple as ye see. For a time I thought I'd never show my face back here, such a failure as I be, but the longing to see you got too strong. It's naught but a wreck I am, Hannah."

""You're my own dear brother," cried Miss Hannah. "Do you think I care how poor you are? And if your health is poor I'm the one to nurse you up, who else than your only sister, I'd like to know! Come right in. You're shivering in this wind. I'll mix you a good hot currant drink. I knew them black currants didn't bear so plentiful for nothing last summer. Oh, this is a good day and no mistake!""

Jacob brought his trunk.

""He isn't very rich, though," said Jacob jokingly. He was relieved to find that Miss Hannah did not seem to be worrying over this.

""That doesn't matter," cried Miss Hannah. "Why, he's my brother! Isn't that enough? I'm rich if he isn't, rich in love and happiness. And I'm better pleased in a way than if he had come back rich. He might have wanted to take me away or build a fine house, and I'm too old to be making changes. And then he wouldn't have needed me. I'd have been of no use to him. As it is, it's just me he needs to look after him and coddle him. Oh, it's fine to have somebody to do things for, somebody that belongs to you. I was just dreading the loneliness of the winter , and now it's going to be such a happy winter. I declare last night Ralph and I sat up till morning talking over everything. He's had a hard life of it. Bad luck and illness right along. And last winter in the lumber woods he got his leg broke. But now he's come home and we're never going to be parted again as long as we live. I could sing for joy, Jacob."

""Oh, sure," assented Jacob cordially. He felt a little dazed. Miss Hannah's nimble change of base was hard for him to follow, and he had an injured sense of having wasted a great deal of commiseration on her when she didn't need it at all. "Only I kind of thought, we all thought, you had such plans."

""Well, they served their turn," interrupted Miss Hannah briskly. "They amused me and kept me interested till something real would come in their place. If I'd had to carry them out I dare say they'd have bothered me a lot. Things are more comfortable as they are. I'm happy as a bird, Jacob.""

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85. The Redemption of John Churchill

"He was only forty; he was thirty when he had been convicted of embezzling the bank funds for purposes of speculation and had been sent to prison, leaving behind a wife and father who were broken-hearted and a sister whose pride had suffered more than her heart.

"He had never seen them since, but he knew what had happened in his absence. His wife had died two months later , leaving behind her a baby boy; his father had died within the year."

"His sister had taken the baby, his little son whom he had never seen, but for whom he had prepared such a birthright of dishonour. She had never forgiven her brother and she never wrote to him."

"So he would go to his own place.

"But first he must see little Joey, who must be quite a big boy now, nearly ten years old."

"Nobody at the station where he alighted recognized him or paid any attention to him. He was as a dead man who had come back to life to find himself effaced from recollection and his place knowing him no more. It was three miles from the station to where his sister lived, and he resolved to walk the distance. Now that the critical moment drew near, he shrank from it and wished to put it off as long as he could.

"When he reached his sister's home he halted on the road and surveyed the place over its snug respectability of iron fence."

"He walked furtively up the back way between high, screening hedges of spruce. When he came to the gate of the yard, he paused."

He saw his son and heard him, and changed, determined to take him West and do well.

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86. The Schoolmaster's Letters

The schoolmaster's letters to beautiful Una, locked in his trunk, were stolen. Someone had sent them to Una, to make trouble. But the result was completely opposite.

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87. The Story of Uncle Dick

Dick Oliver and Rose Lawrence had to wait because his stepmother made him promise not to marry before she died, which took twenty years, and then Rose was tending to her father in California.

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August 23, 2020 - August 24, 2020.
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88. The Understanding of Sister Sara

Beatrice Mason was brought up by her sister, Sara. Beatrice thought Sara was immersed in practical necessities, understanding nothing of romance or emotions, until Sara brought Walter back to Beatrice.

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August 24, 2020 - August 24, 2020.
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89. The Unforgotten One

The family had come together for Xmas and each had much to celebrate, but none had forgotten the one departed.

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90. The Wooing of Bessy

"When Lawrence Eastman began going to see Bessy Houghton the Lynnfield people shrugged their shoulders and said he might have picked out somebody a little younger and prettier-but then, of course, Bessy was well off."

But that wasn't it. His mother separated them viciously with a lie, but only briefly, and lost him.

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91. Their Girl Josie

The Morgans brought up Joscelyn when their son and his wife died, but cut her off when she wanted to be an actress like her mother. But when she was criticised in the newspaper, they were riled enough to stand by her.

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92. When Jack and Jill Took a Hand

The twins were happy about the minister courting the aunt, but nit about him being slow; Jill asked Jack to tell the minister that the aunt kept the photograph of someone in New York at her bedside table and kissed it every night. Instead of his being spurred on to propose, it seemed to break them up. So Jill went over to tell the minister that it was only her old uncle Matthew, and why they'd done it, and brought him back.

"Well, the wedding came off last week. It was a perfectly gorgeous affair. Aunt Tommy's dress was a dream-and so was mine, all pink silk and chiffon and carnations. Jacky made a magnificent page too, in a suit of white velvet. The wedding cake was four stories high, and Dick looked perfectly handsome. He kissed me too, right after he kissed Aunt Tommy.

"So everything turned out all right, and I believe Dick would never have dared to speak up if we hadn't helped things along. But Jacky and I have decided that we will never meddle in an affair of the kind again. It is too hard on the nerves."

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93. A Millionaire's Proposal

Kitty refused Jack Willoughby, because despite being an M.D. he was happy to settle in country, and Alice had written about a rich nephew of Sinclairs who was a catch, telling Kitty not to get engaged to Jack. Kitty proceeded as planned by Alicia, right up to the moment Gus Sinclair proposed, but couldn't accept him, and told him everything. He and Roger both took her side, despite displeasure of Alicia, and she went home to marry Jack.

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94. A Substitute Journalist

"The Baxters lived in Aylmer, a lively little town with two newspapers, the Chronicle and the Ledger. Between these two was a sharp journalistic rivalry in the matter of "beats" and "scoops." In the preceding spring Clifford had been taken on the Chronicle on trial, as a sort of general handyman. There was no pay attached to the position, but he was getting training and there was the possibility of a permanency in September if he proved his mettle. Mr. Baxter had died two years before, and the failure of the company in which Mrs. Baxter's money was invested had left the little family dependent on their own resources. Clifford, who had cherished dreams of a course in mechanical engineering, knew that he must give them up and go to the first work that offered itself, which he did staunchly and uncomplainingly. Patty, who hitherto had had no designs on a "career," but had been sunnily content to be a home girl and Mother's right hand, also realized that it would be well to look about her for something to do. She was not really needed so far as the work of the little house went, and the whole burden must not be allowed to fall on Clifford's eighteen-year-old shoulders. Patty was his senior by a year, and ready to do her part unflinchingly."

But Clifford missed his train, so Patty went instead to interview the politician.

"Mr. Reefer proceeded to tell her, and Patty's pencil flew as she scribbled down his terse, pithy sentences. She found herself asking questions too, and enjoying it. For the first time, Patty thought she might rather like politics if she understood them-and they did not seem so hard to understand when a man like Mr. Reefer explained them. For half an hour he talked to her, and at the end of that time Patty was in full possession of his opinion on the famous railroad bill in all its aspects.

""There now, I'm talked out," said Mr. Reefer. "You can tell your news editor that you know as much about the railroad bill as Andrew Reefer knows. I hope you'll succeed in pleasing him , and that your brother will get the position he wants. But he shouldn't have missed that train. You tell him that. Boys with important things to do mustn't miss trains. Perhaps it's just as well he did in this case though, but tell him not to let it happen again.""

Patty went to the Chronicle office with the interview notes.

""Oh," cried Patty breathlessly, "please, Mr. Harmer, I have the interview here. I thought perhaps I could do it in Clifford's place, and I went out to Mr. Reid's and saw Mr. Reefer. He was very kind and-"

""Mr. who?" fairly shouted Mr. Harmer.

""Mr. Reefer-Mr. Andrew Reefer. He told me to tell you that this article contained all he knew or thought about the railroad bill and-"

"But Mr. Harmer was no longer listening. He had snatched the neatly written sheets of Patty's report and was skimming over them with a practised eye. Then Patty thought he must have gone crazy. He danced around the office, waving the sheets in the air, and then he dashed frantically up the stairs to the composing room.

"Ten minutes later, he returned and shook the mystified Patty by the hand.

""Patty, it's the biggest beat we've ever had! We've scooped not only the Ledger, but every other newspaper in the country. How did you do it? How did you ever beguile or bewitch Andrew Reefer into giving you an interview?""

She told him.

""It wasn't Andrew Reefer I told Clifford to interview," laughed Mr. Harmer. "It was John C. Keefe. I didn't know Reefer was in town, but even if I had I wouldn't have thought it a particle of use to send a man to him. He has never consented to be interviewed before on any known subject, and he's been especially close-mouthed about this bill, although men from all the big papers in the country have been after him. He is notorious on that score . Why, Patty, it's the biggest journalistic fish that has ever been landed in this office. Andrew Reefer's opinion on the bill will have a tremendous influence. We'll run the interview as a leader in a special edition that is under way already. Of course, he must have been ready to give the information to the public or nothing would have induced him to open his mouth. But to think that we should be the first to get it! Patty, you're a brick!""

Clifford returned.

""Now, Patty, don't scold until you hear why I missed the train. I met Mr. Peabody of the Steel and Iron Company at Mr. Moreland's and got into conversation with him. When he found out who I was, he was greatly interested and said Father had been one of his best friends when they were at college together. I told him about wanting to get the position in the company, and he had me go right out to the works and see about it. And, Patty, I have the place. Goodbye to the grind of newspaper items and fillers . I tried to get back to the station at Bancroft in time to catch the train but I couldn't, and it was just as well, for Mr. Keefe was suddenly summoned home this afternoon, and when the three-thirty train from town stopped at Bancroft he was on it. I found that out and I got on, going to the next station with him and getting my interview after all. It's here in my notebook, and I must hurry up to the office and hand it in. I suppose Mr. Harmer will be very much vexed until he finds that I have it.""

She told him.

"The next day Mr. Harmer sent word to Patty that he wanted to see her.

""So Clifford is leaving," he said abruptly when she entered the office. "Well, do you want his place?"

""Mr. Harmer, are you joking?" demanded Patty in amazement.

""Not I. That stuff you handed in was splendidly written-I didn't have to use the pencil more than once or twice. You have the proper journalist instinct all right. We need a lady on the staff anyhow, and if you'll take the place it's yours for saying so, and the permanency next month."

""I'll take it," said Patty promptly and joyfully.

""Good. Go down to the Symphony Club rehearsal this afternoon and report it. You've just ten minutes to get there," and Patty joyfully and promptly departed."

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95. Anna's Love Letters

Anna had no intention of keeping her promise to wait for Gilbert, so Alma wrote to him instead, and he came home to find the truth and realised hed loved Alma all along, however much dazzled by Anna.

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96. Aunt Caroline's Silk Dress

"For five years, ever since her mother's death, Carry had supported herself and Patty by dressmaking. They had been a hard five years of pinching and economizing and going without, for Enderby was only a small place, and there were two other dressmakers. Then there was always the mortgage to devour everything. Carry had kept it at bay till now, but at last she was conquered. She had had typhoid fever in the spring and had not been able to work for a long time. Indeed, she had gone to work before she should. The doctor's bill was yet unpaid, but Dr. Hamilton had told her to take her time. Carry knew she would not be pressed for that, and next year Patty would be able to help her. But next year would be too late. The dear little home would be lost then."

Carry made over her dress for Patty for a party, and Patty came inspired from it, telling Carry how to make over the dress that aunt Caroline had given her, to wear for her friend's wedding. In the process she discovered a note from aunt Caroline, and a hundred dollars she'd hidden in the dress to give Carry secretly. Carry and Patty had their problem solved.

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August 24, 2020 - August 25, 2020.
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97. Aunt Susanna's Thanksgiving Dinner.

The girls hoped to impress aunt Susanna, who was critical of their various talents and suspicious of their occupations, but she needed them to cook for her guests for thanksgiving. They managed, but the neighbours impish children tricked them into thinking one was falling into the well, and they ran out to save him, while the dog got into the dinner. So they ran home and brought their own dinner, and aunt Susanna was pleased.

"Aunt Susanna came down the next day and told Margaret that she would send her to college. Also she commissioned Laura to paint her a water-color for her dining-room and said she'd pay her five dollars for it.

"Kate and I were rather left out in the cold in this distribution of favors, but when you come to reflect that Laura and Magsie had really cooked that dinner, it was only just.

"Anyway, Aunt Susanna has never since insinuated that we can't cook, and that is as much as we deserve."

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August 25, 2020 - August 25, 2020.
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98. By Grace of Julius Caesar

The two cousins were asked as usual to go round with subscription lists, this time for cushions for church pews.

"Isaac was a well-to-do old bachelor who had never had any notion of getting married until his sister died in the winter. And then, as soon as the spring planting was over, he began to look round for a wife. He came to me first and I said "No" good and hard. I liked Isaac well enough; but I was snug and comfortable, and didn't feel like pulling up my roots and moving into another lot; besides, Isaac's courting seemed to me a shade too business-like. I can't get along without a little romance; it's my nature.

"Isaac was disappointed and said so, but intimated that it wasn't crushing and that the next best would do very well. The next best was Melissa, and he proposed to her after the decent interval of a fortnight. Melissa also refused him. I admit I was surprised at this, for I knew Melissa was rather anxious to marry; but she has always been down on Isaac Appleby, from principle, because of a family feud on her mother's side; besides, an old beau of hers, a widower at Kingsbridge, was just beginning to take notice again, and I suspected Melissa had hopes concerning him. Finally, I imagine Melissa did not fancy being second choice."

They went to his house, but when the dog came charging they climbed the ladder and sat on the roof until Isaac came.

""Won't you call off your dog and let us get down, Isaac?" I said pleadingly.

"Isaac stood and reflected for a moment or two. Then he came slowly forward and , before we realized what he was going to do, he took that ladder down and laid it on the ground.

""Isaac Appleby, what do you mean?" demanded Melissa wrathfully.

""I mean that you two women will stay up on that roof until one of you agrees to marry me," said Isaac solemnly."

"But it was the thunderstorm that decided me. When I saw it coming up, black and quick, from the northwest, I gave in at once. I had endured a good deal and was prepared to endure more; but I had paid ten dollars for my hat and I was not going to have it ruined by a thunderstorm. I called to Isaac and out he came.

""If you will let us down and promise to dispose of that dog before I come here I will marry you, Isaac," I said, "but I'll make you sorry for it afterwards, though.""

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99. By the Rule of Contrary

""Madge," said Miss Susan solemnly, but with dancing eyes, "do you know how to drive a pig? Just try to make it go in the opposite direction and it will bolt the way you want it. Remember that, my dear.""

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100. Fair Exchange and No Robbery

""Oh," sighed Edith happily, "it is almost too good to be true." "It is really providentially ordered, isn't it?" said Katherine. "Ned and I would never have got on together in the world, and you and Sidney would have bored each other to death. As it is, there will be four perfectly happy people instead of four miserable ones. I'll tell Ned so tomorrow.""

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101. Four Winds

"The young women he knew in Rexton, whose simple, pleasant friendship he valued, had the placid, domestic charm of their own sweet-breathed, windless orchards. Lynde Oliver had the fascination of the lake shore-wild, remote, untamed-the lure of the wilderness and the primitive. There was nothing more personal in his thought of her, and yet when he recalled Isabel King's sneer he felt an almost personal resentment."

Beautiful, haunting story. Here the familiar theme us that of a lookalike of the dreaded hysband, and the thereby thwarted love of the beautiful wife for someone good, all cleared when the identity of the stranger is revealed along with confirmation of death of the husband.

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102. Marcella's Reward

"If they were not so desperately poor! Marcella's bitterness overflowed her soul at the thought. Everywhere around her were evidences of wealth-wealth often lavishly and foolishly spent-and she could not get money enough anywhere to save her sister's life! She almost felt that she hated all those smiling, well-dressed people who thronged the streets. By the time she reached the store, poor Marcella's heart was seething with misery and resentment.

"Three years before, when Marcella had been sixteen and Patty nine, their parents had died, leaving them absolutely alone in the world except for their father's half-sister, Miss Gibson, who lived in Canning and earned her livelihood washing and mending for the hands employed in the big factory nearby. She had grudgingly offered the girls a home, which Marcella had accepted because she must. She obtained a position in one of the Canning stores at three dollars a week, out of which she contrived to dress herself and Patty and send the latter to school. Her life for three years was one of absolute drudgery, yet until now she had never lost courage, but had struggled bravely on, hoping for better times in the future when she should get promotion and Patty would be old enough to teach school.

"But now Marcella's courage and hopefulness had gone out like a spent candle. She was late at the store, and that meant a fine; her head ached, and her feet felt like lead as she climbed the stairs to her department-a hot, dark, stuffy corner behind the shirtwaist counter. It was warm and close at any time, but today it was stifling, and there was already a crowd of customers, for it was the day of a bargain sale. The heat and noise and chatter got on Marcella's tortured nerves. She felt that she wanted to scream , but instead she turned calmly to a waiting customer-a big, handsome, richly dressed woman. Marcella noted with an ever-increasing bitterness that the woman wore a lace collar the price of which would have kept Patty in the country for a year."

Again, there's a very satisfying solution.

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103. Margaret's Patient

"Margaret Campbell had been an orphan ever since she could remember. She had been brought up by a distant relative of her father's-that is, she had been given board, lodging, some schooling and indifferent clothes for the privilege of working like a little drudge in the house of the grim cousin who sheltered her. The death of this cousin flung Margaret on her own resources. A friend had procured her employment as the "companion" of a rich, eccentric old lady, infirm of health and temper. Margaret lived with her for five years, and to the young girl they seemed treble the time. Her employer was fault-finding, peevish, unreasonable, and many a time Margaret's patience almost failed her-almost, but not quite. In the end it brought her a more tangible reward than sometimes falls to the lot of the toiler. Mrs. Constance died, and in her will she left to Margaret her little up-country cottage and enough money to provide her an income for the rest of her life.

"Margaret took immediate possession of her little house and, with the aid of a capable old servant, soon found herself very comfortable. She realized that her days of drudgery were over, and that henceforth life would be a very different thing from what it had been. Margaret meant to have "a good time." She had never had any pleasure and now she was resolved to garner in all she could of the joys of existence.

""I'm not going to do a single useful thing for a year," she had told Mrs. Boyd gaily. "Just think of it-a whole delightful year of vacation, to go and come at will, to read, travel, dream, rest. After that, I mean to see if I can find something to do for other folks, but I'm going to have this one golden year. And the first thing in it is our trip to Vancouver. I'm so glad I have the chance to go with you. It's a wee bit short notice, but I'll be ready when you want to start."

"Altogether, Margaret felt pretty well satisfied with life as she tripped blithely down the country road between the ranks of snow-laden spruces, with the blue sky above and the crisp, exhilarating air all about. There was only one drawback, but it was a pretty serious one.

"It's so lonely by spells, Margaret sometimes thought wistfully. All the joys my good fortune has brought me can't quite fill my heart. There's always one little empty, aching spot. Oh, if I had somebody of my very own to love and care for, a mother, a sister , even a cousin. But there's nobody. I haven't a relative in the world, and there are times when I'd give almost anything to have one. Well, I must try to be satisfied with friendship, instead."

But Dr Forbes told her about a patient she was needed to nurse, and her conscience made her do it; they were first cousins, it turned out.

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104. Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves

Wonder if this story is the little seed that the Anne series grew from!

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105. Missy's Room

"Late that night, when Missy had fallen asleep in her improvised bed, the wakeful mother crept in to gloat over her.

""Just to think," she whispered, "if I hadn't taken Camilla Clark in, Missy wouldn't have heard me telling about the room, and she'd have gone away again and never have known. Oh, I don't deserve such a blessing when I was so unwilling to take Camilla! But I know one thing: this is going to be Camilla's home. There'll be no leaving it even when she does get well. She shall be my daughter, and I'll love her next to Missy.""

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August 26, 2020 - August 26, 2020.
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106. Ted's Afternoon Off

Ted was hoping to go to a picnic, but consented instead to sit with Jimmy who wasn't well, and played his violin - and the maestro who'd come to visit his nurse heard him, recognising genius, and not only gave him lessons while he was there, but also finally got Ted to stay with him to grow and learn.

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107. The Doctor's Sweetheart

"Marcella was only eight years old when she came to live in Bridgeport. Her father, Chester Barry, had just died. Her mother, who was a sister of Miss Sara Bryant, my next door neighbor, had been dead for four years. Marcella's father left her to the guardianship of his brother, Richard Barry; but Miss Sara pleaded so hard to have the little girl that the Barrys consented to let Marcella live with her aunt until she was sixteen. Then, they said, she would have to go back to them, to be properly educated and take the place of her father's daughter in his world. For, of course, it is a fact that Miss Sara Bryant's world was and is a very different one from Chester Barry's world. As to which side the difference favors, that isn't for me to say. It all depends on your standard of what is really worth while, you know.

"So Marcella came to live with us in Bridgeport. I say "us" advisedly. She slept and ate in her aunt's house, but every house in the village was a home to her; for, with all our little disagreements and diverse opinions, we are really all one big family, and everybody feels an interest in and a good working affection for everybody else. Besides , Marcella was one of those children whom everybody loves at sight, and keeps on loving. One long, steady gaze from those big grayish-blue black-lashed eyes of hers went right into your heart and stayed there.

"She was a pretty child and as good as she was pretty. It was the right sort of goodness, too, with just enough spice of original sin in it to keep it from spoiling by reason of over-sweetness. She was a frank, loyal, brave little thing, even at eight, and wouldn't have said or done a mean or false thing to save her life.

"She and I were right good friends from the beginning. She loved me and she loved her Aunt Sara; but from the very first her best and deepest affection went out to Doctor John Haven, who lived in the big brick house on the other side of Miss Sara's."

"Doctor John was always a quiet, bookish fellow , who didn't care a button for society, and had never been guilty of a flirtation in his life. I knew Doctor John's heart far better than Martha Riddell could know anybody's ; and I knew there was nothing of the old bachelor in his nature. He just had to wait for the right woman, that was all, not being able to content himself with less as some men can and do. If she never came Doctor John would never marry; but he wouldn't be an old bachelor for all that.

"He was thirty when Marcella came to Bridgeport -a tall, broad-shouldered man with a mane of thick brown curls and level, dark hazel eyes. He walked with a little stoop, his hands clasped behind him; and he had the sweetest, deepest voice. Spoken music, if ever a voice was. He was kind and brave and gentle, but a little distant and reserved with most people. Everybody in Bridgeport liked him , but only a very few ever passed the inner gates of his confidence or were admitted to any share in his real life. I am proud to say I was one; I think it is something for an old woman to boast of.

"Doctor John was always fond of children, and they of him. It was natural that he and little Marcella should take to each other. He had the most to do with bringing her up, for Miss Sara consulted him in everything. Marcella was not hard to manage for the most part; but she had a will of her own, and when she did set it up in opposition to the powers that were, nobody but the doctor could influence her at all; she never resisted him or disobeyed his wishes.

"Marcella was one of those girls who develop early. I suppose her constant association with us elderly folks had something to do with it, too. But, at fifteen, she was a woman, loving, beautiful, and spirited.

"And Doctor John loved her-loved the woman, not the child. I knew it before he did-but not, as I think, before Marcella did, for those young, straight-gazing eyes of hers were wonderfully quick to read into other people's hearts. I watched them together and saw the love growing between them, like a strong, fair, perfect flower, whose fragrance was to endure for eternity. Miss Sara saw it, too, and was half-pleased and half-worried; even Miss Sara thought the Doctor too old for Marcella; and besides, there were the Barrys to be reckoned with. Those Barrys were the nightmare dread of poor Miss Sara's life."

"When the doctor wrote to Richard Barry, Marcella's guardian, asking his consent to their engagement, Richard Barry promptly made trouble-the very worst kind of trouble. He descended on Bridgeport and completely overwhelmed poor Miss Sara in his wrath. He laughed at the idea of countenancing an engagement between a child like Marcella and an obscure country doctor. And he carried Marcella off with him!"

""It is goodbye for five years, Miss Tranquil," she said steadily. "When I am twenty-one I will come back. That is the only promise I can make. They will not let me write to John or Aunt Sara and I will do nothing underhanded. But I will not forget and I will come back.""

And she did, to the surprise of all but two - Dr John, and the other neighbour of her aunt.

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108. The End of the Young Family Feud

The nieces went to the old Young home because thats where the stationmaster directed them, and thus surprised the uncle.

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109. The Genesis of the Doughnut Club

One of the boys brought his uncle to her farewell Thanksgiving dinner, and he, the railroad tycoon, proposed she take charge of the restaurant they wanted in the out West growing town, with good home cooking. So she didnt have to return East after all.

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110. The Girl Who Drove the Cows

""Well, I am going to try to get acquainted with that girl," said Pauline resolutely . "She looks nice and jolly."

""I don't know where you get your low tastes from," groaned Mrs. Wallace. "I'm sure it wasn't from your poor mother. What do you suppose the Morgan Knowles would think if they saw you taking up with some tomboy girl on a farm?"

""I don't see why it should make a great deal of difference what they would think, since they don't seem to be aware of my existence, or even of yours, Aunty," said Pauline, with twinkling eyes. She knew it was her aunt's dearest desire to get in with the Morgan Knowles' "set"-a desire that seemed as far from being realized as ever. Mrs. Wallace could never understand why the Morgan Knowles shut her from their charmed circle. They certainly associated with people much poorer and of more doubtful worldly station than hers-the Markhams, for instance, who lived on an unfashionable street and wore quite shabby clothes. Just before she had left Colchester, Mrs. Wallace had seen Mrs. Knowles and Mrs. Markham together in the former's automobile. James Wallace and Morgan Knowles were associated in business dealings; but in spite of Mrs. Wallace's schemings and aspirations and heart burnings, the association remained a purely business one and never advanced an inch in the direction of friendship.

"As for Pauline, she was hopelessly devoid of social ambitions and she did not in the least mind the Morgan Knowles' remote attitude."

Pauline made friends with Ada Cameron, and her photograph brought Mrs Knowles asking pauline who it was.

""Well, who would ever have supposed that a girl who drove cows to pasture was connected with the Morgan Knowles?" said poor Aunt Olivia piteously."

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111. The Growing Up of Cornelia

Adorable love story.

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112. The Old Fellow's Letter

A prank by schoolboys resulted in a couple in love finally admit to each other so, and get engaged, to the surprise of the boys.

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August 27, 2020 - August 27, 2020.
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113. The Parting of The Ways

""Wasn't there some talk about Mrs. Longworth and Cunningham last winter?" asked the other.

""Yes. They were much together. Still, there may have been nothing wrong. She was old Judge Carmody's daughter, you know. Longworth got Carmody under his thumb in money matters and put the screws on. They say he made Carmody's daughter the price of the old man's redemption. The girl herself was a mere child, I shall never forget her face on her wedding day. But she's been plucky since then, I must say. If she has suffered, she hasn't shown it. I don't suppose Longworth ever ill-treats her. He isn't that sort. He's simply a grovelling cad-that's all. Nobody would sympathise much with the poor devil if his wife did run off with Cunningham.""

But meanwhile, there was a boy who adored her and would be devastated if she did, so she changed her plan, even though the boy and she werent related socially or romantically.

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114. The Promissory Note

"Life seemed good to Ernest just then. Mr. White had given him a rise in salary that day, and had told him that he was satisfied with him. Mr. White was not easy to please in the matter of clerks, and it had been with fear and trembling that Ernest had gone into his store six months before. He had thought himself fortunate to secure such a chance. His father had died the preceding year, leaving nothing in the way of worldly goods except the house he had lived in. For several years before his death he had been unable to do much work, and the finances of the little family had dwindled steadily. After his father's death Ernest, who had been going to school and expecting to go to college, found that he must go to work at once instead to support himself and his mother."

He was doing well and White planned to take him as partner, but meanwhile Jacob Patterdon found a promissory note by his father and insisted on being paid; he'd inherited his brother's property and found the note that should have been destroyed, since it was blotted and his brother had immediately made another and it had been paid subsequently. But they couldn't find it, so they had to sell the house and rent a small place. Moreover they had to take in two boys orphaned when their father died.

On Ernest's birthday the boys gave him gifts, one being a book that had belonged to their father, who had been a friend of Ernest's father, and in that book Ernest found the missing note. They showed it, and got their house back.

""We can't be too good to them, Mother," said Ernest. "We really owe all our happiness to them."

""Yes, but, Ernest, if you had not consented to take the homeless little lads in their time of need this wouldn't have come about."

""I've been well rewarded , Mother," said Ernest quietly, "but, even if nothing of the sort had happened, I would be glad that I did the best I could for Frank and Danny. I'm ashamed to think that I was unwilling to do it at first. If it hadn't been for what you said, I wouldn't have. So it is your unselfishness we have to thank for it all, Mother dear.""

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115. The Revolt of Mary Isabel

Louisa locked out Mary Isabel the first time she had disagreed and not given in, and the rain would have ruined her new dress and hst, so Mary Isabel ran to Dr Hamilton, and as a result they got married since his nephew was a minister and was home with him.

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116. The Twins and a Wedding

The twins wanted to go to a cousin's wedding, but the parents left them at home; the twins set off on their own, but the conductor got them off ten miles before at another station, and a couple about to be separated got married instead because the twins desperately wanted to see a wedding.

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117. A Golden Wedding

Lovell had come to visit the couple who had taken him in as a boy, but used all his savings to buy them back their house and belongings when he heard they were in poorhouse, and so they had a golden wedding celebration at home.

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118. A Redeeming Sacrifice

Paul King heard the men talking about him being worthless scamp, and agreed, but their judgement about him ruining Joan Shelley's life shook him. He loved her, and didn't want to change, so he got himself on crew of a schooner going out to South America.

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119. A Soul That Was Not at Home

This story has a young boy talking of "rock people", and could be genesis of one incorporated in the Anne series. There he's a student of Anne with a father who's united through the son and Anne with his first love; here a stranger that Miss Trevor discovers on the shore, and wishes to adopt and bring up and send to school, except hes overcome by homesickness for the life he's lived in unison with sea and stars. The theme of an abandoned and recaptured first love is here too, but in form of Stephen who is bringing up the boy alone, his mother having died soon after returning to the cove as a widow, and her love only for the man she had married in the first place.

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120. Abel and His Great Adventure

""I think I'll come often," I said, "perhaps too often."

""Not likely, master-not likely-not after we've watched a moonrise contentedly together. It's as good a test of compatibility as any I know. You're young and I'm old, but our souls are about the same age, I reckon, and we'll find lots to say to each other. Are you going straight home from here?"

""Yes."

""Then I'm going to bother you to stop for a moment at Mary Bascom's and give her a bouquet of my white lilacs. She loves 'em and I'm not going to wait till she's dead to send her flowers."

""She's very ill just now, isn't she?"

""She's got the Bascom consumption. That means she may die in a month, like her brother, or linger on for twenty years, like her father. But long or short, white lilac in spring is sweet, and I'm sending her a fresh bunch every day while it lasts. It's a rare night, master. I envy you your walk home in the moonlight along that shore."

""Better come part of the way with me," I suggested.

""No." Abel glanced at the house. "Tamzine never likes to be alone o' nights. So I take my moonlight walks in the garden. The moon's a great friend of mine, master. I've loved her ever since I can remember. When I was a little lad of eight I fell asleep in the garden one evening and wasn't missed. I woke up alone in the night and I was most scared to death, master. Lord, what shadows and queer noises there were! I darsn't move. I just sat there quaking, poor small mite. Then all at once I saw the moon looking down at me through the pine boughs, just like an old friend. I was comforted right off. Got up and walked to the house as brave as a lion, looking at her. Goodnight, master. Tell Mary the lilacs'll last another week yet.""

"He never preached, but he radiated courage and endurance and a frank acceptance of the hard things of life, as well as a cordial welcome of its pleasant things. He was the sanest soul I ever met. He neither minimized ill nor exaggerated good, but he held that we should never be controlled by either. Pain should not depress us unduly, nor pleasure lure us into forgetfulness and sloth. All unknowingly he made me realize that I had been a bit of a coward and a shirker. I began to understand that my personal woes were not the most important things in the universe, even to myself. In short, Abel taught me to laugh again; and when a man can laugh wholesomely things are not going too badly with him.

"That old garden was always such a cheery place. Even when the east wind sang in minor and the waves on the gray shore were sad, hints of sunshine seemed to be lurking all about it. Perhaps this was because there were so many yellow flowers in it. Tamzine liked yellow flowers. Captain Kidd, too, always paraded it in panoply of gold. He was so large and effulgent that one hardly missed the sun. Considering his presence I wondered that the garden was always so full of singing birds. But the Captain never meddled with them. Probably he understood that his master would not have tolerated it for a moment. So there was always a song or a chirp somewhere. Overhead flew the gulls and the cranes. The wind in the pines always made a glad salutation. Abel and I paced the walks, in high converse on matters beyond the ken of cat or king."

"Summer passed through the garden with her procession of roses and lilies and hollyhocks and golden glow. The golden glow was particularly fine that year. There was a great bank of it at the lower end of the garden, like a huge billow of sunshine. Tamzine revelled in it, but Abel liked more subtly-tinted flowers. There was a certain dark wine-hued hollyhock which was a favourite with him. He would sit for hours looking steadfastly into one of its shallow satin cups. I found him so one afternoon in the hop-vine arbour."

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121. Akin To Love

"Josephine set the table with her mother's wedding china. She used it because it was the anniversary of her mother's wedding day, but David thought it was out of compliment to him."

She refused him again, but had to go help when he and Zillah were both sick, and the fortnight she spent taking care of the house hsd her reverse her decision.

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August 27, 2020 - August 28, 2020.
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122. Aunt Philippa and the Men

"Old John Fenwick was not much better pleased about Mark and me than Father was, though he didn't go to the length of forbidding it; he just acted grumpily and disagreeably. Things were unpleasant enough all round without a quarrel between Mark and me; yet quarrel we did-and over next to nothing, too, you understand. And now I had to set out for Prince Edward Island without even seeing him, for he was away in Toronto on business."

"Aunt Philippa looked at me out of the corner of her eye and disdained any skirmish of flippant epigram.

""So you want to get married?" she said. "You'd better wait till you're grown up.""

""There's a man you don't want to have much to do with," she said portentously. "He's a Methodist minister."

""Why, Auntie, the Methodists are a very nice denomination," I protested. "My stepmother is a Methodist, you know."

""No, I didn't know, but I'd believe anything of a stepmother. I've no use for Methodists or their ministers. This fellow just came last spring, and it's my opinion he smokes. And he thinks every girl who looks at him falls in love with him-as if a Methodist minister was any prize! Don't you take much notice of him, Ursula."

""I'll not be likely to have the chance," I said, with an amused smile.

""Oh, you'll see enough of him. He boards at Mrs. John Callman's, just across the road from us, and he's always out sunning himself on her verandah. Never studies, of course. Last Sunday they say he preached on the iron that floated. If he'd confine himself to the Bible and leave sensational subjects alone it would be better for him and his poor congregation, and so I told Mrs. John Callman to her face. I should think she would have had enough of his sex by this time. She married John Callman against her father's will, and he had delirious trembles for years. That's the men for you.""

"There's the Presbyterian manse in the hollow. Mr. Bentwell's our minister. He's a good man and he'd be a rather nice one if he didn't think it was his duty to be a little miserable all the time. He won't let his wife wear a fashionable hat, and his daughter can't fix her hair the way she wants to. Even being a minister can't prevent a man from being a crank. Here's Ebenezer Milgrave coming. You take a good look at him. He used to be insane for years. He believed he was dead and used to rage at his wife because she wouldn't bury him. I'd a-done it.""

But when Mark wrote to say he had to leave for South Africa so she had to marry him in three weeks in halifax if she wanted to, it was Aunt Philippa who told her the wedding would be at her home, and arranged a big one.

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August 28, 2020 - August 28, 2020.
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123. Bessie's Doll

Miss Octavia was surprised when she returned to find her garden not destroyed by frost, and was more surprised it was because Tommy took care of it. She asked him if she could do something for him, and was again surprised he wanted a doll for the pining Bessie, but she had exactly the one, and gave it. Bessie improved and meanwhile Miss Octavia arranged an apprenticeship for Tommy in her brother's flower shop.

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124. Charlotte's Ladies

Little Charlotte discovered two gaps in the fence of the asylum and two ladies she liked, and became the means of reuniting a pair of estranged sisters when bith came to adopt her.

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125. Christmas at Red Butte

Lovely story, with a reunion.

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126. How We Went to the Wedding

The story of a sojourn through prairie invorporates an incident - about visiting a friend who seems to have gone away, using the house by getting in through a kitchen window, and waking up next morning to find that the house belongs to complete strangers - thats used elsewhere in the Anne series. The following quoted is used, almost verbatim, except for change of names, in that story as well.

"If they had been nice to us, Kate would probably have gone on feeling confused and ashamed. But when they were so disagreeable she quickly regained her self-possession. She sat up again and said in her haughtiest voice, "I do not know when you were born, or where, but it must have been somewhere where very peculiar manners were taught. If you will have the decency to leave our room-this room-until we can get up and dress we will not transgress upon your hospitality" (Kate put a most satirical emphasis on that word) "any longer. And we shall pay you amply for the food we have eaten and the night's lodging we have taken."

"The black-and-white apparition went through the motion of clapping her hands, but not a sound did she make. Whether he was cowed by Kate's tone, or appeased by the prospect of payment, I know not, but Mr. Chapman spoke more civilly. "Well, that's fair. If you pay up it's all right."

""They shall do no such thing as pay you," said Madam Black-and-White in a surprisingly clear, resolute, authoritative voice. "If you haven't any shame for yourself, Robert Chapman, you've got a mother-in-law who can be ashamed for you. No strangers shall be charged for food or lodging in any house where Mrs. Matilda Pitman lives. Remember that I've come down in the world, but I haven't forgot all decency for all that. I knew you was a skinflint when Amelia married you and you've made her as bad as yourself. But I'm boss here yet. Here, you, Robert Chapman, take yourself out of here and let those girls get dressed. And you, Amelia, go downstairs and cook a breakfast for them.""

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127. Jessamine

Jessamine had to live with the brother in town after her country home was gone, and was wilting until the vegetable man's young nephew cam in his stead one day and noticed her.

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128. Miss Sally's Letter

"Miss Sally could speak very graciously when she chose, even to men. You would not have thought she hated them , but she did. In all sincerity, too. Also, she had brought her niece up to hate and distrust them. Or, she had tried to do so. But at times Miss Sally was troubled with an uncomfortable suspicion that Joyce did not hate and distrust men quite as thoroughly as she ought. The suspicion had recurred several times this summer since Willard Stanley had come to take charge of the biological station at the harbour. Miss Sally did not distrust Willard on his own account. She merely distrusted him on principle and on Joyce's account. Nevertheless, she was rather nice to him. Miss Sally, dear, trim, dainty Miss Sally, with her snow-white curls and her big girlish black eyes, couldn't help being nice, even to a man.

"Willard had come a great deal to Miss Sally's. If it were Joyce he were after Miss Sally blocked his schemes with much enjoyment. He never saw Joyce alone-that Miss Sally knew of, at least-and he did not make much apparent headway. But now all danger was removed, Miss Sally thought. He was going to be married to somebody else, and Joyce was safe."

One expects early on that Willard is to marry Joyce, but the twists sre unexpected, and its a beautiful story of love and more.

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August 28, 2020 - August 29, 2020.
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129. My Lady Jane

This begins with a theme from a story earlier in this collection, about two people who look identical enough to confuse most people. Here the two are cousins, both adult, unlike the earlier story where they were schoolgirls who became fast friends after meeting. There, it was the substitute who was discovered a relative of someone at the party, while here its a love story gone sur that promises to right itself, and the reader knows why before the protagonist does.

"Jane here! Jane going out to dinner with me, believing me to be Clark Oliver! Jane-but it was incredible! The whole thing was a dream-or I had gone crazy!

"I looked at her sideways when we had got into our places at the table. She was more beautiful than ever, that tall, brown-haired, disdainful Jane. The settlement work story I was inclined to dismiss as a myth. Settlement work in a beautiful woman generally means crowsfeet or a broken heart. Jane, according to my sight and belief, possessed neither.

"Once upon a time I had been engaged to Jane. I had been idiotically in love with her in those days and still more idiotically believed that she loved me. The trouble was that, although I had been cured of the latter phase of my idiocy, the former had become chronic. I had never been able to get over loving Jane. All through those two years I had hugged the fond hope that sometime I might stumble across her in a mild mood and make matters up. There was no such thing as seeking her out or writing to her, since she had icily forbidden me to do so , and Jane had a most detestable habit-in a woman-of meaning what she said. But the deity I had invoked was the god of chance-and this was how he had answered my prayers. I was eating my dinner beside Jane, who supposed me to be Clark Oliver!"

Delightful story, especially the conversation that follows, and the ending.

"Clark Oliver couldn't come to our wedding-or wouldn't. Jane has never met him since, but she cannot understand why I have such an aversion to him, especially when he has such a good opinion of me. She says she thought him charming, and one of the most interesting conversationalists she ever went out to dinner with."

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August 29, 2020 - August 29, 2020.
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130. Robert Turner's Revenge

""There goes my revenge-and a fine bit of property eminently suited for a summer residence-all for a bit of old, rusty sentiment," he said with a shrug. "I didn't suppose I was capable of such a mood. But then-little Lisbeth. There never was a sweeter girl. I'm glad I didn't go with the boy to see her. She's an old woman now-and Neil Jameson's widow. I prefer to keep my old memories of her undisturbed-little Lisbeth of the silvery-golden curls and the roguish blue eyes. Little Lisbeth of the old time! I'm glad to be able to have done you the small service of securing your home to you. It is my thanks to you for the friendship and affection you gave my lonely boyhood-my tribute to the memory of my first sweetheart.""

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131. The Fillmore Elderberries

"As he walked homeward his thoughts were very bitter. All Uncle Timothy had said about his father was true, and Ellis realized what a count it was against him in his efforts to obtain employment. Nobody wanted to be bothered with "Old Sam Duncan's son," though nobody had been so brutally outspoken as his Uncle Timothy.

"Sam Duncan and Timothy Robinson had been half-brothers. Sam, the older, had been the son of Mrs. Robinson's former marriage. Never were two lads more dissimilar. Sam was a lazy, shiftless fellow, deserving all the hard things that came to be said of him. He would not work and nobody could depend on him, but he was a handsome lad with rather taking ways in his youth, and at first people had liked him better than the close, blunt, industrious Timothy. Their mother had died in their childhood, but Mr. Robinson had been fond of Sam and the boy had a good home. When he was twenty-two and Timothy eighteen, Mr. Robinson had died very suddenly, leaving no will. Everything he possessed went to Timothy. Sam immediately left. He said he would not stay there to be "bossed" by Timothy.

"He rented a little house in the village, married a girl "far too good for him," and started in to support himself and his wife by days' work. He had lounged, borrowed, and shirked through life. Once Timothy Robinson, perhaps moved by pity for Sam's wife and baby, had hired him for a year at better wages than most hired men received in Dalrymple. Sam idled through a month of it, then got offended and left in the middle of haying. Timothy Robinson washed his hands of him after that."

They met after two months, after Ellis had cleared out elderberry bushes and roots out of Fillmore's pasture.

""Ellis," said his uncle abruptly, after a moment's silence, "I'm going to discharge my man. He's no earthly good. Will you take his place? I'll give you fifteen dollars a month and found."

"Ellis stared at Timothy Robinson. "I thought you told me that you had no place for my father's son," he said slowly.

""I've changed my mind. I've seen how you went at that elderberry job. Great snakes, there couldn't be a better test for anybody than rooting out them things. I know you can work. When Jacob Green told me why you'd refused his offer I knew you could be depended on. You come to me and I'll do well by you. I've no kith or kin of my own except you. And look here, Ellis. I'm tired of hired housekeepers. Will your mother come up and live with us and look after things a bit? I've a good girl, and she won't have to work hard, but there must be somebody at the head of a household. She must have a good headpiece-for you have inherited good qualities from someone, and goodness knows it wasn't from your father."

""Uncle Timothy," said Ellis respectfully but firmly, "I'll accept your offer gratefully, and I am sure Mother will too. But there is one thing I must say. Perhaps my father deserves all you say of him-but he is dead-and if I come to you it must be with the understanding that nothing more is ever to be said against him."

"Timothy Robinson smiled-a queer, twisted smile that yet had a hint of affection and comprehension in it. "Very well," he said. "I'll never cast his shortcomings up to you again. Come to me-and if I find you always as industrious and reliable as you've proved yourself to be negotiating them elders, I'll most likely forget that you ain't my own son some of these days.""

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132. The Finished Story

He'd thought he should leave withought admitting his love to her, even in words, but this had hurt her, not knowing if he cared; it was only when she knew he did thst her hurt was healed.

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133. The Garden of Spices

Aunt Augusta shut up Jims in the blue room, and he dared to escape through the window, climbing over the pine boughs down into the next door gsrden - and became the reason two estranged lovers were united after decades.

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August 29, 2020 - August 30, 2020.
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134. The Girl and the Photograph

He was united by fortunate accident of confusion with the young girl he saw for a few seconds, despite the misunderstanding about photographs and names.

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August 30, 2020 - August 30, 2020.
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135. The Gossip of Valley View

A fourteen year old boy, desperate to fool somebody, made up a story about two people marrying in near future, telling it to someone who never lied - and the village gossip made it come true, after all.

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136. The Letters

About the unwanted only daughter made to feel plain by a despot, loved by the handsome son of the family they were supposed to hate for generations.

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137. The Life-Book of Uncle Jesse

Here's yet another theme repeated in the Anne series, that of an old sailor's true life stories that he tells well but needs, hankars for, another, to pen them for posterity. And the stoty of lost Margaret, too. With only names - and a few of the other unimportant details - changed, this story is half of Anne's House Of Dreams.

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138. The Little Black Doll

This story has a variation in one of the Chronicles of Avonlea, about a great artist visiting someone dying, and the variation being about another theme elsewhere in this collection, the said artist encouraging talent of a young one.

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139. The Man on the Train

"She never would say or listen to a word against Mark Hartwell, and she had only pity for him whom everyone else condemned. With her own trembling hands she wrote him a letter to accompany the money Samuel sent before Hartwell was taken to the penitentiary for life. She thanked him again for his kindness to her and assured him that she knew he was sorry for what he had done and that she would pray for him every night of her life. Mark Hartwell had been hard and defiant enough, but the prison officials told that he cried like a child over Grandma Sheldon's little letter.

""There's nobody all bad," says Grandma when she relates the story. "I used to believe a murderer must be, but I know better now. I think of that poor man often and often. He was so kind and gentle to me-he must have been a good boy once. I write him a letter every Christmas and I send him tracts and papers. He's my own little charity. But I've never been on the cars since and I never will be again. You never can tell what will happen to you or what sort of people you'll meet if you trust yourself on a train.""

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140. The Romance of Jedediah

"Romance cares not for appearances and apparently delights in contradictions. The homely shambling man you pass unnoticed on the street may have, tucked away in his past, a story more exciting and thrilling than anything you have ever read in fiction. So it was, in a measure, with Jedediah; poor, unknown to fame, afflicted with a double chin and bald spot, reduced to driving a tin-wagon for a living, he yet had his romance and he was still romantic."

"The Adams place itself was not unromantic. The house was a large, old-fashioned white one, with green shutters and a front porch with Grecian columns. These were thought very elegant in Amberley. Mrs. Carmody said they gave a house such a classical air. In this instance the classical effect was somewhat smothered in honeysuckle, which rioted over the whole porch and hung in pale yellow, fragrant festoons over the rows of potted scarlet geraniums that flanked the green steps. Beyond the house a low-boughed orchard covered the slope between it and the main road, and behind it there was a revel of colour betokening a flower garden."

"Fifteen years before Jedediah Crane had been Mattie Adams's beau. Jedediah was romantic even then, but, as he was a slim young fellow at the time, with an abundance of fair, curly hair and innocent blue eyes, his romance was rather an attraction than not. At least the then young and pretty Mattie had found it so.

"The Adamses looked with no favour on the match. They were a thrifty, well-to-do folk. As for the Cranes-well, they were lazy and shiftless, for the most part. It would be a mésalliance for an Adams to marry a Crane. Still, it would doubtless have happened-for Mattie, though a meek-looking damsel, had a mind of her own-had it not been for Selena Ford, Mattie's older sister.

"Selena, people said, had married James Ford for no other reason than that his house commanded a view of nearly every dooryard in Amberley. This may or may not have been sheer malice. Certainly nothing that went on in the Adams yard escaped Selena.

"She watched Mattie and Jed in the moonlight one night. She saw Jed kiss Mattie. It was the first time he had ever done so-and the last, poor fellow. For Selena swooped down on her parents the next day. Such a storm did she brew up that Mattie was forbidden to speak to Jed again. Selena herself gave Jed a piece of her mind. Jed usually was not afflicted with undue sensitiveness. But he had some slumbering pride at the basis of his character and it was very stubborn when roused. Selena roused it. Jed vowed he would never creep and crawl at the feet of the Adamses, and he went west forthwith, determined, as aforesaid, to make his fortune and hurl Selena's scorn back in her face.

"And now he had come home, driving a tin-wagon. Mattie smiled to think of it. She bore Jed no ill will for his failure. She felt sorry for him and inclined to think that fate had used him hardly -fate and Selena together. Mattie had never had another beau. People thought she was engaged to Jed Crane until her time for beaus went by. Mattie did not mind; she had never liked anybody so well as Jed. To be sure, she had not thought of him for years. It was strange he should come back like this-" romantic," as he said himself."

"When Selena had come over Mattie had not the slightest idea of resuming her former relationship with the romantic Jedediah. She had merely shown him kindness for old friendship's sake. But so well did the unconscious Selena work in Jed's behalf that when she flounced off home in a pet Mattie was resolved that she would take Jed back if he wanted to come. She wasn't going to put up with Selena's everlasting interference. She would show her that she was independent."

And the couple not only courted, but married, all due to Selena.

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141. The Tryst of the White Lady

Roger Temple longed to fall in live with someone beautiful, and vidited the grave of Isabel wh had been seen by several relatives, but the beautiful vision he saw turned out to be living, disappointing him not in beauty but that it should be not Isabel. To his surprise, he discovered he was in love with her, and even more surprisingly, she was friendly with him. It was a matvh despite disparities.

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142. Uncle Richard's New Year's Dinner

"Prissy hurried home, put her matches away, took a regretful peep at her unopened book, then locked the door and started up the road to Uncle Richard's house half a mile away. She meant to go and cook Uncle Richard's dinner for him, get it all beautifully ready, then slip away before he came home. He would never suspect her of it. Prissy would not have him suspect for the world; she thought he would be more likely to throw a dinner of her cooking out of doors than to eat it."

But he came before she had finished setting his table, and this ended the quarrel between brothers.

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143. White Magic

""Oh, what have I done? What have I done?" moaned poor Janet, wringing her hands. She had seen Avery's face quite plainly-had seen the look in her eyes. Avery had never looked at Randall Burnley like that. Granny Thomas' abominable ointment had worked all right-and Avery had fallen in love with the wrong man."

"It was a pallid, dull-eyed Janet who went through the birch wood to the Burnley farm next afternoon, leaving behind her an excited household where the sudden change of bridegrooms, as announced by Avery, had rather upset everybody. Janet found Randall working in the garden of his new house-setting out rosebushes for Avery-Avery, who was to jilt him at the very altar, so to speak. He came over to open the gate for Janet, smiling his dear smile. It was a dear smile-Janet caught her breath over the dearness of it-and she was going to blot it off his face.

"She spoke out, with plainness and directness. When you had to deal a mortal blow, why try to lighten it?

""Avery sent me to tell you that she is going to marry Bruce Gordon instead of you. He came last night-and she says that she has always liked him best."

"A very curious change came over Randall's face-but not the change Janet had expected to see. Instead of turning pale Randall flushed; and instead of a sharp cry of pain and incredulity, Randall said in no uncertain tones, "Thank God!"

"Janet wondered if she were dreaming. Granny Thomas' love potion seemed to have turned the world upside down. For Randall's arms were about her and Randall was pressing his lean bronzed cheek to hers and Randall was saying:

""Now I can tell you, Janet, how much I love you.""

They had a double wedding.

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August 10, 2020 - August 30, 2020.
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Reviews - Books I Read - DRJG

Monday, August 31, 2020

The Short Story Collection (1896-1922): by L. M. Montgomery.

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