Her Adopted Parents

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Her grief is intense, accountable perhaps by the years of companionship with her parents, whom she mourns, and probably by the fact that she has remained a spinster to prevent possible separation from those she loved. Regularly at each meal served in her home the woman has two seats for the loved ones as if they were in the same places they occupied at the table when living. This she seems to do religiously as a sort of memorial. The depression of loneliness becomes so great she buys a small house in the country where she can spend her summers. The house is occupied by an old couple who are so reduced in circumstances they arc dispossessed and obliged to go to the poorhouse. The maiden lady, who has now moved into the place, learns about the old couple from a neighbor. She goes to the poorhouse to see them. She is deeply and favorably impressed with the old people, and in memory to her parents and a desire for companionship she asks the couple to become her adopted parents and make their home with her. The old gentleman is willing that his wife should go with her, but with becoming independence prefers to stay at the public institution. The old lady goes home with her foster daughter, but cannot bear to be separated from her husband. She sneaks out of the house at night and returns to the poorhouse and her life partner. She left a note telling her good friend that she has gone to join her husband. The good woman discovers the absence of her adopted parent, funds the note, upbraids herself for separating the old folks, and immediately goes to them and tells them she wants them both to live with her. She persuades them to accept her as their daughter, and they are all back in the old couple's home of many happy years, to remain in still greater happiness for the balance of their lives under the adoption and care of a daughter whose love and respect for her own parents made her love and respect others.