The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-10-22
ONLY FIFTEEN.

That was a rather cruel, unfeeling re-
mark of Mr.. Earle to his daughter Sadie,
or Sarah as she now wished to be called,
because, at least. she wasn't a baby"
"No, sis, you're neither a little girl nor
a woman; but Just between hay and grass,
as one may say
Sarah gave anextra push to her already
we'll tied back muslin overskirt, and started
for school with a smoldering spark in her
eye. -
ats true what father says" she solilo-
quized as she walked along. "Im too old
to wear my dresses short, and too young to
wear them long too old to let my hair go
loose and comfortable, and too young ior
frizzes, pufs and coils. And as the COWS
in the spring, wher hay is gone and grass
not we'll grown, have to put up with odds
and ends, so l have to take all Hats and
Jen's cast-of dresses and hats; or ii there
is anything awfullv unbecoming to them l
get that, whether / like it or not. Then,
in the work, what l have is just what
everybody eke hates to do, like washing
the dishes and cleaning the lamps-just
what nobody gets credit for, either, only
blame for not doing WELL"
By this time this ambitious girl of ours
had reached the school-house; but the
teacher had an engagement, 30 the card at
tached to the door-handle told the scholars
Sarah started at once to retrace her steps;
for it was q two-mile walk, with only here
and there a few old apple trees to shield
her from the suns glare.
As she walked her thoughts reverted 10
the mornings conversation, partly, perhaps,
because the scent OF the new-mown hay
greeted her. Like any girl of her age il
struck her as a queer, backward sort Of
comparison to speak of childhood as the
time of hay.
ooh, yesw she exclaimed, aloud as a
thought struck her; 81 see how it is!' and
she at once resolved to write the coming
weeks composition on that very subject.
"Ill say" she s%oliloquized, that child
hood is cared for by the general love of
father and mother. That's the hay, you
see! But, at last, the youth goes out into
the world and gathers love for himself.
And I shall give it a moral turn for,
somehow, I think young people ought not
to be selfish, even if l am so---but ought to
gather love by loving
"What is. the use Of talking, though?
If I really wanted to be useful, I couldn't.
Who'd ask me to sit up and watch with
sick people, for instance? I couldn't even
keep awake all night. I wish I could be
sure I'd be the right sort of woman, and
then, seems to me, it might be beautiful to
be wrinkled or gray; for, by that time one
is sure of ones SELF
Then she suddenly stepped down from her
mount of moral enthusiasm--a feat, alas!
so easily accomplished, so hard to account
for often.
"Before I get to be good and gray I'd
like some nice times and some nice things.
This muslin overskirt and waist are pretty
enough and, for once, new, but-why-
what
She sprang quickly out of the road in
sudden terror, for she thought a loose horse
was plnnging furiously down the road be-
hind her. She had not scrambled half way
up the steep bank before he came in sight,
but to her relief he was not riderless.
Squire Waits hoy refined him in with
difficulty, just within view, and turning in
his saddle, shouted at the top of his voice,
evidently to some one in a neighboring
field
eff Doctor Ainslie amt to home, whatll
do"
Sarah could not hear the reply; but the
boy appeared satisfied, for he quickly set
tied himself in the saddle, applied the whip
to the horse, and was out Of sight in an in:
slant.
Sarah hurried up the bank and looked
over the stone on its top. At no great dis.
lance she saw a man lying on the ground,
and three others standing by him. In a
moment she saw who it was, and as she ran
toward the group she guessed the truth.
which was that Squire Wait himself had
received at the hands of one of his blunder.
ing workmen a severe cut in the leg from a
scythe while moving.
The bright ~arterial blood was pouring
from the wound, a death-like pallor had
o%verspread the sufferers face, and his eyes
were already half-closed.
Sarah whisked the muslin overskirt over
her head like a flash.
"Help me tear a broad bandage out OF
this" she cried.
The men were dull-looking, plodding
laborers, but one of them seemed encouraged
by her air of determination, and in a mo-
ment from the back of the skirt a breadth
was torn. Without any words Sarah tied a
strong knot in this breadth. Then she
stopped down, and with one great heart
sinking, ere cry of the flesh against the
spirit, she lifted the rent garment from the
gaping wound to see just where it was;
then she pressed the knot just above the
wound with all her strength.
"John," said she, steadily, tie this band
age under the leg, and one Of you others 60
as quick as you can for a stout, short
stick
The blood, already affected in its flow by
her pressure, oozed more slowly from the
wound. The stick was brought in a trice,
and slipped under the bandage where John
had tied it in a hard knot"
"Now, John" said Sarah, calmly, twist
the stick till you tighten the bandage so
that the blood shall stop altogether"
By the time this was done, poor Mrs.
Wait, trembling and terrified, arrived on
the scene with a little old-fashioned pocket
b,ttle of smelling salts, and a cruet of
vinegar wherewith to battle her husbands
head. These restoratives answered we'll
enough till the doctor arrived.
"You're a right sensible girl" said the
doctor, when he heard what Sarah had
done. "Any one of you fellows" con-
tinued he, "could have stopped the blood,
or mostly have stopped it, by pressing the
limb above the wound with your fingers
till help could be got"
Next morning, Sarah stopped at the
squire's gate to learn how he was: John
was spreading hay in a field close by, and
he came out to the road to speak to her.
II say" he said, contemplating her
slight form with genuine admiration,
"such a little creeter as you be to ha' ben
SC KNOWN and smart! Why, you can't be
MORN fourteen or fifteen at the outside"
"Only fifteen" answered Sarah, with a
queer smile. "Just between hay and
grass" -,
~ never did see the beat !" responded
John. "now'd you know SO well what to