Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-12-28

and, moreover compromised our char.
acter tor valor in Minis eyes. On the
whole he was not popular with us, and
evidently he was prescribed by nurse
Stark herself, on a charge of filling the
nursery candle with gunpowder which
exploded and burned poor little MIN s
eyebrows and eyelashes. Casper
eventually got into trouble about some
original draughts of his own compost
ton, which he supplied to his masters
patients as healing waters, made up in
accordance with that gentleman's pre-
scriptions and spent several years in a
refOrmat0ry.
1 have dismal impression of the
wretched afternoon that MIN and Joe
and used to spend together in our
great bare play.room. We were locked
III by Nurse Stark at about every at.
tern0on, and not released until 7,when
we had supper and as the shadows
deepened and the fire got lower and
lower, we crowded together in cor
ner for warmth, and told each other
strange stories about princes and
noblemen who were tortured by cruel
and vlndlctive page-boys, with an &C.
caslonal touch from Joe Paulby upon
caverns, demons, vampires, and other
ghostly matters, until poor little MIN
screamed aloud with terror.
She was a pretty, fragile, sweet
tempered, clinging little soul, far too
delicate for the coarse, inconsiderate
treatment to which she was subjected,
in common with ourselves. So at last
che became seriously i'll, and we no.
ticed that the poor child grew thinner
and paler in her cot, day after day,
day after day. She was very cheer
full, although so weak, and when the
tall, grave, kind doctor came-day
after day, at first, and then toward the
last flor she died) two or three times
a day-she would say, in reply to his
question, ''And how is our little
Etchel!'' that she was much better,
and hoped in day or two to be qnite
well again. After a time she was re-.
moved to another room, which was al
ways darkened, and to which we were
seldom admitted, and Only one at a
time. An odd change seemed to come
over us all.
Nurse Stark was quite kind now, and
used to read to her (but now about
good children who lived and were very
happy, and tell stories and make beef
tea for her, and turn the cold side of
the pillow to her poor little fevered
head. And the oldest part of the
thing was that nurse Stark was kind to
lis too, and used to come of her own
accord to tell us how Min was, (she
was always little Detter), and OF the
messages she had sent to us, and how
she seemed to take new interest in
the toy she had once discarded. And
then sho would take us to the sick
room, one at time, and we were al
lowed to speak to her but afterward
only to sit on the edge Of the bed lit
was such big bed now, and hold her
little dry hand. Joe Paulby would
! come back crying ut was a strange
thing to see him cry an: it touched me
as it touches me now to see q big man
in tears). and he would spend his half
pence they were rare enough, poor.
fellow--in picture books for our poor
little dying wife. But a time came
when even the picture books were for.
hidden, and then the whole house was
enjoined to silence, and the grave doc.
tor--graver now than ever--came and
went on tiptoe. And ii we stole to the
little girls bedroom, as we often did,
we were pretty sure to find the great
hard nurse Stark in tears, or with
traces of tears upon her face; and
once when Joe and crept down to the
little room, and looked in at the half
open door, we saw the shadow of nurse
Stark on her knees, thrown by the
Pickering freight on the wall. Then
we knew that the end was near.
| One day Capt. Paulby came home
earlier than usual, looking very grave
and with him came the kind doctor,
and with them another doctor, an
older man, but also very kind. They
went up into little Minis room, and
they staid so long that Joe and l stole
down from our cold, dark play-room to
hear, if we could, the reason of his
uncle's unexpected return. And Joe
and I cried as if our hearts would
break, for our dear little wife was dy.
ing.
Capt. Paulby came out of the room.
and, seeing us in the passage, told us
quite kindly to go back to the play
room. Joe Psulby went, but begged
Capt. Paulby to let me see my dear
little playmate once more; and,
alarmed by my excited manner and
my choking sobs, he admitted me.
had not seen her for two days, and
she was greatly changed. She looked
so little in that big bed that the two
doctors and Capt. Paulby and Narse
Stark seemed absolutely gigantic as
they all bent, silently and without mo.
ton, over the little child. think we
must have remainhd so for nearly two
hours, the silence undisturbed except
by an occasional whispsr from one Of
the doctors and sob from Nurse
Stark. When I first went into the
dark room Ethel was asleep, but even
tually she recognized me, and begged
to be allowed to kiss me, and she was
nearly quite we'll. They laid me on
the bed by her side, and her little thin
arms were placed around my neck land
there we lay motionless, both of us, in
deep, deep silence. At length l be.
came conscious of movement among
the doctors. and then a loud ringing
wall from Nurse Stark told me that
my little wife was quite, quite we'll
again.
Several Reasons Why Sam johnson was
Fined Voting Otter.
From the San Antonio Herald.
81 reckon, johnson, I'll have to fine
you little. The Eastern question is
dying out, the Presidential excitement
has boiled down, now we all know the
infamous designs of P. Cooper have
been foiled in the bud, and l must do
something to keep the people of. the