The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-03-09

home, for fiuttering fragment OF cloth BY
the roadside soon caught Maggie's eye
/. and then Bob espied small piece o
Jacket that some marauding boy had lef
on a fence. nail when he climbed into ,
ncichboring orchard. So by the time thu
children reached the little house WHERE
grandma and Aunt Prissy were beginning
to watch anxiously for them, they ,hat
various odds and ends slowed away il
their pockets-the beginning Of theil
fortune.
Bob placed on empty box in an out-of
the-way corner of the old shed, and there
they carried their treasures. The work
of gathering went on bravely. 1t wa
wonderful how ready the children always
were to COON errands for Aunt Prissy, anG
how fond they were of taking walks
when there were no errands for them to do
Their eyes were very keen, t0o,I search
ing for every fluttcring shred by the way
side. - -:Ne.o 7-I>% 50 /
Nobody who hadn't tried picking 'cn
up could tell how many rags were lying
about everywhere" Maggie said - :
And day by day their store increased
until at last the box was full. That was
an eventful day when Bob carried them
OFT for sale. He slipped away quietly
with his load, and Maggie watched from
the window in fever of Impotence un
til he returned, and then danced out tc
meet him and hold consultation in the
old shed.
"Twenty- five cents! A whole twenty
five cents! Where'll we put ?" she said
1t was carefully rolled in piece Of pa
per and placed behind one Of the great
beams of the shed for safe keeping. Then
the children began the task of filing up
the box again. They worked faithfully
and cheerfully, with tolerable success,
too; but still the weeks were going by and
the weather was growing colder. Chill
ing winds blew up from the river and
scattered the brown and yellow leaves
from the trees; and the toes that looked
out of Bob's shoes were growing red and
cold. So when the next boxful Of rags
had been sold Bob looked down at the
money and said, thoughtfully:
| :" wish it was more but don't.know
but we'd better send it off now. Maggie,
fore the weather gets any colder. We do
want things so, and it's getting most win
ter"
"Well," assented Maggie, chr. Jerry
said they'd send lot more like it-that's
Just what he said and this is fifty cents, and
if they send a lot more fifty cents we'll have
ever so much! We'd have had sixty, you
know, only we saved out ten cents to buy
paper to write our letter with"
I" wish somebody would tell me where
the Treasury is" said Bob.
"Oh l wouldn't bother about that! I'd
send it right to the Governor" answered
Maggie, cheerfully. "He knows where
it is and how to 40 it, or he wouldn't have
been telling the folks here. And it won't
be much trouble for him to get the money
for us. Mebby that's what Governors are
for"
| That seemed reasonable, and the plan
was adopted. But such work as it was to
write that letter. Day after day, in all
the spare hours, the two heads, faxen and
brown, were bent over it; and they had
used five sheets of paper-their entire
stock-bcfore they were satisfied
! DEAR Mr.. GOVERNOR: We are little boy
and girl. We live with our Aunt Prissy and
grandma. Aunt Prissy sews for q living;
and so does grandma, but she's lame. We
wanted to hear your speech about hard
times, for We have real hard times at our
house; but we couldn't hear much, cause
there was such crowd. So we asked a man,
and he said if We sent psper-rag money to
the Treasury they'd send us q lot more
money. We don't know the Treasury, and
won't you please to get a lot more for our fifty
cents. IFS every bit paper-rag money, for
we picked up the rags everywhere and sold
them ourselves. Please get as much as you
can, cause we want shoes and shawls and
things real bad. Please to send the letter
just to us, for We want to surprise grandma
and Aunt Prissy. They dou't know. Please
excuse this long letter and the mistakes. No
more at present
Your two friends truly,
ROBERT AND MAGGIE WOODS.
That was the way the letter read when 1t
was all Strengthened out; but it needed a
good deal Of Strengthening, for it was
partly printed, partly written and very
curiously spelled. But the two children
looked at it with great admiration when
it was placed in an envelope and directed
to the "Governor of Illinois,"
"What if it should get lost somewhere
and never get to him!" questioned Bob
in burst OF anxiety.
Maggie's face clouded for a moment,
then Frightened.
| "God can take care of it. He knows
how much grandma needs shawl, and
| yOn some ShOeS"--
And how you haven't got any warm
stockings" added Bob, glancing down at
the little bare ankles.
Eyes, He knows, and Pm just sure HI
cares, and we Can ask Him every night to
make the letter 60 straight"
1t was stamped and dropped into the
| POstOfhce when no one saw. And then
how long the time seemed before an
answer could possibly come to them!
mot tor a whole four days." said Bob.
The four days ended at last, and then
they began to visit the Postoffice and in
quire alxiously for letter; but five, sil
days and a whole week besides went by
before any answer came. 1t would take
too long to tell all that happened to theil
letter-how one saw it and smiled, and
another read it and laughed, and it really
reached the Governor himself; and how
some of his friends laughed at him for the
effect his great speech had wrought. But
there were kind hearts among them all
and one after another contributed some
thing; SO when Bob and Maggie really
got letter they found in it crisp new
twenty dollar bill.
ooh! it's the splendidest, splendidest
splendidest thing that ever happened!
cried Maggie, with her hands clasped fol
thankfulness, while she jumped up and
down for joy. And Bob only Rugged thu
money speechlcssly. They could notre
the letter very we'll, but they carried tina
and their treasure to Aunt Prissy; ane
how she did laugh and cry as they tolt
her the whole story. I think the one whe
| wrote the letter must have had little
boy and girl of his own, it was SO very
kind:
DEAR CHILDREN:r .~-.
The one who told you about the "paper-raI
money" could not have understood you, O
else you did not understand him, for YOU
have made a mistake. But think you
Aunt can explain that to you when you show
her this. However, the Governor is very glat
that you wanted to hear his speech, and h,
thinks that two little children who are 81
kind and industrious now will make goot
I citizens by and by. So he and one or two o
his.friends send you twenty dollars, hoping
it may buy the shawl and shoes and that yol
will greatly enjoy them.
"But don't see any mistake about it
What did Mr.. Jerry meant" asked Bob
when Aunt Prissy stopped reading.
:" I can hardly tell" dear. / suppos,
he must have thought that you had som,