The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-11-19
WRITTEN FOR THE ST. CLOUD JOURNAL
THE VACANT PARISH.
A Story Founded on Facts.
CHAPTER II.

CHAflER III.
GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF FEW THINGS AND
:AFEw PERSONS.
On the day after my arrival came
the important i duty of selecting = !
"help," asservants are called, hindro's.
ces as they often are. Several applied
in answer to our advertisement
in the county paper, put in by
my thoughtful husband week
in advance. One would like to see
her "apartments." Shown them, she
disdainfully rejected both them and
ne with a toss Of the head and an
elevation Of the nose, and formally
and with q sweeping stage curtesy,
withdrew her application. Another
regretted exceedingly" that she could
not "accept my terms" A third OBJ
jected to amount of work"-amount
of work for family of two! made
me smile. I afterwards heard that
she had gone into family of eight,
and am thoroughly convinced to this
day that the only object with which
she answered our advertisement was
to .''spy out the land :" in other words
see what the "new woman" who had
"come from the South" had; what
she looked like; and whether she
walked on her feet like other civilized
Christians or quadruped fashion. But
why continue the category? I at last
succeeded in getting the services Of .
damsel Of sixteen, d fa1en-haired,
blue-eyed imp, the daughter of prai-
rie sovereign who had "come West"
squatted, built a cabin Of four logs
crossed in the shape Of a house,
blazed dozen or so trees, dug a hole
and poured in peck Of corn, slept
one night on the premises, under an
impromptu canopy Of oak boughs, on
an impromptu bed of dry leaves, piled
up on an impromtu stead of poles,
and was thereat and thereupon, oc-
cording t5 the Homestead Law which,
according to Henry Clay's celebrated
Irishism made every man "his own
seamstress and washerwoman," freely,
legally and inalienably seized in in
dubitable fee simple of the tract Of
which he had thus taken such primi-
lively simple possession. All that re-
mained for the pioneer now to do was
| to file his claim and in due time pay
the government price and he was "sot
up for life. My help was, Is I said,
the promising daughter of this Amer
lean sovereign. The first time she set
the table I noticed, with horror indie
scribable, that she put on three plates,
three cups and saucers, and in fsct 9
triklet Of every thing belonging to the
table paraphernalia. Upon being in
terrogated as to this waste of msteri.
al, she quietly informed me that the
extra plate was for herself-didn't
I expect her to have any breakfast
Surely, said I, you don't expect to eat
at the same table as my husband and
I? She naively replied that she did.
All the girls eat with the family, said
she. Sad and almost fearful I left
the room to consult my husband, who
laughed At me and my dilemma i'm
moderately while the tears ran dow1
his long brown beard, like the oint
ment down the beard of Aaron. The
result of our council of war up stair
was that I should 60 reason with tn
enemy down stairs and endeavo
by moral suasion and other feminin
arts to reduceho to terms. It was Al
ugly foe to attack. rosay that Idread
ed the mission was bound on, as
dragged my feet slowly after me
> with my heel cracking the edge Q
every step in deep meditation as t
= what quarter I should make the a
!, sault from, what was probably tn
weak point in the enemy's camp, ON
in what manner of domestico-militar
tactics I should marshal my forces an
how long I. could with safety sdefe
the charge, would be far from th
truth. trembled literally in bod
Of and fguratively in mind, at the pro
Dr. pect. If every flaxen hair of h
aaxen name had been q gun bristlin
from the ramparts, could not ha,
approached the castle with muc
y, greater fear and trepidation. I wa
of course, afraid Of offending her {; f
ty she would have left me in sad strai
IT if she had deserted on the spot, but
carry the day I was determined, &C
"a what it might. As l. reached (
81 s<ss.E..: 5z:1s !: II Il r 10