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Newspaper Page Text
"ALL IN THE FAMILY" By Victor Redcliffe. "One foot in the grave and the oth er on a bananapeel that's Jabez Thorpe, to my way of thinking." "Exactly my opinion. A man of his age crossing the ocean! Never was a hundred miles away from his own hearthstone before. It's a terrible risk he is taking!" Thus gossiped the neighbors of the reputed wealthy proprietor of Thorpe Farm. It was an echo of the current chatter of the village When Asleep With His Feet on the Table. hard-fisted, miserly old Jabez Thorpe announced that he was going to Eng land to settle the estate of a distant relative, it had been a nine days' won der. It had been reported that the in terest of old Jabez in the estate was uncertain. He was a fighter, however, and strenuously declared that he was going to see to it that he got his rights. Thorpe Farm was not the pleasant- est place in the world. It had a pretty faii house on it, but poorly furnished. As Thorpe grew olderhe had enclosed three acres near the house, and; rented out the rest of his land. Ten years previous he had adopted the child of a second cousin, Nellie Thorpe. She had grown into his life more of a comfort, guide and support than he realized. It was when he came to give up to Nellie the entire charge of his business dur ing his absence, that he began to un derstand how much he depended on her. If Nellie felt that he was load ing down upon her a vast responsi bility, she reflected upon the grati tude she owed him. Jabez Thorpe . had given her a shelter when she was homeless, and she took up her new duties seriously, but with her bright little heart full of confidence and cheer. "It is not so hard as I fancied," Nellie wrote to Evan Pearson, her lover, who was filling a clerkship in another town. "A sister of the man who rents the west farm is seeking, to restore her broken health through sunshine, garden work and good food. She helps me with the milking and chickens daytimes, and sta'yB at the lonely old homestead nights. Uncle Jabez does not know that I am keeping right on with my little busi- ness. I want to prove to him what a busy housekeeper I am when he re turns. Besides that, I must fit my self for our own home long, long ahead, dear, but sure to come if you long for it as I do." Nellie's "business" was selling milk and eggs. Her exacting relative had cut down to a minimum as to household expenses, but the eco-, nomical little housekeeper had man-; aged to save something even out of. that. As to the eggs and milk, at the end of a month, Nellie's book-, keeping showed such splendid re--suits that she worked with added r pleasure and interest. Then there was an interruption sad, sudden and overwhelming. The . steamer in which Abner Thorpe had sailed on his hpmeward trip was. re-' RfrJ&dkaa g&Sg