332 



MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 



OCT. 9. 



®fo'w ®tafy. 



TO COKNIELE.— A 6ERENADE. 



ABIGAIL WATERS. 



Chapter I, 



And eun then ia the light of hippy heel? 



Lots, hope anil putience— them must be thy gracei 



"On dear! what a long, tireBome day this haa 

 been!" weariiysighed Abigail Waters, the teacher 

 of the country diatrict school, as she eat leaning 

 o?er her desk at the clone of a bright Jane after- 

 noon, when the last noisy urchin had darted like 

 a freed bird ont into the breezy Bhade and 

 shine. " J am glad it is over— I wiah there wi 

 tomorrow just like it," and her head eank down 

 dejectedly. 



What a vexitioun, torturing day that had been 

 to poor, nervosa Abigail, who, with aching head 

 and heart, had been compelled to drag through the 

 arduous routine, yet every day seemed like it- 

 every night ehe was as weary and disgusted with 

 the labor poverty had forced upon her. There had 

 aoarcely been a night in the long two months since 

 she left her invalid father's bed to earn their sab- 

 siBtence with her yoong hand?, that she had not 

 sighed In utter weariness and discouragement, yet 



the teacher f 



goaded on her failing 



of the dependence upon her. 



She never unloosed the burden from her heart 



Bhe carried it from morning until morning and 



what wonder that she staggered beneath It ere 

 Bight She nffered no kind hand to help, or lov- 

 ing voice to encourage her, but struck Into a soli- 

 tary track apart— ao solitary and uninviting that 

 6 would follow her. 



o one in that little country village knuw aught 

 '"iters before her coming to them as 

 ■ the summer term, and the inquisi- 

 ve, who were obliged to s.uisfy their curiosity 

 lerely from their own imaginings, concluded that 

 lie must be very poor or stingy, or she would not 

 wear Bach coarse shoes, and that same brown ging- 

 ham dreBS from day to day— that she must be mar- 

 vellously learned aa she often walked to and from 

 eehool with her eyes on a book— and, to nse the 

 gossip's vulgar parlance, « dreadfully stuck up," as 

 Bhe made no acquaintance with any one, and dis- 

 couraged by her chilling reserve the advances 

 made towards her. Some sentimental yonng ladies 

 regarded her aa love-lorn and he art- frozen— while 

 the children unanimously called her ugly and 

 cross, and drew unfavorable comparisons between 

 their present happiness and that of the summer 

 bofore when Miss Miller was their teaoher. 



Abbt looked round the deserted Bchool-room 

 fealing blissfully relieved by the absence of the 

 noisy throng that had turned her head upside 

 down since their assembling in the morning, it 

 waa delightful to rufsa Peter Graham from his 

 slatternly corner, with ilia great grinning face be- 

 grimed with ink. He was the biggest boy in 

 Bchool and the most troublesome. She had pun- 

 ished him Bevorety that afternoon, and he had 

 Bkulked out of the door before the children were 

 dismissed, ler.ving a frightful profile staring at her 

 from his Bla-e-lier name written most legibly 

 beneath. * 



A bevy of glrU occupied the long littered desk 

 directly opposite Pete Guam's, and she detected 

 at that moment the telegraph of twine established 

 between them. A letter missive still Lung to the 

 cord. It was from Dunv Doubs to Pete, inviting 

 bim to join in a conspiracy which, fortunately for 

 Abbt, his hasty exit made abortive. 



Derby waa the pet daughter of one of the moat 

 influential members of the sohool comniUice, a fat- 

 cheeked, roguish eyed girl, who would dare any. 

 thing find do anything tor a bit of fun. She wa<< 

 thfl acknowledged leader of her merry clique, and, 

 ftlaa for the school ma'am who finds herself in op- 

 position to bo powerful a league. 



■■'■■Hied thedeskaand found a multitude 

 of diapatchea which threw light upon several of 

 the most veiatloua incidents of the day. What 

 could ahe do with such a force battling against 

 herT More wretched and disheartened than be- 

 fore, B he threw down the rebellions diapatchea, and 

 P^ting on her bonnet withdrew fi , 

 wiping the old wish, that she might never enter it 



There waa a pretty spot on that meadow path 

 where she always read her letters from home. It 

 was where tiro little brook went laughing through 

 a clump of maples and sumach, very much aa the 

 little brook did back of her sick father's noose- 

 It was a quiet spot where she could let her tears 

 fall plentifully and unrestrained, without fear of 

 an Intrusive step upon the solitude. She frequent- 

 ly paused there on her way from school, sometimes 

 forgetting herself wiih a favorite author, but often- 

 er forgetting the flight of time in brooding over 

 her own isolated loneliness. 



The letter brought sad tidings, although it 

 breathed so much christian patience and cheerf al- 

 oes*, the Efflictiog hand rested lighter on Abigail's 

 sore heart than it otherwise would. Her father 

 waa no better. She should not have been kept 

 anxiety so long, but he was unable to write. P 

 haps it would please his good father to take h 

 before long to the blessed land where they shall 

 more say, " I am alck." * * Abbt waa a go 

 child — Heaven would blesa her. He waa not t 

 mindful that her own needs would soon make t 

 mand on her small salary, and he was sorry that he 

 must again request an advance of her wages. Thi 

 mother was in poor health — unable to leave hei 

 bed, but Abbt must not fret about it for the doctoi 

 said her sickness would not prove serious if sht 

 ■old be tenderly nursed for awhile. Nettii 

 BAGUE would come and assist them for a fort- 

 ght or more, at leas wages than they coul 

 tain any one else. She had already been with 

 them a week, and could Amrt forward before the 

 close of the week the letter that would pay her for 

 her kind and filial like attention? 



out shoes, think- 

 ing they must now last her a month or two longer, 

 did she yield to the sorrowful apprehensions 

 heraffeotion might well foster, although the awell- 

 .gbtily within, but Bhe concerned 

 herself in trying to form a plausible plan by whfch 

 the funds which must be had immediately, could 



obtained. She shrank from applying t 

 trustees for another advance, aa they bad already 

 granted her, with a reluctance her parents 

 nothing of, the payment of more than half ber 

 salary. She had no friend of whom she could bor- 

 row, and she could not bear the thought of reveal- 

 ing her trouble to any one as a plea for assistance. 

 She saw no alternative hut to appeal again to Mr. 

 Dobbs, and the remembrance of his cold, hard face 

 close interrogations, and nnwiliiDg compliance, 

 chilled her with hopelessness. She felt that be 

 had a strong aversion to her, and believed it to 

 have been founded by Derby's unfavorable re- 

 It waa a herd, dark spot for her to pass through, 

 and as she dwelt upon her troubles, her isolation 

 endlessness, her heart Instead of softening 

 si that h ar- 



and breaking; welled up 

 dened and benumbed it 

 friends once — how they lo' 

 — she had poverty now, yea 

 — and the butterflies had 

 was a cold miserable worl 



hid 



again. 



Her pale, tijed i 

 that night, a* om_ 

 master with nervous' __ 

 fled the pile of fatten, 

 prised when he tossed 



nearly . fortnight B i Dce sheTad^e^ ^ - 

 Th.8 letter waa directed u all the others had been. 

 In a cramped, trembling hand th,t was scarcely 

 legible. Her tears fell fast npon ^ hiQwn e > 

 velop, and drawing her veil over her face she 

 » S™*y lane that led 



ippeared at the post-office 



t, aa usual and ahe watched the post- 

 he carelessly shuf- 

 waa evidently but- 

 t— for it waa 



md flattered her— 

 h , almost starvation 

 with the frost It 

 aa there love, and 

 tt7 Her proud lip relaxed, her cold 

 eyes moistened with the remembrance that doubt 

 recalled— the wasting old man on his pillow— the 

 cherished Holy Book on hie breast— the sweet faith 

 that welcomed adversity as a comforting 

 and talked with the unseen (liver of weal a 

 as the blind ohild to a watching, loving mo 

 JS'o, she could not question or doubt, but 

 was the Hand to lead her into the light? 



The ring of children's laughter, and the bum of 



merry voices broke upon her revery, and ehe waa 



annoyed by the sound of their approach. She 



still, hoping to be unobserved, as sho was so 



ely scteened by the bushes, they might easily 



i without discovering her. It was some of the 



school children, Derby Dobbs, Pete Graham 



id nearly a dozen beside out on a frolic. They 



;re tired by their long run across the meadow, 



d dropped down upon the grass to take a rest 



but a little way from where Aeby was sitting. 



They chattered on a variety of subjects too un- 

 interesting to Abey to withdraw ber from her sad 

 thoughts, until she heard her name spoken, accom- 

 panied with a severe criticism on her dress and 

 personal appearance, that awoke the unrestrained 

 metriment of the noisy group. 



" I wonder where she got that old brown gingham 

 dress? Mother thinks it would make me a good 

 pair of pants, as it eeems everlasting to wear." 



"It's patched and darned all over," said Kitty 

 Bly. " She is too stingy to get a new one. I could 

 have screamed right out for joy, when Harry 

 spilled the ink over her this morning. She will 

 look bo much the more ornamental hereafter." 



"What a cross old thing she is," said Dbbby, 

 locking compassionately towards Pete, who lay 

 stretched upon the grass yawning up to the sky. 

 "If I had been Petb, I would sot have borne 

 sneh a lashing without a word. Did she make your 



love of their full hearts, and bore her relav 

 them like an enslaving chain. What wonde 

 she waa lonely and wretched? The very children 

 that had Beemed to her like so many perverse imps 

 ever planning her discomfiture, had been the 

 sources of Miss Mills as sweetest happii 

 had been of theirs. Abby remembered the teacher 

 she used to love and still cherished with fondest 

 associations. Miss Millsb must have been like 

 her, patient, gentle, and interested in everything 

 that engaged the little onea under her 

 she was loaded with grievious burdens; her heart 

 was sore with many Borrows, yet one would hardly 

 have thought by her cheerfulness and peace of 

 bouI, that all but her heaven— hope was dust and 

 ashes. She was resting now-it waa over— but the 

 Seed ebe had caBt was reaching heavenward 

 bloom perpetual. 



The laborera had gone whistling over the mead- 

 ow path on their way home, long before Ably hid 

 the letter in her bo6om and issued from the dusky 

 shade. Her face waa calm— almost happy— and 

 her heart waa uplifted by a reaolution made with 



She decided to send her father a letter that night, 

 a cheerful, comforting message that would carry 

 joy to bis siok bed. She would ask Nettie 

 Sfragcb to wait a little longer for her wages, 

 which should be tent as soon as they could be ob- 

 tained. 



She gathered some flowers and berrieB as she 

 walked slowly along and arranged them in her lit- 

 tle dinner basket as temptingly as possible, for it 

 occurred to her to call upon oneof herpupilswho 

 had been ill for several weeks past. She made the 

 little Bofferer amile as she had not done all the 

 weary day, and although she seemed at first sorne- 

 what in awe of her sohool- mistress, who had never 

 spoken to her but of her tasks before, her diffi- 

 dence soon wore away, and when Abby arose to go, 

 it was only the promise of coming again very soon 

 that released her. She dropped many tears upon 

 the feverish cheek of the little girl as ahe gave 

 her a tender good-bye kiss, for she thought of her 

 own child sister then asleep in the church yard— 

 She had hardly withdrawn from the room when 

 she heard the feeble voice eaying to her mother 



" I did not know that Mias Waters was so good. 

 I do hope she will come to-morrow." 



The next morning was as bright and beautiful aa 



June ever gives, and Ably started earlier ihan 



towards the school-house. She overtook 



I of the children, and instead of passing 



them without a word or sign of recognition, nho 



.rprised them with a cheerful good-morning^ and 



rercaine their reserve and drew them into her 



company by ber pleasant remarks. One little fel- 



w, whom she had offended the day before by 



king away his top, when she found it spinning 



ie minute after the bell bad rung, and who pout 



I crossly at her approach, she put into the best 



humor with himself and her, by dropping a bunch 



of roses into hie dinner basket, and restoring hi* 



toy which ehe had painted very prettily. 



children who were playing by the brook a 



distance from the school-bouse were pu: 



when they eaw her approaching surround) 



ohattiug most merrily, and they were mor 

 prised when she paused on the bridge, and lei 

 over the rustic railing asked them if they th( 

 she had grown too old to fish for minnows, 

 wade barefooted down the stream? She had 

 both many a time she aaid, and Bhe did not think 

 she had forgotten how. Petb Gradaii gave he 

 stick and line, and she laid down her basket 

 books, and telling him to warn her when it 

 nine, sat down upon a stone in the midst of the 

 laughing circle, and luckily pulled out a pretty li 

 tie fish after a very short suspense. Her spectators 

 shouted uproariously, and Pete forgot to tell them 

 when it was nine o'clock. 



She crossed the trough-like threshold with s 

 happyfaca that morning, and all the children were 

 smiling at her. Her labor never seemed so light, 

 nor the hour hand of the clock to move on so fast 

 Towards noon the noiBy corner grew very noisy, 

 mid laugh and whisper, throw paper but 

 girls' problems, and final- 



§uUtnttsuttuut:5. 



Cherry Trees! Cherry Trees!! 



1 !,,«.,.•: ...... ■....-. . * ....... i.,. :,-•..,. ^, . ■ 



- ■'."■■' ■ - .'--'■■ - ' '' ' ! ■ '■: -M"-"~ ... 



L A W It EKG i: H . VAL K 



AEOHITECT, 



No. 637 Broadway, New Yorli, 





THE LITTLE GIANT CORN-HTJSKEE i 



The Right Thins at Last ! 

 COBN-HUSKiNii MADK 1- '.SY ' 



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lets at Pete, 

 lyhad the whole 

 vided. Abby fee 



,-ilIi : 



IK,', 





oy?" 



"No," drawled out Petb, at 

 hands. "If Bhe had been am 

 stood it, but yon don't ca'chrae 1 



" They say she is a real miaer. 



'■I believe she Ly> added Dbbbv, "father says 

 flic is always begging for money, 



"Matilda saya she haa been 

 love," timidly remarked a bashful girl, 



" Aod ehe always will be, I take it," said Pete 

 " if ehe espeota anybody to love her vinegar face." 



"She isn't much like Miss Miller," aaid Krrrr. 



" No Indeed," was the unanimous response. 



" How we wiah she wonld come back again. She 

 was bo good,— I ameorryl ever displeased her," 

 eaid miachievooa Nelly Rannev. 



' a big boquetof flowers the other 

 bby, "and told her we did not carry 

 boineta to whool any more. She wanted to know- 

 why ind when I told her how croas Mias Watkks 

 it, she saw she was very sorry." 



"Mothersays I need not to goto school after tola 

 week. Miss Waters never helps me ia my arith . 

 luetic as Miss Miller used to do." 



She never kissed ono of her scholars since ahe 

 been here," siid Kitty Bly. 

 And it will be some time before any of them 

 Wfl] kiss her." 



" The cross old thing." 



The little troop went on and Abby a*t in Bilence 

 and lonelinejs again. She bad forgotten the afflic- 

 tion at home, her perplexity and need, and dwelt 

 only npon the new revelation thrust before her, — 

 She had ntadt htrtelf miserable, and not only that 



,ddy feeling most deeply tried aod irrila 

 lorely tempted to what would have provet 

 ilura to her new plan, the mortifying, if posd 

 of the offenders by a severe rebuke and pnn 

 iahment, and sending them from school. She dis- 

 missed the class she was hearing and sat in Bilen! 

 thought for awhile, then calling Derby and Kitt? 

 Bly to her side, talked to them In an earnest un- 

 dertone of their misbehavior and the sad effect it 

 had, not only npon themselves bcit the whole 

 school. She spoke bo kindly, and with anch feel- 

 ing they ventured upon no disrespectful reply, but 

 listened with abashed attentivencea to all she said. 

 "I am not going to be severe with you any 

 more"— and her voice grow tremulous, and a tear 

 fell upon Debuy's hand which she was holding — 

 " and I hope that you will regard my wishes here- 

 after from another motive than fear. My head 

 aches badly this morning, and I wish you would 

 both assist me by setting an example of quiet 

 etudiousness to the echool. Will you do so, girls?" 

 They both promised that they wonld. 

 " Thank yoo," replied Abby, with a cheerfulness 

 expreBalve of her fuith in their word. " Have you 

 worked oat those difficult problems in jour Alge- 

 bra yet?" 



replied Dsuby, "they looked so hard I 

 thought there waa no use in my trying them." 



They require close srndy,"said Abey, "go and 

 get yonr slates and sit here by me and 1 will assist 

 you a little." 



1 [They sat beside her the rest of the morning, and 

 had their lesson perfectly prepared. Petb 

 Gbaham could not do the hard problems. Abby 

 knew it by hia despairing face when he opened his 

 algebra and the despondency with which he threw 

 his pencil five minutes afterwards. Dxeby 

 beard the A B C's, and Abby went to poor Petk's 

 relief, and the class were astounded that day by his 



perfeat leeaon. 



OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



FK.OFESSOR, WOO 13 » 



HAIR RESTORATIVE. 



COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 

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D. D. T. MOORE, ROCHESTER, N. V. 



Office, Union Buildings, Opposite the Court Houso. 



