The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-06-25
JENNIE ROCHESTER,,

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JENNIE ROCHESTER,. -. . :.
BIZ SUSAN NICHOLS CARTER. <szz
!. .,zi,,,,, From the Riverside Magazine. :
When I first knew, jennie sRoch.
ester, she was a funny little child
brown eyes, that iookeitdf Tkitf sSeft ss Il sGft fat
young soul behind them were think
ing and wondering a great DEAL
She had tinny hands, and feet, and
was altogether one Of the smallest
girls OF her age that I ever saw.
Her brown hair was usually put up
IN curl-papers in. front and huug in
two little braids-tails she called
them-dOWn her back, except when
she was dressed in the afternoon,
with her locks unbraided into soft
fleece over her shoulders. She wore
about the, yard, where she spent
much Of her time, q little yellow sun
bonnet, and a long sleeved tire,
reaching nearly to her feet.
When I first saw her mnch, it was
in the spring Of the year. and she
had a black kitten, which she car
ried about, in her: arms, nearly
all day, while she hunted for dande-
lions, and, after the flowers were
gone, for the seed puffs that follow
them. She used to be very fond Of
playing with a: boy named Harry,
and the two children chased butter.
t1les together; bnt when one flew to-
wards Jennie, she was frightened,
and screamed out, and thought. it
was going to hurt her; and later in
the season, in the nights when the
mosquitoes were about and bit her in
her, sleep she would cry out, "the
butterflies are biting me.''n p, ...:
Jennie had an old black nurse
named Liza, who often set her up in
the middle of the great white kitch-
en- table. by the window, and told
her stories about robins and their
wives, and how they built their
houses, and about God and the an
gels. Liza, like many old black
woman, had had, and still contin-
ned to have, a great many troubles
about her children who had got lost
from her, and she grieved a good
deal for her son William who was
dead. So when she felt lonely and
sad, she went out into an old open
shed and sat down in a dim corner,
on an old beam, in a partition made
by a couple of joists, and took out
her stump of clay pipe and smoked
it,, while she rested her elbow on her
knee and her chin in her hand, look
ing very dusky and f0rlorn. Il.
Jennie, who was seldom long
away from her, would call, "Liza,
Liza ~ and come running to bring
her some little flowers. But when
she found Liza so still, she seemed
overcome with, awe. and impressed
with sympathy, and would sit down
by her, Between the next two joists,
and rest her. little elbow on her knee
and put her little soft chin into her
small white nand, and mediate too.
eej One day Jennie was made exceed
.ingly happy, because Liza, who was
very fond Of her, bought her q clay
pipe like her own and after that,
Jennie, when she found Liza smo-
king in the shed, always ran and
brought her pipe and filled the
bowl with bits Of paper, and pre-
tended to smoke it, and muse just as
Liza did,, The only trouble she had
with it was, that it would sometimes
turn over in her little rosy mouth,
and spill out all her paper.ea While
she was making believe smoke, she
felt just like Liza, but was not one
bit, for she was as soft and fair and
white, as Liza was black and. wrin-
kled and Liza looked like an old
gnarled tree, and Jennie like a little
rose. .ts}' -. .i5 I'd se7ew I
Her mother was often afraid that
Jennie might some time be. tempted
to light her .'bacco, ,''ass she called the
paper in he pipe; bnt she was q very
honest child, and very obedient, and
never did what she had promised
not todo, and she never really tried
to smoke, I believe. e., ssG. Z
+ The house where Jennie lived was
an Old-fashioned brick one, somewhat
in decay, and infested with rats,
which made a great noise They
rummaged in the cupbords and tip
ped over the pans, and 'pnshed pota-
toes, and even 'squashes, down from
the shelves of the closet on the floor.
they troubled Jennie's mother very
much, and almost every day she had
something to say about the rats
She used to fret and scOld about them
and declare how she hated them, al
ways speaking Of them as if they
were something very fearful and
disagreeable;2 but Jennie never saw
them, because she was 5alwaysin bed
and and asleep herself before they
began their reve1s. But she knew
they We're very bad, naughty crea-
lures, and I Isupp0se she thought
they were big and ugly. Well one
day Jennie's mother wanted to 20
to the cellar to look at some pre-
serves, and as Jennie was in the
room she wanted to 20 too. Her
mother took a lighted candle with
her. for the cellar was dark, and
went down stairs, Jennie following
closely behind. She set the lamp on
the floor and began examining the
covers of the cans, to see that they
were all tight. # .....-.s...'
NJ Jennie, who stood by her, sudden
" grasped her dress as II alarmed at
something. This attracted i her
mother'sa attention., who looking
down, saw the little girl staring
with her great brown eyes, and her
whole face full Of terror, at her own
black shadow on the wall, which
was moving gr0tesquely with her
| movements Hn,. l,nnfhor ,,,ooSter