Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-07-17
IPSIE.
BY II. A. BERTON.

..
slsslppl, on either bank of which, as fa1
as the eye could reach, was a thicket OF
young cottoAwoOd-t trees. When the river
was low, a bantt of brown mud separated
the changeless yellow of the water from
the unvarying green of the c0ttonWoods
when the river was high, the brown mud
disappeared, and less than usual of the
green was visible. No other diversity OF
landscape was noticeable or possible
When one turned from the natural fea-
lures of the Bend to it's society, the same
conservatism was found. The inhabi
tants, exclusive of animals and chickens,
were three-Sam Kavvery, Mrs. KavVery,
and their daughter Mary Jane.
Once in a while, Sam went hunting
once month he walked to Larkey S
Cross Roads, five miles off, to trade skins,
furs, and cotton, for sugar, coffee,
sites Of life; occasionally he cultivated a
little corn and, cotton, and killed a Pig
but the few people who came to the Bend
were pretty sure to find Sam On a bench
in front of the house, smoking sercnely,
and tenderly cherishing one knee.
Mrs. Kavvery, with cob-pipe in her
mouth, could generally be found before
the fire, watching the cookery when any
was going on), and reading Benson's
Commentaries, and other good books,
when she was at leisure.
But Mary Jane, nicknamed Ipsie, was
not a creature of such admirable regulari-
ty; in fact, her good mother occasionally
remarked, with some Impotence, "'Ston-
ishin', the places that gal ken find to be in
when she's wanted for anythin'!" There
were no neighbors within five miles; so
Ipsie had formed a confidential acquaint-
anceship with certain of the dogs and
chickens. She examined her fathers fish
lines half dozen times day, and threw
them out again in frightful tangles; sat in
her fathers skitf, and caught the rollers
sent in by passing steamboats, carved
gourds into bird-houses, and climbed into
all sorts of breakneck places to locate
Them and made lively use of the few re-
naming resources of the Bend.
Where Ipsie found the light Of her eyes,
and the bloom of her cheeks, and the ten
der lines at the corner of her mouth, was
a mystery; but girls are always finding
such things in outof-the way places; per
haps they were given her for the purpose
of proving that, unlikely as it might seem,
the Lord had really visited Biggin's Bend
1t was equally mystery where she learn
ed what little she knew The Cross
Roads G0atdl0n-blessed be scissors =
occasionally told her of ladies clothed I'M
like herself, and of men different from
any Of the angular tObacCO-chewers who
occasionally struggled into the Bend
And once IN a while, at night, some en-
terprising engineer would drive his boat
staggering past the Bend, with two great
yellow sparkling streamers trailing across
the silver and black of the sky, leaving
lpsie's great dark eyes dreaming for a
week. Occasionally boat would touch
at the Bend to take or leave q passenger
belonging at the Cross Roads; and then
from behind q friendly tree, Ipsie would
see, perhaps, two Or three pretty children
playing on the guards perhaps a lady with
"a dress not Of calico or the Cross Roads
style, or perhaps a bride, with eyes and
hair like her own, leaning on the shoulder
of some one WAC did not look the least bit
like any OF the boys at the Cross Roads
For several years there had been slowly
working, through the miasma and tobac-
co-smoke which enveloped Sam Kavvery's
mind, the idea that his daughter might be
in need Of advantages not afforded at the
Bend; and the effect of long thought on this
subject worked Sam up to such pitch,
that he one day took his pipe from his
mouth, and said F.
M 'riar, somethin' ort to be done for
Ips''
I know it, Sam" replied his wife.
Then, after the manner of most people
acqulesclng III any statement, they felt as
if they had done their duty
But ideas are restless, even on the Mis-
slsslppi; and the resistless power of truth
was demonstrated by the fact that, six
months later, Sam kavvery took his pipe
from his mouth, and SAID:
M riar, sOmcthin ort to be done for
Ipsie"
And M'riar again replied:
Il know it, SAM
Sam pulled a few minutes longer, and
then astonished the echoes of Biggin's
Bend by asking:
"What's ii to be?"
> And M'riar again faced the situation,
and said:
That's the question"
Nj 'rlar went further; she gave vent to
an opinion she had held for many years,
by remarking:
"She needs religion"
His wife's words awoke in Sans mind
the memory of gamblers, steamboat cap
tains, tiatboatmen, and other sinners he
had known; and a mental view of Ipsie,
standing among these, affected him so
powerfully that he concentrated great
deal OF Indignation, pity and contempt
into the single word:
s ''Mebber
Mrs. kavvery had no idea of arguing
with her husband; but, to stay her own
soul in the faith, she repeated as solemnly
as cracked voice would allow:
sAll mankind is born in sin, an by ma
tur under the wrath"
Sam kavvery astOnished his wife bv
actually speaking before she had finished
her quotation.
"M'riar," said he, that wuz writ fur
deck hands and the boys at the Cross
Roads; but .psie amt mankind at all.
She's a woman. or gOin to be; an semo
day she'll want husband, an she ort to
hev good 'un Her mother got good
fur-nothin' shote; an one in famly's"-
Just here Sam was interrupted; for
love, whose wings seem as much at home
In tobacco-smoke as in the perfumed air
OF rose-gardens, prompted Mrs. Kavvery to
get up and lay great kiss right across
her husbands lips.
Eff she gets ez good man as her
mother did, she'll do we'll" said Mrs.
kavvery, as soon as her lips were olsen
gagged from their rather unusual occupa-
ton. "An' yet" she continued, her dim
eyes looking shade more weary than
ever, 81 don't want no daughter O. mine
to spend all her days ez mine hes ben.
faint no fault o. yourn, Sam"
But Sam felt guilty; and, never having
studied logic, he did not know how to