Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-02
NEHENuAH'S PLAN.

"Bettertake this umbrell, hadn'tye 81" sug-
gested a voice from the shadows of the
dingy doorway.
Miss Dean looked doubtfully at the COM
bination of faded cloth and uncertain
bones, then still more doubtfully at the
lowering, dripping sky, and accepted the
former as the least of two evils. 1t was a
rheumatic, dispirited umbrella, worn out
by long battling against the storms of the
world. 1t protested sullenly and creaking-
lyagainst every effort to raise it, and when
protests did not avail, it yielded suddenly,
and shot up with a vicious velocity, pinch
ing the fingers and endangering the eyes
gifts holder: After that one flash of spirit,
dowever. it dropped again, and n side
Topped dejectedly.
'0ne-sided and out of joint, like most
other things that fall to my lot," mur
INJURED Miss Dean; and then, with q philos-
ophy she did not always display concern
ing the "other things" she whirled it
around to the back, where it was at least
out of her sight.
"Ah, Miss Deanw Prof. Grosbeck Joined
her. "Disagreeable afternoon, isn't it?"
The Professor was not as cheering a sight
as he might have been had she not already
seen him a dozen times that day passing
in and out of her room, and bestowing
sharp glances through his green spectacles
as gallant. He took her umbrella, and
holding it over her head at precisely the
right angle to let the rain drip from that
depressed point on her neck, discoursed
elo9uently of a new writer OF geology. 1t
Is dltlicult to grow very enthusiastic over
geological strata with a stream of cold
water trickling down ones back, but Miss
Dean made the effort, even though she re-
1ected that whatever the action of water
OIL the formation of coal, its action on her
new gray wrap would probably be to ruin
It. Did She not know the scorn with which
Prof: Grosbeck would contemplate the shall
low feminine mind that could be distracted
from weighty scientific subjects by the
trlvialities Of dress?
Once inside her own home, however, the
marvellous things sunder the earth' re-
ceived but slight consideration. She
studied the surface, and found it dreary
enough. The dull school-room, the prosy
walk were no new grievances. All were
common and familiar, only her weariness
OF them seemed to have eliminated this af-
1,efnoon. She stood at her window and
looked across the wet street to the row of
buildings opposite. Beyond them were the
sleepy S0'e river and the old gray hills, yelled
nov o. by the mist and the smoke from the
tall mill chimneys which the heavy air beat
pack to earth again. She had a fancy that
lhe atmosphere of the old town beat back
tVerything that tried to rise; she felt inn
patient Of it, fettered by it, though it
WAS WAS her native air. Her girlhood
dad slipped away through sweet
Lare, through busy days too full of care for
nef TO think how they sped, and she was
Swenty.nine now. Was her life settling
uown like one of these gray afternoons that
uhly grew grayer and drearier until the
A'T ~ dotted them out? she wondered.
tNas there nothing for her but this dull,
uteSome round? Out in the great busy
Mollu We're grand men and women living
utantlful lives and doing noble work. II
sue could come in contact with them! if
nne could escape from this dwarfed, COM
tnho o existence, and find for herself
tunned from the window with a sudden de-
termination,
Mhy should l always stay here, and be
Huueht and economical, simply because
uave been taught to do SO? Meggins," she
aw a, when The door opened, IL am going
N" e When vacation comes"
"Wherem "'se'"'' ~
M dot not know yet"
ru aom would help her to decide that, she
Injected, naae Dear old Tom! She did not ex.
r ra.t ne would understand her vague un-
nv n. he was content with his place as
the .fseer in the mills; with looking after
R,,pl1g all the humdrum wheels moving.
L al whether he understood or not, he would
nei her as he had always done. He had
w,ra tailed her in all the years since they
gl.n e chlldreen together. His watchful
nance sought her windows daily as he
EI""anrseu TO fro; and his hand was constantly
sizing some oxen of remembrance in the
an nupe OF choice fruit or a cluster of flowers
ere a., 'iGt Sill. And Tom did not care for flow.
cp,e either, or she supposed he did not, be.
cIass ne never attempted to analyze or
in ' tha them.-though, indeed, he was not
w, pieces to see what they were made of. 1t
s,ui, enough that she liked them. She
her EIas She remembered what authority
likes and dislikes bore for Tom. He