Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-30
BENJAMIN DWIGHT's CHARITY.

Good CIV
BENJAMIN DWIGHT'S CHARITY.
''There goes another waggin.load of them
Children! That makes four that's passed
here to-day. Well, I don't envy the foil,s
as has got to take care of 'em" exclaimed
Sarah Rounds, as she snatched up the door
mat and flung it over the porch railing
with a vigor which would have given .
range a pretty good idea of Sarah,s
noral and physical force.
Benjamin Dwight, bachelor and million.
ARE, sat a few feet away reading q news.
PAPER;
people who take these children may find
some pleasure in it after all. I have lust
been reading how happy the poor things
are to get away from the noisy. dirty CITY,
snd run in the fields. My attention has
never been eel extracted to it before. but it
"Stuff and nonsense!0 retorted Sarah.
is done to paumper up rich peoples w
sentimental feelin's. Will YOU tell me
Benjamin Dwight, what good it does them
miserable half-starved children to give
turkey.cocks and lettin, 'em know what
clean sheets,and clean tablecloths is, and
then sendin' 'em back to filth and starva.
ZION for theo other Eleven aud a half months
Of the year? 1t only makes 'em discomfort.
ed with that station of life in which it has
pleased God to place 'em."
Long, long ago., in the days of their first
acquaintance, under circumstances which
level all distinctions, she had called him by
his first name, and now with the social dis
lance SO great between them, she still, when
moved or excited, fell back into the famil-
Ia1ltV- and ha nQuar conpnnI 70 49, -
Isn't it better that they should be dis.
contented, Sarah?" said Mr.. Dwight, and
then as he saw her perplexed look, he add
ed: II wish you would read about these
children; l think you would feel interested
Benjamin Dwight" interrupted Sarah,
sharply, ".what's come over you? You amt
a.thinkin' of takin' none of them children,
hopeW
",Oh, no" exclaimed Mr.. Dwight, depre.
Gaatingly, "of course not, Sarah. how could
1? But as l was going to say, it is m
Thing for those wretched children to learn
Chat there are such things as green fields
and flowers, and plenty Of food, and clean
sheets and table-cloths, and kind, gentle
people in the world. They will never for.
get it, and the memory of it will help many
a boy and girl to become a good man and
woman.O
For answer Sarah began to bang the rug
over the rail, sending the dust in every di.
.%rection.
Not quite 50 vigorous, Sarah, not quite
so vigorous" said Mr.. Dwight, mildly, as
he moved his chair farther away. "You
forget that 1 am here"
81 don't never forgit you, BENJAMIN
Dwight. YOU'RE wus than half a dozen
children on my mind, with your foolish no.
'tions about most things and you. vagrant,
keerless ways. Why, you'd have gone to
destruction long ago if 1 hadn't watched
over you lik a mother over a fatherless
babe"
guess that is so, Sarah," said Mr..
Dwight, with a little laugh, ''but you must
not carry your care too far; you must not
t%yrannize over me, Sarah. Now, in the
matter of these Children
benjamin Dwight" continued Sarah,
putting her arms akimbo and looking him
ssternly in the face, Sits my opinion you'd
gTeetter stop ,talkin' about them children.
They sha'n't none OF 'em ever enter this
house a-trackin' up the floors and leavin'
their f~inger-marks on the furniture, to saw
nothin' of pickin's and stealin's. But it's
600 late for you to a any of 'em this
year, anyhow, for it's most Thanksgivin',
is the last that's goin' to be sem off, and
Dln glad of it'll"
"Near Thanksgiving, is itY said Mr..
Dwight. ~ had forgotten it. Sarah, you
and l have a great deal to be thankful for.
We ought to show our gratitude in some
""ys 1OS 2 you ACdu1llS jul
DID you ever come across a passage like
thls-'lnasmuch as we have done it unto one
OF the least of these My brethren. we have
done it unto Mech, Sarahw
Sarah flushed holly, but only tossed her
head, and without replying she turned and
went into the house.
Nh. Dwight arose, reached for his cane,
and walked down to the gravel walk which
separated the house from the extensive
lawn. His gaze wandered over the green
space dotted here and there with beds of
Drlght flowers, interspersed with maple and
beech and elm trees gorgeous with the au-
Cumn hues.
II don't believe" unused Mr.. Dwight,
THAT a child's foot ever trod that lawn.
Sarah is a perfect ogress about children.
Poor old maid! She must have been at
tractive when she was young. l wonder
she never married. Humph," and he
sighed, "~perhaps the same cause that made
an old bachelor of me: who knows? I'll ask
her some time if she was jilted." He tried
to laugh, but another sigh came instead,
and seating himself on q garden chair and
folding his hands over his cane, he leaned
ibis chin upon them and let his thoughts
drift back over the long space which lay
Deuween his middle age and his youth. PIC
ture after picture came up in ,memory's
mirror, but the one which fingered longest
ing before him with hands clasped and tear
full eyes raised to his face.
"Forgive me, Benjamin." he heard her
ask, s'only less miserable"
But he had turned from her, and when
she would nave caught his hand he had
drawn it roughly away. and left her with,
out a word. How often his heart had ached
with remorse as, inafter years, he thought
of this! What would he not give even nov
if he could go back and speak the words
that poor girl had begged for SO piteoyusly'
He was young then, and proud and pas
%sionate, aye, and selfish, too, and could no.
understand the kind of self-sacrihce Whlcf
TO the girl had seemed not only perfectly
natural but the highest duty.
1t was q worry common story; the latnel
of a family ruined by putting his name OF
b friends paper-then q season OF embar
easements and notifications until poverty
stared them in the face, when their deliver
er, in the form of a rich sutton for the oio
est daughter, made his appearance, IN
gentle, 1oving-hearted cir. felt it her out!
20 sacrifice herself for her family. As Tn
sutton was not personally disagreeable .
her, and wal reputed amiable, the sacllh nc,
would have been comparatively easy yht ou
for her attachment to Benjamin Dwight,
poor young clerk in a bank to whom sn
mad plighted her troth in the days "ne.
fortune smiled pwight's salary WE
SHALL, his future uncertain, and TO mar
MI TH Hl Ill