Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-06-12

| look her up; so one afternoon / started
on my quest, inquiring my way as |
went, and being thus led on and on a
mile or SO out on the country road.
[ stopped at length at one of two ad-
joining shanties. A cOalblack girl of
fifteen was steadied against the door
post, square in front of whom leaned 4
second girl Of half her size; IN front of
number two, and a half her size again,
was child-sex undetirmined-in pre-
cisely the same position All three were
gazing steadily out into space. There
was in the attitudes of these children a
rigid immobility that was absolutely
statuesque. And when half an hour later
| came out from paying my visit to Gym
thia, there they were still, that oddly
composed group. should say they had
not twitched muscle. 'Children,
have you been standing there ever since
| went imp And they replied in chorus,
alphabetically, awe has, missy" 1t was
from them l learned that Cynthia Lane
lived next door,
Cynthia's son, Marcellus Hall (why
Hall never gleaned-surnames are Gu
riously bestowed among the race; Gym
thia had been the wife of but one hus-
band y opened the door for me, present
ing military appearance in an ancient
blue soldiers overcoat. | found Gym
thia herself in bed when | had CROPPED
my way up to the low room under the
roof where she lay, invested with GER
tain dignifed composure, the white
"polonaise having returned to its orig
inal duty. There was blank look in
her almost sightless eyes-the one had
failed in sympathy with the other; but
she recognized me as soon as | spoke.
cts missy. De Lor' reward her for
comm Aunty won't las much longer.
onless my chile kin help me-"
a hope I can, Aunt Cynthia"
cts de spell. chile. 1t keeps a-goin'
roun' an roun' in my head, a-dustin'
an a-dustin', till de dus' come out Oh
my ears an sits troo cherry ting. Look
at desc sheets, chile, and dis kerchies l
has roun' my head. All ober dus."
| looked closely, deceived for the mo-
ment. "Aunt Cynthia, [ see no dust"
She became excessively excited. Her
voice shook, her hand trembled. ooh
yes, my baby, dere is dus'; an, if you
can't help me, honey, I'll go on a-dus-
| I'LL dl d-uuStlll Olllll L ali tltlIo W
dus'."
"What is it you want me to do, Aunt
Cynthia?"
az wants you to spatch to de women
as laid me under de spell. 1t war dis
away. She bore me gredge. She
said [ had TUX her washin' away from
| her, which my ole mistis had glib it to
me, bekase, she said, she liked my cla-
starchin' better'n her'n. So what does
she do but she knits stockin', an she
knits charm into it, an den she puts it
into my way when l is at de wash-tub.
an [ washes oh it long oh my odder
pieces, an de smell OBJ it goes up my
nose, an [ rubs it like into my skin, an
so de spell got onto me"
"But, Aunt Cynthia, indeed"
"My blessed chile! my chile, don't
say sech tings. Aunty know what she
a-talkin' about, an missy must not say
any odder way. 1t goes roun' an roun'
in my pore ole head, a-dustin' an a-dus-
tin night an day. Jes' you go to dat ar
trunk in de corner; its full oh dus'. De
dus' sift troo cherry ting-sift troo all de
close in de trunk. So thick ar, chile,
you could write your name all ober
cherry ating.''
The trunk was in apple-pie order
not speck of dust. The few garments
that it contained were Immediately
white. But was beginning to under
stand that arguments was worse than
useless. " You were saying, Aunt Gym
| thia, that you wanted me to send dis
patch; tell me about it"
II want to 'spatch to Mary Ann Hol-
| lday. She live in Washington now:
Jes' you go to de office an 'spatch. An
jes' you wait dere until de answer come.
'Spatch to her what misery is in. She
is de one dat laid me under de spell.
See what she say"
But Washington is great city, Gym
thia. The message would never reach
her unless you could give me the street
and number"
A long pause, restless and agitated
Il rekon missy are right. But eff you
could 'spatch to her, dat sartinly would
be de savin" oh me-"
My own impression was that she was
sick unto death, not of dust, but Of
cold on her lungs, and the next time
came [ brought her medicine for that
She took the medicine, but still coughed
on. and still the burden Of her song was
the horrible mill in her head that kept
on grinding out dust by the binful So
through all the winter months she slow
| ly died. She had all her life been a
very cross old woman. She had quar-
relied with and lived apart from her
son and his wife. until now in her need
she was compelled to submit to be cared
for by them. She had quarrclled with
her neighbors; she was very ill-tempered
even in her present extremity. She
would scold her grandchildren roundly
if they stayed in her room, and she
would scold them just as roundly if
they left her to herself. No donbt she
led the whole family life Of it. And
still she had confused notion of the
higher life-the life that expands
through prayer. " l calls on Him" she
would say. Il lies here an sez, %
| I orJf r o,.1' T orJb M, lie ~, H.,