The Red Cloud chief., 1881-09-08
CATHIE'S STORY.

tell her hat once. at least, in every
bod,'s life, something happened lust
like "A story"
Cathie like TO believe this, but n
day she said. quite cheerily: Why.
Auntic, | don't know; everything has
been commonplace SO long that 1t seems
good ia me, like the cd faces and
places"
"Ah, my dear" said Aunt Cathie,
THAT contented heart of yours is "A
blessing; but something will happen To
you one of these days
Cathic lived on a lonely country road
Her father was a farmer, whom hard
fortune had followed for many a year.
Three sons older than Cathie. were
buried in the country burying-ground
beyon | the hill. Farmer Brown and
his wife were getting on in years; aud,
although they had begun at last to
make head slowly against the current
of adversely that had set 80 long against
them, the habits of hard labor and the
stTictcst economy chung To them still.
They owned their farm, and Cathie was
their only child; but, beyond sending
her 10 school in summer and winter,
and allowing her the open space from
the front door 10 the road for a flower
garden, they felt that they could afford
her no privileges"
Her dresses were of the cheapest ma
tcrial, her ha r waS always braidedd do wn
her back in the same simple fashion,
her shoes were coarse and thick, and
she had no ribbons, no jcwe'ry, no
trnkets of any kind. But Cathic did
not care much for such things. The
desire of her heart vas to give. oh.
The dreams she used TO dream of the
blessedncss of giving! mine OF non
cy would not have satisfied her long
ings 10 give and give. She might not
have becn in every instance a wise
givcr. if her dreams had come true;
but she used Ia lie awake q nights,
and plan by the hour. how, and where,
and TO whom she would give, if a for
unc should fall TO her. And nobody
shOull ever know where the good gifts
would come from. That would be half
the jov of il: Ia have her bounty de-
sccnd, showcr-like, upon the poor and
needy, rs if il came direct from heav-
enly places.
Her father and mother gave to the
minister. they visited the sick i'm the
ncighborhood, and fed the tramps; but
Cathic had never had a cent of money
to give away never in her whole life
no hing but flowers and berries, and
wiling little services, and these seemed
pitifully small in her eyes. Oh, to give
freely. roy ally. unreSeryedly, how hap
pl she would be. if she could do that
Aunt Catherine was a great comfort
to her nameSake. She was poor, like
MI of Cathic'S people, but she loved
flowers and birds. and all beautiful
things. rs warmly as did little Cathie
herself; and she brought rare bulbs, and
roots, and seeds, and slips. and mu h
hCnic!y cheer, 10 the child.
Cathic's flower garden was sweet the
summer through. Indeed. from March
To December, from crocuseS to frost
flowers, something bright and beautiful
bcamed up al Cathie from the ground.
There was nothing like her flowers for
miles around. They were the pride
and wonder of the neighborLood. And
among them Cathie toiled, when she
was not at school or helping her moth
CIR; for, all this beauty was the result of
much patient work and faithful care.
Now. if | We're only a boy" she
sail TO Aunt Cathie in one of their
talks, IL should coax father TO let me
raise a piece of wheat, or potatoes, and
sell them; and then | should nave some
money of my own"
What do you want with money.
Cathie?." asked her mother. who hap
pened to hear her. Cathie biuShed, but
did moi answer immediately.
Don't YOU have all YOU want to eat
and To veal, nv daughter?H
.'YeS, mother, | dent want a thing
for myself
Nor /, neither, dear. Let us not be
getting ambitious and discontinued, be-
cause we are poor"
Aunt Cathie thought of some ambi-
tious, discontinued daughters that she
knew, and contrasted them with little
Cathic.
About this time, Cathie was cherish
ing one of her dreams-tOO sweet ever
10 be realized. she felt, but which did
her good to keep il in her heart
Oscar GRAY, a lame boy who lived
near. her faithful friend. and a scholar
of real promise, was hungering for
books and struggling manfully TO earn
dared offer him aid, and SO poor, that,
Ill lllIltS. Els tlktt>t SuOIlS SSCilSO
hopeless to those who did not realize
the unconquerable energy that was in
linn. He had fallen into a way of con-
fiding his pet hopes and dreams to his
little neichbor, partly because he knew
that she was as poor as himself. and by
no possibility could help him, and part
" because he knew that a secret with
her was safe. Then. too, she was such
an intelligent. warm hearted little soul,
that it comforted him much to talk with
her.
He was now pursuing a certain line
of study in natural history. and had
come to "a dead lock- as he express
ed il TO Cathie. for want of ten dollars
worth of books. Now. if she could only
bestow those books upon Oscar, in such
a way that he would never guess who
gave them, how happy she would be!
She could not help planning. and brood
ing v il, althouohinh her sober ICON.
nonsense moments" as she called
them. she had no hope of ever bring
ing it about.
IF | were only a boym she would
think to herself, as she weeded and
spaded and fluttered about among her
lovely towers. Now, l have worked
as hard for you, dear flowers, as a boy
works in his wheat-patch, but you are
only sweet and beautiful; you do not
pay" And then she would smile at
her mercenary thoughts As the sum
mer ~deepened, the garden grew in
beauty hour by hour, until it seemed az
if every twig and stalk bore all the
bloom and sweetness it could hold, and
the bees and humming-birds held high
carnival there every day.
One day, just after the noon meal,
Cathie was washing dishes in the back
kitchen, fartb6 when,
all at once,I
TO fill the
heavy, run
house; hoaF
and the bar
hupdar