Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1880 — TAKING BOARDERS. [ARTICLE]

TAKING BOARDERS.

' “It waa a scandal,” the neighbor* said, “that Miss Delia should be obliged to take boarders, after all ahe'd been through, and heaven knows boarders didn’t help a body to work out her salvation. And so inuch money in the lamily too. Wasn’t her Uncle if ben, over at Dover, well-to-do, and not a chick of his own to care for, except the boy he had adopted, who was no credit to him ? It was odd, now, that a man with poor relations should take to a stranger, when his own flesh and blood was so n*edy, but sometimes it did seem as U folks had more feeling for others than for their own kith and kin. Then there were cousins lh the city, forehanded and fashionable,'who never were worth a row of pins to Delia; and there was her .treat-uncle John’s widow a larking about and gambling at Baden-Baden, and trying the waters of every mineral spring in the three kingdoms, for no disease under the sun bat old age. She’d been known to say that her own folks were too rich already, and probably she would endow some hospital with her property.” Plainly, wealthy relatives were of no value to Miss Delia. To be sure, she had never seen her great aunt since she was a child, whan her Uncle John had brought ht>r into their simple Me for a month’s visit, with her French maid and dresses, her jewels and fallals, which won the heart of her little namesake. Since then, her Uncle John’s widow had been a sort of gilded creation, always young and always beautiful [ for though Delia had received little gifts from time to time across the seas for the last fifteen years, she had neither seen nor beard anything of the being who'had inspired her youthful imagination, and was quite uncertain if such a person as Mrs. John Rogerson was in the land of the living. Dead or alive, she seemed jo have made no material difference in Delia's humdrum life. After having nursed her lather through a long illness, Delia found that ho had lpft a heavy mortgage on the homestead, and her mother and herself on the high road to the poor house, unless they should bestir themselves As her mother was already b.d-ridden, tki stirrine naturally fell upon Delta, and she advertised for summer

boarders. * Good board In the country by the river side at #7 a week, Large chambers, broad piazzas, flue views, berries, and pew milk. One mile from the stall >n. Address Delia Rogerson, CrofUborough, Me." “CheaD enough!” commented an elderly lady who happened upqp it. “Delia Rogerson. An old maid, 1 suppose, obliged to look for herself. I hsve a good mind to try hey broad piazzas and new milk. If I don’t likd it, there’ll bone harm dons.” And so Delia’s first boarder arrived—an old laev with false front hair, brown, wrinkled skin, faded eyes, a black alapaca gown sad a hair trunk. Delia made her ss welcome ss if she had been a Duchess, lighted a Wood fire ip Mrs- Clement’s room, as the night was damp, and brought out her daintiest cup and saucer, with the fadeless old roees wreathing them. “Wonderfully kind,” reflected Mrs. Clements, u she combed out her wisp of gray hair and consigned the false front to a Box. “Wonderful kindness for |T s week { She’s new to the trade. Bhe’il learn better. Human nature doesn’t change with latitudes. She’ll And it doesn’t pay to consider the comfort of a poverty-stricken old cr—fnwy*

r But, in spile of be? worldly wisdom, Mrs. Clements was forced to AQnfess that Delia had begun as she meant to hold out. though other boarders came to demtna her attention, to multiply her cares. Hie fret and )tr of ponflicting ten peraments under her roof was » npw experience to Delia. When Miss Gresome complained of the mosquitoes, with an air as pi Mbs Rogerson were responsible ior their erealion; of the dies, as if they were new acquaintance*! of waat ot appetite, as though Delia ftad agreed to supply it along with berries and new «ilk; of the weather, as if she had pledged herself there should be no sudden changes to annoy her boarders; of the shabby house and antiquated furniture, “too old for comfort and not old enough for fashion”— then Delia doubted if taking boarders was her mission.

“What makes you keep us, my dears asked Mrs. Clement, after a day when everything and everybody had seemed to ?> wrong. “Why didn’t yon ever merry f ou had a lover, I dare say f* *" “Yes; a long, lon g time ago.” “Tell me about him—it"

“There Isn’t much to tell. He asked me to many him He was going to Ausf -alia. I(• lldn’t isayp mother and father you know (they were both feeble), and he couldn’t stay here. That was all.*’ “A*d you—yotw” “How all men besides fire to me like shadowv**

day. wou Icf yofmarry him f “I dare My,” laughed Delia, geatly, as if the idea was familiar, “let the neighbors laugh ever so wisely. I’ve thought of it sometimes, when sitting alone, when the world was barren aad common-place. One mo*t have recreation of some kind, you know. Everybody requires ft Bltte romance, a little poetry, to flavor everyday thinking And doing:. I‘m afraid you’ll think me a silly old maid, Mrs. Clement.” "No. The heart never grows old. The skin shrivels, the color departs, the eyes fade, the features grow pinched; hat the soul is heir of eternal youth—is as beautiful at four-score as at ‘sweet 18 and 90.’ Time makes amends for the ravages et the body by developing the spirit. Ton didn’t tell me your lover's name. Perhaps you’d rather not ” “His name was Stephen Langdon. Sometimes Captain Seymour runt against him in Melbourne, and brings me word how he looks and what he ia doing; though I never, never ask, and Stephen never asks for me, that I can heat ” Delia’s summer boarders were not a success, to be sure. If they took no money out of her pocket they put none in. She was obliged to eke out her support with copying for Lawyer Dunmore and embroidering for Mr*. Judge Dorr. One by one her boarders dropped away, like the autumn leaves; all but old Mrs. Clement “1 believe I’ll stay on,” she said. “I’m getting too old to move often. Perhaps you take winter boarders at reduced rates. Ehr’

“Do you think my terms high !” “By no means. But when one’s purse is low—” “Yes; I know. Da stay at your own price. I can’t spare von.” . She had grown such a fondness for the old lady, that to refuse her at her own terms -a ould have seemed like taming her own mother out of doors; besides one month more would cot signify. But she found it hard to make both ends meet, and often went hungry to bed, that her mother and Mrs. Clement might enjoy enough, without there appearing to be “just a pattern.” At Christmas, however, came a ray of sunshine for Delia, in the shape of a hundred-dollar bill from an unknown friend. “It can’t be meant for me," she cried. “It’s directed to Delia Rogerson,” said her mother; “and there’s nobody else of that name, cow your Aunt Delia is dead.” “We are not sure she’s dead," objected Delia. “Horrors! Don’t you know whether i our own aunt is dead or alive?” asked [rs. Clement, in a shocked tone. “It isn’t our fault. Bbo is rich and lives abroad. I was named for her. I used to look in the slass and try to believe I’d inherit her beauty with the name, though she was only our great uncle’s wife.” “She ought to be doing something for you.” n “How can she, if she’s dead ? I don’t blame her, anyway. Her money is her own; to use according to her pleasure. Uncle John made it himself and gave it to her.” “But if she should come back to you, having run through with it, you’d divide ybur last crust with her, I’ll be bound.” The winter wore away, as winters will, and the miracles of spring began in fields and wayside: and Delia’s hoarders returned with the June roses, and dropped away again with the falling leaves, and still Mrs. Clement staid on and on. Just now she had been for some weeks in arrears with her reduced board. No money had _been forthcoming for some time, and she ‘was growing more feeble daily, needing the luxuries of an invalid and the attentions of a nurse, both of which Delia bestowed upon her without taking heed for the morrow.

“1 must hear from my man of business to-morrow, Delia. I’m knee-deep in debt to you,” she began one night “Don’t mention it 1” cried Delia. “I’d rather never see a cent oi it than hsve you take it to heart You’re welcome to stay and share pot and luck with us; you’re such company for mother and me.” “Thank you, my dear. I’m grown as fond of you as if you were my own flesh and blood. There, turn down the light, please. Draw the curtain, dear, and put another stick on the fire, please. It grows chilly, doesn’t it? You might kiss me, just once ii you wouldn’t mind. It’s a hundred years or so since any one kissed me." And the next morning when Delia carried up Mrs. Clement’s breakfast, her boarder lay cold and stiff upon the pillows.

The first shock over, Della wrote directly to the lawyer of whom she had heard Mrs. Clement speak as having charge of her affairs, begging him to notify that lady’s relatives, if she had sey. In reply Mr. Willis wrote: “The late Mrs. Clement appears to have no near relatives. Some distant cousins, who, having an abundftnee of this world’s goods, yet served her shabbily when she tested theii generosity, as she has tried yours, are all that remain of her family. In the meantime, I enclose you a copy of her last will and testament, to peruse at your leisure. “What interest does he think I take in Mrs. Clement’s will,” thought Delia; but reid nevertheless: • ' “Being of sound mind this 16th day of June, 18—, I, Delia Rogerson Clement, do hereby leave (100 to each of my cousin; and I bequeath the residue of my property, viz; $30,000 invested in the Ingot Mining company, $50,000 in United States bonds, $90,006 In the Fortune Flannel Mills, and my jewels to the beloved niece of my first husband, John Rogerson, Delia Rogerson, of Croftsborougb, Maine. ‘For I was a stranger, and ye took me in; hungry and ye fed me; sick, and ye ministered unto me.’ ”

“Goodness alive!”cried the neighbors, when the facta reached their ears. “What a profitable thing it is to keep hoarders I Everybody in town will be trying it. Of course, 6teve Cantrdon will come home and marry her if she were forty old maids You may'stick a pin in there I" Delia did not o]>en her house to boarders next season. She found enough to do in looking after her money and spending it; in reply ip t? po letters of indigent peo{>le, who seemed to increase alarmingly; n receiving old friends, who suddenly found time to remember her existence. And, sure enough, among the rest appeared Steve Langdon, and all the village said: “1 told you so!” **ltta pot my fault that you and I are single vet, Bella,” he gj|id. “Ana we are too old to think of • change now, Steve.” “Nonsense! It’s never too late to mend. I’m not yipb, Delia; but I’ve enough for two, and to spare.” “I wouldn’t be contents not to drive in my carriage and have servants under me now,” laughed Delia. ‘lndeed! Then perhaps you have a better match in view ? Captain Seymour aaked me, by the way, if I bad come to interfere with ’Squire Jones’ Interest!” “Yes. ’Squire Jpnes proposed to me last week." r

“Now, see here, Delia. Have I come all the way from Melbourne on a fool's errand. There I was growing used to my misery ap4 loneliness, when the mail brings me a letter ip a strange hand, which tella me that my dear love, Delia Rogerson, loves and dreams of me still, is poor and alone and needs me—met And the letter is signed by her Mint, Mrs. Clement, who ought to know. I packed my household goods and came ” “I am glad yon did.” “fa oraer that I may congratulate ’Squire Jonest”

“But I haven’t accepted him. In fact —l’ve refused him—because——” “Because you will marry your old love, like the lass in the song, Delia »” In Croftsborougfa, people are not yet l tired of telling how a woman made money by taking boarders. *m®Hnesara=sss The English are again discussing the propriety of admitting American to that country. Tbecattle brokers point to a few cases of infectious aad oontagieas •teesses among the cattle imported in 18W as aa argument against their admission. * v