Harper's Young People, January 25, 1881

MILDRED'S BARGAIN

How long she was unconscious, Milly never knew. She awoke to find herself in a beautiful white bed, in a room she had never seen. All signs of the storm seemed shut out; there was a bright fire on the hearth; the room seemed full of pleasant shadows and flickering beams of light. Milly was only half conscious that some one spoke to her, and gave her something pleasant to drink. Then she drifted off again, with a pleasant confusion of fancies in her mind. When she next awoke, it seemed again to be evening, but she was conscious of a certain change in her surroundings. A little table was drawn near her; half-used medicine bottles were upon it; Deborah was sitting over by the fire, and Miss Jenner was standing in the window.

"Debby," she said, surprised to find her voice so weak; and then she lifted up her hand, and saw it was very thin.

"My blessed lamb!" cried the old woman, hastening to her side, followed quickly by Alice. "So you're better!"

Mildred found she had to keep still a long time before she could say any more. She nearly fell asleep again.

"Debby," she said presently, "is it long since I fainted? What time is it?"

"Oh, my lovey," said the old nurse, "you've lain in that blessed bed two weeks. You've been very ill, but, thank the Lord, you're better."

This was all Mildred knew for days. She had had a fever; and finding out the condition of things at the cottage, Miss Jenner had taken Mrs. Lee's affairs into her own hands. She had kept Milly, as a matter of course, had sent a good servant to care for Mrs. Lee, filled the store closet with every delicacy, and allowed Debby to watch and care for her "child," as she always called Mildred. Sometimes, as she lay still in her comfortable bed, Milly tried to recall the dreadful scene at Mr. Hardman's; and one evening, when she was sitting up for the first time before the fire, and after she had finished a dainty little supper; she ventured to ask Miss Jenner a few questions.

"Miss Jenner," she said, softly, "do you know all about it?"

"Yes," said Miss Jenner, smiling.

"And are they going to take me to court?"

"No," answered the elder lady, emphatically.

"But why not?" Milly persisted. "They said I stole that money."

"And I said you didn't," retorted Miss Jenner. "You let it all out in your fever, my dear. I think I understand it all."

"And you know – " faltered Mildred.

Miss Jenner smiled.

"Just see if I don't know," she said. "One evening a precious old humbug calling herself Widow Robbins came here to find you, and try and get out of you what you owed her – you did owe it, Milly – and my boy Roger was standing behind one of the trees, and heard the conversation; so he knew you were very badly off for twenty-two dollars, and as soon as he could scrape it together, what does he do but send it to you in a private note, saying you can pay it back to him when you like."

"Yes," said Mildred, eagerly, "I found that note one afternoon on my return home; but in it he bound me over not to speak of where I got the money until he came back. I felt dreadfully about it; but as soon as mother got well I intended telling her the whole story, and devising some way of paying Roger right back; and I will yet, Miss Jenner."

There was a moment's pause before Mildred said, "But how about the store – the robbery?"

"My dear," said Miss Jenner, "I am of the opinion that that was all arranged between Tom Hardman and Mrs. Robbins. I've seen her, and she admits she told him the whole story. He was angry because you seemed to snub him; and you made him feel his vulgarity, and so he devised this trick out of revenge. If there was any robbery, he was the thief!"

"And have you seen him?" inquired Milly, tears of gratitude and thankfulness pouring down her cheeks.

"Yes," said Miss Jenner, "and he and his father say the thing 'may blow over'; but that won't do for me. The first day you're well enough, you must drive down there in my carriage, and have them tell you they withdraw the accusation, and apologize for having made it. Now you must not talk any more." And Miss Jenner kissed her young friend, and moved away, taking up a book in a distant part of the room.

Mildred never forgot the two weeks that followed. With Miss Jenner she had long talks, in which she realized not only the folly of her extravagance, but the actual sin of her running into debt. A great many things which she had never thought of as serious now appeared to her in the light of principles, without which, as Miss Jenner told her, she could not live a perfect or even an upright life. When the day came on which she was declared well enough to drive with Miss Jenner to Mr. Hardman's, Mildred felt too humbled to rejoice in being received with any honor.

The girls looked at her, as she followed Miss Jenner into Mr. Hardman's office, nudging each other, and casting half-envious glances toward their former companion. Mary Hardman was nowhere to be seen, but Mr. Tom was with his father, and received Miss Jenner and Mildred with a stiff sort of pompousness. Miss Jenner had very little to say, and it was only later that Milly fully recalled the scene – Mr. Hardman's apologies, and Mr. Tom's surly assent. When they came back to the store, Milly paused to say a few words here and there, and as she walked away, it was some relief to hear a voice saying,

"Well, I'm glad it's all right; I never could believe it of Milly Lee."

When I knew Mildred Lee she was a woman of nearly thirty, and at the head of her own house; but the lesson of her girlhood had done her a lasting service. No one ever had it to say of her that she bought or used any article for which she could not at the moment pay, and her advice to young people was invaluable. When I knew her, her home was in the Brick House. Mrs. Lee did not long survive the serious illness of that winter, and Miss Jenner cared tenderly for the orphans her old friend's widow left.

Mildred speaks now with tears of gratitude of all the past, even of its miseries; and the gray silk dress, worn but once, and still brown with stains, is treasured as a memorial of the bargain by which Mildred purchased her high sense of honor.

FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN

I live 'way up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, five thousand feet above the sea. The snow here is four feet deep. My brother and I have lots of fun sliding down hill on snow-shoes. Our snow-shoes are made out of strips of wood about six feet long and four inches wide, with leather straps in the middle to put our toes in. The shoes that grown people use are from eight to fourteen feet long.

I am ten years old. My father takes Harper's Weekly, and we like to look at the pictures. He subscribed for Young People for us at the beginning of the second volume.

I am twelve years old. I like Young People very much, and all the scholars in my school like it. I get a copy every week because I am a good girl, and I wish every little girl would do the same.

We have taken Harper's Young People ever since it was published, and we think it grows better all the time. I enjoyed reading the letter from one of the party who visited Harper's Building, and I hope some time to see it all myself. I guess, if I am a girl, I should not be afraid, and "run away" from any of the machinery; anyhow, not from the folding-machines, for some of them are made right here in our own shop.

After we have read our Young People all through, we send the numbers to the Children's Hospital, so that the poor little ones there may have the pleasure of reading such a nice little paper.

I take Young People, and I like it very much. I was so sorry when the story of "Paul Grayson" was finished.

I am boarding in town and going to school this winter, but my home is about five miles away, in the country. I go out there every Friday night.

Yesterday I went out hunting. I have a double-barrelled shot-gun, which pa gave me for helping pick up potatoes. I have a horse and a saddle and bridle of my own, and in the summer I have to ride lots. Sometimes I ride thirty miles at a time.

I get up the cows, and take them out every day. In the summer we have school within half a mile of our house.

This is the first letter I ever wrote to the Post-office Box. Now I thought I would tell about the freezing of the Ohio River. Just below here it is frozen solid, and crowds of people skate on it every day. It is not frozen in front of Newport, because a steam ferry runs between here and Cincinnati, and the boats keep the ice broken. They do not allow it to get thick enough to hold people, because if it was, everybody would walk over without having to pay the ferry.

The Licking River, a very small tributary of the Ohio, is frozen over too, and I went skating on it yesterday.

We want to know who "Jimmy Brown" is. When papa read "Our Baby," mamma, my aunts, uncles, and cousins laughed until the tears ran down their cheeks.

I made me some arrows with pins stuck in them.

The Christmas number of Young People was the best of all.

I am a little boy eight years old. I commenced to take Young People last November, and I like it very much. I enjoy reading the little letters in the Post-office Box, and I like all of the stories. I think "Toby Tyler" is splendid.

I hope all the little folks who read Young People had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I was nine years old on the 7th of January. Papa has taken Young People for me ever since it began. He sent for a cover, and is having the first volume bound. I like it very much indeed.

I have had lots of sport coasting, and I will be very sorry when the snow is gone.

My home is in Factory Point, but I am up to my grandpa's now. He has got a big farm. He has fourteen cows and two calves. My papa is a doctor, and I have lots of rides with him. I am nine years old.

I thought I would write to the Post-office about the big spring in Indiana. It is called Harrison Spring, because it was owned by General Harrison when he was Governor of the Northwestern Territory. It looks like a very large pond, and is fifty-five feet deep in the centre. There are two streams flowing from it, which form an island, as they unite and form one stream at a little distance from the spring. About a mile farther on, this stream runs a saw-mill and a flour-mill. This spring is near the great Wyandotte Cave.

I have increased my collection of stamps from seventy-five to fifteen hundred by exchange. I think this is the grandest of all the departments of Young People. I would now like to exchange twenty-five foreign stamps for five birds' eggs. Correspondents will please label the eggs.

I would like to exchange Texas postmarks for minerals or postmarks. Or I will exchange an ounce of the soil of Texas for that of any other State.

I wish to inform those correspondents who desire to exchange minerals, shells, and curiosities with me, that I have changed my residence. My new address is,

I am a girl fourteen years old, but I am lame, and can not go out. I have a few crochet lace patterns which I would like to exchange for others. I would also like to exchange patterns of patchwork. If any little girl would like to know how to crochet a pair of doll's drawers, a jacket, or a petticoat, and will send me her address and a postage stamp, I will gladly answer her.

I have a list of every Indian tribe in the United States which I will give a copy of in exchange for Indian relics, foreign stamps, or postal cards.

I have some genuine Indian bows and arrows, some fine silver and copper specimens, and a great number of Lake Superior agates, which I should like to exchange for shells and ocean curiosities.

The following exchanges are also offered by correspondents:

A fifty-cent and a twenty-five cent stamp, for two Cape of Good Hope stamps.

Fine samples of gold ore, showing the stages of concentration or separation of quartz from the precious metal, for rare postage stamps. In answering, correspondents will please specify stamps.

Postmarks.

A piece of the first Atlantic cable for an American copper cent of 1799, or the half-cent of 1836, 1843, or 1852; or one Spanish and one English coin and two French coins for the American twenty-cent piece of 1877 or 1878.

Lead or iron ore, and specimens of different varieties of quartz, for foreign postage stamps, skulls of small animals, ocean curiosities, petrifactions, and minerals of all kinds; or a piece of silver ore for a collection of the different varieties of stamps now in use in Canada.

Foreign postage stamps for stones from the different States.

We do not consider the above address sufficient. Correspondents who reside in large cities should always give their street and number, or the number of their post-office box.

Postmarks and stamps for stamps.

Rare postmarks for any variety of South American postage stamps or United States department stamps.

Stamps and postmarks in use in 1852, also some of 1869, for foreign postage stamps or curiosities of any kind.

Texas flints, pretty stones, snail shells, postmarks, stamps, specimens of different kinds of wood, petrified wood, cotton as it comes from the field, cotton seeds, or seeds of the "Indian plume," for foreign postage stamps, or good specimens of minerals and ores of all kinds.

Soil and sand from Ohio for soil and sand from any other State or Canada; or an Indian arrow-head two and a half inches long, together with a specimen of Ohio soil, for twenty-five foreign postage stamps.

Foreign postage stamps for United States Navy or Justice stamps.

Soil from Missouri or Texas for soil from any other State; or a stone from Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, or Georgia for one from any other State.

Postage stamps and postmarks for winter skins of wild animals, or for stuffed birds.

Birds' eggs.

Minerals, fish eyes from China, or West India beans, for minerals or any kind of curiosities.

A carved shell, some seeds from the Sandwich Islands, or stones from Lake Michigan, for any foreign postage stamps except English and German. Chinese stamps especially desired.

Postmarks and revenue stamps.

Stones from New Jersey for stones from any other State or Territory except Colorado and Wyoming.

Two different War Department stamps and thirty postmarks for sea-weed, or the same, together with some moss and pretty shells, for a piece of stalagmite.

J. W. – The earliest calendars, as the Jewish, the Egyptian, and the Greek, did not begin the year where we do now; and the Jewish year, which opened on the 25th of March, continued to have a legal position in many Christian countries until a comparatively recent period. In England, it was not until 1752 that the 1st of January became the initial day of the legal, as it had long been of the popular, year. Several other countries made this change earlier than England – France in 1564, Scotland in 1600, Holland and Russia in 1700.

The Roman calendar, which made January the first month of the year, is credited to the second King of Rome, Numa Pompilius, more than six hundred years b. c. He added two months to the ten into which the year had been previously divided, and called the first one Januarius, in honor of Janus, the deity supposed to preside over doors.

Our Saxon ancestors originally called this the Wolf-month (Wolf-monat), because wolves were more than usually ravenous and daring in that season of the year.

A. T. G. – Snow crystals were first observed by the arctic explorer Scoresby, and for a time they were supposed to be peculiar to the polar regions. It was found, however, that these crystals were formed wherever snow falls. An interesting account of these beautiful formations, with engravings of many of them, was given in Young People No. 15.

F. T. B. – When metal pins were invented and brought into use, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were a very acceptable New-Year's gift to ladies, and money given for the purchase of them was called "pin-money" – an expression which has come to mean the money set apart for a wife's private expenses.

Inquisitive Jim. – The best account of Petra, the wonderful rock-hewn city of Arabia, is to be found in Stephens's book of travels called Egypt, Petra, and the Holy Land. The present name of the little valley where it was situated is Wady Musa. The city, shut in by high cliffs, occupied an area of about half a mile square. The valley is watered by a stream, and the principal entrance is through a deep ravine, with rugged cliffs 300 feet high on each side. In ancient times Petra was a very strong city. It is mentioned in the Bible under the name of Selah, and received its present name, which signifies rock, from the Greeks, about 300 b. c. It was finally destroyed, by whom is not known, and was not heard of after the sixth century a. d. until it was discovered in 1812 by the traveller Burckhardt. The ruins, consisting of tombs, a theatre, temple, etc., are very interesting and picturesque.

W. H. J. – If your puzzles are good, and suitable for our columns, they will be accepted. We can not judge of the merits of the enigma you have already sent, as you neglected to inclose the answer. The nom de plume you have chosen is not good, but you can easily invent a better one.

Lillie. – The introductory paragraph to the Post-office Box of No. 45 explains why your request for exchange is not printed.

O. H. Bruce. – 1. The United States government began the coinage of one-cent pieces in 1793. 2. In 1815, none were coined. 3. The last coinage of large one-cent pieces was in 1857. 4. The coinage of two-cent pieces began in 1864, and the last issue was in 1872. 5. The coinage of the nickel five-cent pieces began in 1865. 6. In 1864, both copper and nickel cents were coined. This double coinage did not happen in any other year.