First they installed Rona in her house. Every thing that heart could
wish was there, down to the minutest thing; and beautiful every thing
was; for dear Jenny—see, reader, I have dropped the other name—had an
exquisite taste. And then, Ida took possession of her home, exactly like
her sister’s, in point of beauty and completeness; but different only in
fancy. Then Mrs. Armstrong was taken to her house; every thing complete,
like the other two, only the furniture a thought more grave. Then the
whole flock proceeded to the fourth house—it was the one for the father
and mother—good, honest Martin Barton and his wife; this also was a
model of comfort and beauty. The whole party stood on the steps and
under the portico.
“Step in Jenny Hart—dear Jenny Campbell, now”—said Martin Barton, “step
in, Archy Campbell; I have made up my mind to one thing; and that is,
that I cannot let you have the thread and needle store; I have made it
all over to Peter Squire and Jacob Teller.”—Jacob Teller was the fifth
clerk.
Jenny turned pale and Archy red—“Come this way, Hosea Bringle,” said old
Mr. Daly, “don’t go to cry, man, you’ll hear all presently—come, son and
daughter, make haste, it is getting late.”
“Jenny Hart, my own Jenny,” said Mrs. Martin Barton, drying her eyes,
“this house, and all in it, is yours; and here comes Mr. Norton, to make
over to you one-fifth of the money you helped us to make. What, did you
think we could bear to see you toil, and toil again, as you have done;
and Archy Campbell, too—so in with you.” And in they went, with hearts
too full to thank their friends.
There was, indeed, plenty of room at Mr. Daly’s for Martin Barton and
his wife, and little Betty and all; and, as to Hosea Bringle, he was a
fixture there. Mrs. Armstrong, as I said, did not live alone long, in
her handsome house.
And now, gentle reader, I must leave off. But would you not like to hear
more of our dear Jenny—how she managed her house and her gardens, and
the poor people in the neighbourhood—and how her husband idolized her;
and how all the old customers, rich and poor, came to see her, and
partake of her hospitalities. Only let me know, and I will tell you more
of her, and how Hosea Bringle read to the four innocent people every
evening, either some good book or other; or in the Arabian Nights; and
how they blended the genii that wanted to kill the merchant, with the
giant in Pilgrim’s Progress. And how the old man sat whittling with a
penknife, making weathercocks for the stables; and, finally, little
go-carts, and little wheelbarrows, and little rakes, for the young
family that was fast rising up around him. They could not come too fast
for old Hosea Bringle. And then, how easy it came to Martin Barton to
take care of a garden; working as hard at it as he did in his thread and
needle store. Only encourage me, and I will write on; or drop a line in
the Evening Star, and the American, of New York, and my pen will soon be
set going again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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