The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-11-18
SOUTH BRANCH FARM

The Taneys had lived or the South
Branch farm since colony times, and
no fancy had ever cheated a man of
a dollar. They lent no money or bor-
rowed none; they never sat at any mans
table, or asked a guest to theirs.
The fancy pew-front one-was filled
every SunGay, come rain or sun. Mrs.
fancy, a middle-aged woman, with her
gray hair in a tight little knot behind,
and wearing the same rusty black
gown and bonnet for dozen years, was
always like the others present But
sometimes she was asleep. For this was
the one hour of the whole week when
she could sit down on q cushion and
fold her hands. The air was warm
der she slept. Sometimes the works
that were read stirred her soul; it
seemed as if her childhood woke, as if
the tears must come to her long dry
eyes. But they never did. BY the
time she had walked home with her
son William, the story of Bethlehem,
or heavenly glory to come, had faded
into doubtful dream, and all that was
real was the South Branch farm, the
price Of pork or the fall of potatoes.
After church, dinner must be ready
Dipping hot, toa, on account of the
boarder, in half an hour; then she
had the sheep to look after, and the
poultry to feed; then milking. The
Taneys never had kept any "help''
Mrs. fancy, had brought up six children,
hnn,o OF +oS
dairymaid; yet her husband, old Ben,
always had said: "Sarah's not capa-
BILE woman. No fancy blood in her"
Ben had been dead five years, but
his wife went on carrying grooming
load on the back which lacked bone.
William was harder master than his
father had been; the very oxen felt
the lash oftener, and their corn fell of
one-half. He sat in the the kitchen
now, with a book before him while his
mother and younger sister, Lefty, were
cooking supper.
'"Take the the butter off the table" he
said, suddenly. Molasses will do. What
are you cooking meat for? It's not
necessary. Put it back in the cellar u
eyes, William" replied his mother,
submissively. Only l thought the
boarder-"
eve can't'afford to keep him like a
lord. You'll have to exercise economy,
mother; can't be always here to look
after things. How am I ever to pay
for the meadow lots if the money is go
ing away in this style?'
"ln what way, William" Mrs.
Taney's scared eyes wandered over the
spare kitchen, the smouldering coal in
a corner of the CRATE, the ha1f-starved
face Of her little girl.
II try to save, | am sure. What way
do you mean, sir?'
"Oh, every way!' closing his book
with bang. ''There's leak at every
corner. Why, I toll and slave the
year round. But with such a lot of
mouths to feed
He glared at Lefty, who shrank into
the pantry. She did not come out dur
ing supper, and her mother dared not
call her. The girl was crying as usual,
and her tears always exasperated Will
liam. Poor Lefty felt the horrible guilt
of her hearty appetite sore upon her.
She was always hungry; hungry enough
to faint now.
Mrs. fancy forgot to eat her dry
bread, or drink her milk. The me adow
lots! It was to buy those lots that her
husband had made their lives bare and
hard and wretched from their wedding
day. The good wholesome produce
from the farm, which should have fed
the children, had gone to market, while
they ate the refuse; the money, which
should have educated them had been
put in the bank to buy these lots.
When her baby was i'll no doctor was
brought, and her child died; the money
saved went to the lots; the mother had
begged for a headstone for the grave.
There was Lefty, growing to be a wo-
man, half-clothed, without sparkle of
fun or pleasure to Tighten her young
life; while poorer girls dressed and
went out, and had company, and en-
joyed, as the girls should, days filled
with comfort and happin ess. Every
penny thus saved William laid by for
"the lots" Yes! those twelve acres
had come to be the absolute God for