More than coronets : stories of kind hearts

Front matter

3 .. IhhhHHHhH

.Us^Mi

HMBB 8 H

Contents

PAGE

“MORE THAN CORONETS.”

“ Guess what has happened at Way land’s, mother.”

Chapter I

“Come up, Dan De, we’ll have to be joggin’ on, so we can tell our Hettie the good news. It’s good news for Hettie, old boy, but bad times it’s going to be for you and me with our Hettie away from home. I feel juberous about lettin’ her go, Dan De. I’m afraid it’ll change her sweet ways. Mis’ Talbot and the perfessor thinks she’d better get out from home and finish up her edjucation, for fear they are not quite up to date in their teachin’. We’re not a-goin’ to be selfish enough to keep her from havin’ advantages, just because we couldn’t have ’em, are we? Come up, I say.”

The speaker was a rosy-faced, white-haired man, of middle age, seated in a covered wagon, and Dan De, to whom the remarks were addressed, was the large, rawboned, gray horse harnessed to the wagon. They had been resting under the shade of a big oak-tree by the side of the pike.

Dan De waited to be admonished for the third time, to “come up.” He switched his tail lazily at a fly that buzzed aimlessly in the hot July sunshine, then, drawing the wagon out to the center of the pike, proceeded to jog on.

Hiram Hinkle, huckster, sat with bowed head and thoughtful expression. He held the lines, but Dan De was master of the situation, and took his

As Stars in Their Places .

own gait. It grew late, and the sun, sinking behind the heavy fringe of timber that skirted the road on the western side, threw back such ardent glances along the sky, that the glory of it was enough to have aroused Hiram Hinkle from his gloomy thoughts ; but he sat with eyes downcast, while Dan De plodded lazily on, and the lovely sunset was wasted on the two.

The colors faded in a dingy brown in the west, a katydid called shrilly from the meadow, and was answered by its mate in contradictory tone.

Hiram Hinkle roused at the sound, and said aloud: “Dan De, do you hear that? There’ll be frost in six weeks ; that’ll be by the middle of September. Winter’s goin’ to begin early, and it’ll be a long one for us, old feller.”

When they came in sight of the little village of Brandt’s Crossing, the old man straightened himself, and, rubbing his hand over his smooth, ruddy face, said severely to his horse: “Look here, sir; don’t you let on that we’re feeling bad over this, not a bit of it, you hear me? If our Hettie knew we was takin’ it to heart this way, she wouldn’t go a step, and we want her to go and have a better chance in the world than we had, don’t we?”

For answer, Dan De quickened his pace, and, turning the corner at the crossing of the roads where stood Brandt’s grocery, dry-goods store and post-office combined, he went up the slope of hill to the last house in the little town. The little white cottage stood aloof from the straggling row of unpainted houses that bordered the country road on each side leading down to the crossing.

As Stars in Their Places .

Dan De turned in at the gate of a large yard. The young girl who had opened the gate closed it quickly, and came running to be almost smothered by the fervent embrace of the huckster, who had climbed down from the wagon.

Dan De whinnied for a share of the welcome, and the girl patted his soft, gray chin, while her father removed the harness. She was talking all the time, asking questions by the dozen in an eager way, until her father laughingly called a halt, saying she did not give him time to answer.

She ran into the house, calling back that she would have supper ready by the time he had fed and watered Dan De. “I am going to get supper by myself,” she said, “for Aunt Martha has gone to stay overnight with Melissa Holt’s sick baby.”

Hiram Hinkle was hungry, after the long drive, and the dainty supper, with his cup of hot tea, rested him, and he was soon talking gaily. He told the girl how well the butter sold, how the chickens sold a half cent higher on the pound than he had expected, and how Dan De backed his ears at the electric cars as they whizzed by, but never once scared at anything.

After they had taken the lamp into the sitting-room, he talked on every subject he could think of, except the one that lay heaviest on his mind. He sat nervously on the edge of his favorite arm-chair, looking intently at her awhile, then said abruptly : “Hettie, I drove out to the college town to-day, and went to see the head boss of the college. I asked a man where his house was, and I knocked pretty loud, and his wife come to the door. I reckon it

As Stars in Their Places .

was his wife; she was peaked-lookin’ like she had been brought up on book learnin’ and hadn’t had much nourishment since.

“I said to her, Td like to see your husband,’ and she told me that I would find him at his office, and started to shut the door, but I says, ‘Hold on a minute ; I don’t know where his office is.’

“She pointed over toward the big college building, and told me to go in at one side, and just before I come out on the other side I’d see a door with ‘President’s Office’ on it, and for me to turn in there. I couldn’t see for the life of me why I couldn’t ’a’ gone in at the side that was close to the door, but I reckon that’s ag’inst college rules. I found the place all right, and when I knocked, a little bit of a feller come to the door.

“ I asked him if I could see the head boss of the college, and he kind of laughed, and says, ‘Step in ; I guess I’m the man you want to see.’

“I never was so took aback. He didn’t look big enough to run a deestrict school, but he talked sharp, and he had a real knowin’ look out of his eyes. He spoke well of Perfessor Earle and said you could go to college if you could pass the examination all right. He said where they entered one of the higher classes without previous work at the college, they made the examination pretty rigid. It sounded like it might be pretty tough to get through, the way he said ‘pretty rigid,’ with that knowin’ shake of his head, but I told him that I thought you could do it. He said he thought they would be a chance for you to work for your board

As Stars in Their Places.

G3 at one of the clubs, if I could pay your tuition, so I told him I’d bring you when school started up.”

He had told her all this hurriedly, as if he feared that his courage would fail. He had tried to make it sound cheerful and like his usual jocular self. The girl listened, her eyes wide with surprise.

When he had finished, she exclaimed : “O father, I never dreamed of going now. I intended to teach some time, and make my own way. How can you spare me, and how can you pay the tuition?”

He had expected such an outburst, and was prepared. He made a chuckling noise that passed for a laugh as he answered: “Now, I reckon I thought that problem all out beforehand. I’ve saved up some money along, and it don’t take much to keep me and Dan De. I can pay your tuition just as well as not, and I’d love awful well to pay your board so you wouldn’t have to work, but I ain’t got quite enough. The perfessor said that lots of folks had worked their way through and been well thought of too. I’ve always aimed for you to go sometime. Your mother used to say that she wanted you to have a chance to be what she had wanted to be. You know how I always told you she wanted an edjucation. Your mother would want you to make the most of this chance, and as for sparin’ you” — he cleared his throat, then he tried to make a joke of it — “I guess we can spare you all right. Your Aunt Martha can cook good meals, and clear out the dirt, and, besides, we’re not here much, me and Dan De; we’re mostly on the road. So it’s all settled, and you are a-goin’ !”

Hettie saw the effort her father was making to

As Stars in Their Places .

keep up, and knew that of all things he detested a scene, so she thanked him quietly, kissed him, and, taking her lamp, went to her room for the night. She went to bed, but not to sleep. Through the long night she lay looking out of her window, where the moonlight shone brightly, and the trees threw quaint shadows on the ground. She thought of all the years of loving, patient care her father had given her. Aunt Martha had seen that the little, motherless girl was comfortably clothed and well fed, but father had been her all in all — father, teacher, playmate, everything to her — until she had started to school. How proud he had been of her progress as she passed from one year to another, until she had finished her work in the common schools ; then her new friends had come.

Professor Earle, whose health had failed, making teaching impossible, had bought a small farm and moved near Brandt’s Crossing, to try the effect of country air. He and his good wife had taken to Hettie from the first, because of a fancied resemblance to their only daughter, who had died years before.

Then the doctor’s wife had come. Dr. Talbot, through some misfortune or from his own lack of character, had lost his practice in the city and had come to Brandt’s Crossing. The people of the surrounding country soon learned to respect his skill, and as he was the only physician near, they closed their eyes to his faults. He always managed to keep sober when he had any serious case on hand, and in a few years had built up a good practice here.

As Stars in Their Places .

The doctor’s wife was a lady — every one acknowledged that at first sight — a lady in the truest sense of the word ; gracious and kindly toward all the village people; but Hettie was her one close friend. They had been drawn toward each other because they were so different from their surroundings.

Hettie wondered, as she lay thinking of the past, what life would have been like without Professor Earle and Mrs. Talbot. They had understood her longing for an education, and had helped her, lending her books and hearing her recite until they felt that she had gone as far as they were able to guide her. They decided that she needed the polishing that comes from contact with college life, a something that could not be obtained at Brandt’s Crossing. They had talked it all over with her father, and he had arranged for her to go.

Hettie would feel tumultuously happy for a time, then the thought of leaving her father would come, making her ashamed of her joy ; but toward morning the memory of all that her father had said of her mother’s ambition and hope for her, came, bringing strong argument in favor of going. She arose early and prepared the breakfast.

Her father looked worn and tired, as if he, too, had passed a sleepless night; but they made a merry meal together, and Hettie was hurrying to finish the morning work that she might go to tell Professor Earle and Mrs. Talbot of her good news, when Aunt Martha came home.

Aunt Martha was Hiram Hinkle’s maiden sister. Dear Aunt Martha, in her plain calico dress, with its straight, full skirt and spencer waist, her gray

As Stars in Their Places .

hair parted in V-shape on top of her head and the fore tops rolled smoothly back behind her ears.

There are no words to describe her. She was just Aunt Martha, loved and feared by all who knew her, for her bright eyes were quick to detect the failings of others, and her kindly hands were ever ready to help in time of need. Perhaps Hettie’s was the only love unmixed with fear that she had ever known.

Hettie dropped her dish towel, and caught the prim old lady in an embrace that almost lifted her off her feet, as she came into the kitchen, telling her the news, expecting to have to meet numberless objections, but, to her surprise, Aunt Martha quietly took up her knitting.

Hettie felt disappointed, for, after making up one’s mind to argue, it is easier to argue than to be ignored. After awhile, she said : “Don’t you want me to go, Aunt Martha? Don’t you believe I ought to try to get an education?”

Aunt Martha knit several rounds, making the needles click decisively. She often did this before answering a question. Once when a child, Hettie had asked her father if Aunt Martha had to think with her needles. When she laid the knitting down and looked up, she answered tersely : “I believe in edjucation for some, and some I don’t, and I don’t know which ones I believe in it for till I see it tried on ’em then, picking up her work, she said : “Now run along and tell Mis’ Talbot; I reckon you’re just a-dyin to tell her,” and, without further bidding, Hettie went.

As Stars in Their Places .

Chapter II

Hettie found Mrs. Talbot as enthusiastic over the change as she had expected, although she dreaded the parting from her bright young friend, and felt that Brandt’s Crossing would be a dreary place without her.

They talked of her college work for a time, then Hettie went to tell the news to Mollie Parr, the village dressmaker, who had made all of her best dresses, planning and skimping to make the most of the scanty wardrobe, and loving the sweet girl as if she had been her very own.

Mollie Parr had been a pretty girl, but life had been a hard struggle for her. Few people remembered her as she had been in her youth, and now she was a faded, nervous little woman, grown old before her time.

When Hettie entered the sewing-room she called out gaily: “Oh, Miss Mollie, I’m going to college, and you promised to help me get ready whenever my chance came.”

Miss Mollie dropped the lap full of ruffling, and, reaching up, kissed the tall girl on each cheek, then she choked back a sob as she said : “I’m glad you got your heart’s desire, Hettie, and I’ll do all in my power to help you get ready.”

They sat for an hour planning ' for the clothes Hettie would need. Miss Mollie thought that the black skirt could be ripped and pressed to make it presentable, and with several shirt waists would do until winter; then there was the red dress she

As Stars in Their Places .

had outgrown, and the old green skirt that would make waists for winter. “But, O Hettie,” she exclaimed, “you must have an evening dress for them big receptions. I’ve been reading lots about them, and it won’t do to wear your school dresses to them, and I’ve just thought about your mother’s wedding dress. I know it’s good and full, for I made it, and I could get one any way we wanted it.”

Hettie answered slowly: “Oh, I just couldn’t take it ; I won’t need an evening dress, for I’ll not be likely to get an invitation.”

“Oh, yes, you will,” Miss Mollie insisted, “and you know she’d want you to go, and want you to look pretty, too, and your father will want you to have it, so I’ll look over my fashion plates this evening and pick out a style that will suit you.”

When all their plans had been made, Hettie went to see Professor Earle. She found him in his garden, but he dropped his hoe and listened with pleasure to Hettie’s plans for the future.

After she had left the professor’s house she felt that she would like to be alone for awhile to think of her wonderful good fortune. So, instead of going back through the village, she turned into the river road. The huge trees reached friendly arms to each other across the road, making an arch that was cool and quiet. She could catch glimpses of the river running quietly along, except where it caught at the roots of the trees, and broke into a merry gurgle at its own pranks. When she came to the bridge she stopped to look down the stream.

She was wishing she could see John Hart, and

As Stars in Their Places .

tell him of her good luck. John would be so glad. She could not remember when she had first known John. They had played together, studied together at school, and finished the common school course the same year. Then they had studied together and recited their lessons to Professor Earle in the long winter evenings, always planning to go to college when the opportunity came.

John’s mother was dead, too, and his father had been a huckster, but his health had failed, and John had put by his hopes for a better education, rented the little farm to a family who would care for his father, and, taking his father’s place on the road, was making a comfortable living for both, but with no hope of going away to the life he longed for.

Hettie was sorry for John, but then he was a man, and men could make their opportunities, while girls had to wait for opportunity to come to them.

She stood humming the old song, “The Bend of the River,” when suddenly two warm hands were clasped over her eyes, a hearty voice joined in the chorus, then cried out, “Guess who?”

“Take your hands off my eyes, John,” she answered ; then, as he released her, she turned to face the broad-shouldered young fellow, saying laughingly : “As if I wouldn’t recognize your stentorian voice anywhere. Guess what I was thinking of, John?”

“I couldn’t,” he answered promptly.

“I was thinking of the time when we used to come here fishing, and we were always planning to some day go beyond the bend of the river, and see

As Stars in Their Places .

what was on the other side, and now — O John, I am going beyond the bend. Fm going to college at last.”

She looked squarely into his handsome, sunburned face (for she was almost as tall as he), and read the look of sorrow and disappointment written so plainly there. She stood quite still for a moment, then cried out: “O John, you’re not glad, when you know I have longed for a chance in the world, and we had been friends so long.”

He turned from her reproachful eyes, and looked down the shining stretch of water as he answered slowly : “Don’t talk as if we were not to be friends any more. I’ll try to be glad, but it isn’t what we had planned. You are going around the bend, and I am left behind. I’m not begrudging you your chance, Hettie, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed that you could go on, while I must stop here, and never know of the life beyond the bend.”

Hettie held out her hand, saying, “I’m sorry I was cross, John, but don’t give up all hope; your chance will come some day.”

It is so easy to see the bright side of other people’s clouds. Hettie said good-by, and hurried toward home, singing as she went, but John stood still on the bridge, his heart filled with a bitter feeling of rebellion toward the fate that had chained him to the life of drudgery.

Hettie worked diligently through the hot August days, for there was so much to be done before she went away. She tried to think of all the little things that would add to her father’s comfort, the little things that Aunt Martha thought foolishness.

As Stars in Their Places .

In the long afternoons she sat with Miss Mollie, patiently ripping, turning and pressing the old clothes, to make them look like new. Her father had insisted on having the mother’s wedding dress made over for her, and Miss Mollie had fashioned from it a lovely evening dress, but, to her grief, Hettie would not allow her to cut it low in the neck, or make it without sleeves. Miss Mollie argued that evening dresses were always made that way, but Hettie would not be convinced, so they compromised by having it just come to the slender throat and the sleeves to the elbow, finishing both neck and sleeves with the soft lace ruffles her mother had worn on her wedding-day. When she tried the dress on for the last time, Miss Mollie seemed more nervous than usual.

She asked Hettie to stand in front of the long mirror, then, drawing a box from the closet shelf, she lifted out an opera cape of silvery gray eiderdown, lined with rich red satin. She threw it over Hettie’s shoulders, and as the girl turned toward her with an exclamation of surprise, she sank into her little sewing-chair and clasped her hands in delight.

“Oh, I’m so glad I had it,” she said excitedly. “I had never told any one about it. Once when I was in the city I got extravagant, and bought it. I never had bought anything in my life before that I didn’t just need. It was money one of my uncles gave to me, and I had a right to spend it any way 1 wanted to, and it’s been such a comfort to me. Sometimes of a night when I felt lonesome and all out of sorts, I’d put it ’round me, and turn the

As Stars in Their Places .

soft collar up around my face, and it would take the tired feeling all away, and sometimes when Fve been real hurried I’d just reach in the box and smooth it. Pve given up ever having a chance to be like other folks now, but I’ve taken so much pleasure in thinking how pretty it would look over your gray gown ; it just gives it the right finish, and it’s Tours.”

Ilettie sank down in a gray heap by the little rocker, almost smothering the little dressmaker with her embraces, as she cried out : “Oh, Miss Mollie, I can’t take it, when it’s all the pretty thing you ever had.”

“There, there, get up before you muss your dress,” said Miss Mollie; then, clasping Hettie closely, she said brokenly : “If it was in my power, I’d give you every good thing this old world holds, and you shan’t spoil my pleasure by refusing my one little gift.”

So the opera cape was packed in the trunk with the evening dress.

When it came to saying good-by to the old friends, Hettie found it hard work. Professor Earle and Mrs. Talbot spoke helpful words of encouragement, and Miss Mollie held her closely and sobbed out her blessing.

Aunt Martha, who felt doubtful of the propriety of sending a girl away by herself, warned her of the dangers that would beset her path, telling her solemnly that she wanted her to remember how she had tried to raise her right, and matter-of-fact Hettie laid her head on the motherly breast, and sobbed out her love for her. The unexpected

As Stars in Their Places .

action nearly took the good woman’s breath, but the next moment Hettie had dried her tears and was begging her to be good to father, and write to her immediately if he was sick or needed her.

Aunt Martha sniffed scornfully as she said: “I guess I don’t have to be told to be good to my own brother, and I guess if he was sick I could take about as good care of him as you could.”

When it came to telling John Hart good-by, Hettie was puzzled by his manner. He clasped her hand close for a minute, then turned abruptly away, without any of the kindly wishes for the future that her other friends had given so freely. Hettie climbed up beside her father in the huckster wagon. Dan De trotted out of the yard and down through the little village, where the neighbors were waiting at their gates to wave a last good-by to her.

The platform of the little village store was filled with the usual number of loafers, and after the wagon had rattled out of sight, one gray-haired man changed his quid of tobacco to the other cheek and remarked : “I ’low Hiram’s made a bad move, sendin’ Hettie away to get more lamin’. She’ll come back high-headed and uppish, and Brandt’s Crossing won’t be good enough for her.”

The other loafers shook their heads solemnly over the bad move, and went on with their whittling.

As Stars in Their Places .

Chapter III

It was the first day of the fall term at Delmar College. Students were gathered in groups in the lower halls, where the great doors swung wide and the warm September breeze swept pleasantly through.

The boys were telling each other of the long tramps across country, or trips made with their wheels during the vacation. Some few earnestminded ones were comparing the work they had done. The girls chatted merrily of the summer gaieties.

One group of girls near the door seemed especially merry, all talking at once to a tall, beautiful girl, around w T hom they gathered, as bees around a flower. It could be plainly seen that she was a leader and these her adoring subjects. In the midst of a peal of laughter brought forth by one of her bright sayings, a plainly dressed girl passed by them, going through the door and down the walk. Before she was out of hearing, one of the girls poised lightly on the lower step of the stairway called out gaily to the girl in the center of the group : “I say, Dell Duncan, there’s a new girl for you; you have such a penchant for making things agreeable for strangers. I just wish you could have seen her arrival. It was the richest thing I ever saw. She and an old man, whom I suppose was the father, drove up to the Brady Club-house, in a covered wagon drawn by one old gray horse. They took out a trunk just one size larger than a

As Stars in Their Places .

shoe-box, and the old man carried it in at the kitchen door, and the girl followed him.”

Then a black-eyed, mischievous-looking girl said : “I saw her over at Professor Rice’s room, when she registered. Professor Rice adjusted his glasses and said in his most courteous way, ‘Your name, please,’ and she answered, ‘Hester Hinkle.’ Then he said, ‘Your father’s name and occupation,’ and she said, ‘Hiram Hinkle, huckster.’ It sounded so ridiculous I couldn’t keep my face straight, and Professor Rice saw me and said, ‘I believe you have registered, Miss Brown ; will you please make room for others?’ The names made me think of a nursery jingle.”

The other girls laughed, but if they had expected Dell Duncan to laugh, they were disappointed. She gave them a withering glance of disapproval as she said: “Lou Martin and Mim Brown, why will you persist in trying to make a new girl miserable here? You wouldn’t treat the humblest guest rudely at your homes, and this is our home while we are here. I’m ashamed of you, talking so that poor girl could hear you. I only wish that I had half the ability to help strangers that you give me credit for.”

She walked away, leaving the girls looking blankly at each other.

Lou Martin broke the silence by saying : “Well, if it wasn’t Dell, I’d be put out over such a lecture, but she is such a dear when she is sweet, one just has to put up with her bad spells but Mim Brown tossed her short black curls and retorted: “I’ll be put out over it if it is Dell Duncan, and I’ll see if

As Stars in Their Places .

she brings into our select circle the daughter of Hiram Hinkle, huckster.”

The other girls laughed at this, then went to their rooms to get ready for the morrow’s work.

When Dell Duncan left the girls, she went directly to the Brady house, where she had her room. She started up the stairway and met Mrs. Brady, manager of the club. She stopped to ask impulsively : “Can you tell me where Miss Hinkle’s room is?”

Mrs. Brady studied for a moment, then answered: “Oh, you mean the new dining-room girl. She has the little room next the kitchen, that opens out of the dining-room. She’s going to wait on the table and help with the dishes for her room and board. I guess it was all her father could do to pay her tuition, and I thought I would give her a chance to earn her board.”