The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1883-12-01
RICH OR POOR.

80 you've come back again, Jerome?"
said old Mr.. Sewell. well, We heard
you was thinkin' Of returniu' to Elm
Mountain. Bad pennies always come
back-ha! ha! ha! And you did not
make such q big fortune as you calcula-
led, eh?"
Jerome Clay leaned over the old zig
| gag rail fence and rubbed his eyes. Had
time stood still all these years while he
had been in the South? For here was
Farmer Sewell IN the same old blue
checked Overalls, with the same bat,
tered straw nat, the same wrinkles be-
tween his brows, driving the same old
red cows home throughthe twilight lane,
where the scent of trampled spearmint
came up, and the melancholy notes off
whippoorwill sounded family on the
purple silence.
And yet-and yet it was twenty odd
years since he had left Elm Mountain,
with all his worldly goods balanced in a
bundle on his back. He had been a
dashing lad OF twenty-one, then; the-e
were silver hairs in his black locks, now,
and he left a dead past buried under the
sweet magnolia groves. And here was
Moses Sewell, Just the same as ever,
only a trile yellower and more dried up.
Eyes," Clay eaid; quietly, "Tve come
back. And you are right when you say
that fortunes don't grow on every bush"
"Goin' toiyour uLcle's house?" said MI.
Sewell, leaning owe the bars. Hes.
dead and buried, poor fellow. Always
had a weak chest you know. And the
gals amt no younger. The three old
maids we call 'em-ha, ha, LA, ha!"
And again the old farmer chuckled
himself into a state ..of semi. suffocation.
Come in and see us" said he. MY
daughter Aurilla," she's come back a
widow and does tailorin' and plain sewin.'
The old woman's stone deaf but she's
dreadful quick at catchin' q persons
meaning!"
And off he trudged over the patches
of sweet smiling spearmint, his broad
figure vanishing Into the gloom like Il
shadow.
"Three old maids, eh?" repeated Jer-
ONE Clay to himself. "Clara and Bess,
and little Kate, the golden-haired beau
ty, the soft eyed poetess, the wild little
sprite who was a mixture of Undine and
Queen Nab. Then, surely, Father Time
has not atood still"
The light shone out, as of old, from
the red-curtained easement, the great
fire of logs was blazing on the hearth,
and the three cousins greeted the re-
turned wanderer with unaffected
warmth.
They were changed, of course. What
else could have been expected The
beauty had grown sharp and freckled
and her lovely hairlhad lost its burrish..
and she was not quite as tidy as she
used to be in the old days about her
ribbons and frills. Soft-eyed Bessie's
sweet voice had d~egeneratcd into a
whine; she had grown ro~und-should-
cred and lost one of her front teath;
and little Kate was a stout, middle-aged
woman, who reminded one of Undine
no more.
But they were cousins still-the girls
who had playet and romped and
hirted,with him in due arithmetical pro-
gression. And there still existed a bond
of steadfast friendship, and he told them
the story of the Southern wife who mad
been buried for five years under the
magnolias, and they all sympathized
and beauty even cried a little.
81 have brought my three children
to the North" ne said. 81 left them in
New York, and if ] can get some genu-
inc, w~hole-souled w3man to take charge
of my hom-. Im thinking of settling
here in Elm Mountain. Clara. dear,you
used to DO fond of me in the old timesl
What Do you say to undertaking the
| CHARGE"
Tie, beauty seemed to grow smaller,
sharper, mor busineGs-like in q second;
| If cousin Jerome had come homo a mill
lionaire, she would have jumped into
his arms.
But Cara Nicely was not Economically
inclined. To her, love Ia q cottage pos
sessed no charms.
II couldn't Jerome she answered,
quickly, sIm not very strong, and !
couldn't assume any responsibility OF
this arduous nature. Besides. I'm not
fond OF children. Tin greatly Obliged to
Jerome CLAY bit his lip.
"Of COURSE" he said, sit is for you to
decide. But if Jessie"
The poetess shrugged her shoulders,
and laughed a light, shrill-soundinl
ca hination.
Cousin Jerome" said she, aiea JUS
as well to be irenk about these matters
| wouldn't marry q poor man-not If
loved him like Romeo and Juliet. It'll
bad enough 70 scrape along as we dc
here. with only half what one REQUIRES
70 live on deceDtly. But to plunge into
poverty. with two or three children be.
longing TO another woman no, I THANK
you"
For time, as may easily be perceived
had eliminated a great deal o fpoetica
element from Bessie Neely's soul.
The Qamdam Undine did not wait fol
the question, as far AS she was concern
ed but added, promptly, that she quite
agraSd with her sister in all these mat
tere.
"It's such . pity you didn't stay here