Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-14

Poor Patsey trembled and covered his
fscc with his hands to shut it out.
"Katy, Katy!'' he murmured, help
lessly, your smile warns me heart like
q cup o. tay, in spite O. me. How can
ye love the likes O. me?"
"How can I?" Knocked Katy. stBe-
cause, don't 1 know that it's the kindest,
most ginerous heart in the world that
makes a fool Of ye! But. ginerous as
we are, I'll see hat We don't give me
away in a hurry" she said, laughing.
II I'M like the lottery ticket you had,
~Patsey-'not Transferable mind now!'
Poor Patsey lost his head entirely,
and, frantic with the love and pain her
sweetness stirred, he fell on his knees
before her.
"Katy,' he sobbed, 81 have made n
solemn vow to the Virgin that I'll nifver
stand 'twixt you and Jamesey; SO I can
not, must not. marry you! But I will
love and worship ye all me life; an if
ever !! can die for ye, j%ustlet me know"
"Make your mind aisy, now; I'll call
on ye, niver fear" she answered, with
q twinkle in her eye. ''But you'd better
" for mes while longer; Jamesey may
change his mind, ye know"
A little later, when Jamesey went a.
wooingg Katy in all the pomp of his
chilled shirt and bosom-pin, his white
hands and ''iligant'' manners-in spite
of all, he was rejected, laughed at and
sent off about his business. T
Jsmesey felt mortified and astonished
beyond degree, and almost doubted his
own identity as he slowly wendell his
way home, SO new and strange was the
experience of being unappreciated.
After his anger had somewhat cooled.
he began to think of Katy herself; to re-
member her laughing eyes and sauoy.
bewitching ways.
And knowing now that he could not
win her, he straightway began to fancy
that he was mad1y in love with her and
to look upon himself in the interesting
light of a broken-hearted lover. =
In this romantic character he intro
duced himself on his arrival at home,
where the commotion he caused must
have somewhat soothed his wounded
vanity.
His mothers surprise and vexation
were equal to Jamesey's own, and Pat
sey, though he said but little, went off
to bed with a burden of trouble on his
heart compared to which theirs was as
nothing.
"sure, Mother Rooney" said
Jamesey, a few days afterward, as the
little family sat at supper, ''it's into a
decline I'm goin' fast; your Jamesey'n
die young
"Oh, now, don't say that" she re-
monstrated, passing HIM the last muffin
on the plate, which he took and
ate with evident relish. "Jamesey
Rooney wouldn't lay down an die be-
cause a slip of a girl, turns a cold Shout
der on him."
"But mother, We don't know what is
blighted love, I'm thinkin'," said
Jamesey, heaving a prodigious sigh.
"No more l don't then," she answer
ed, laughing. 81 niver cared two
straws for your father at his best,
though he swore The worshiped me
very shadder, and when he took to the
drink and bate the life out o. me, it was
tired OF love l was then intirely. If all
the men in the world was offered in a
row to me this night, 1 wouldn't take
the gift. No, nor me pick o. the best!
They're a bad lot and a dirty lot, a.
ways a-comin' in with their muddy
boots an a-spittin' all over tho clahe
foor!!"
But I'm a man meself," mildly sug-
gested Jamesey.
"Sure, then, I always wished ye
wasn't, for the matter O. that. If ,ye
was a girl, now, We wouldn't be frettin'
the life out O. me with your 'blighted
love. as We call it. The men Is always
a-ravin' an a-tearin' about their love
and their hearts afore they're married,
but who liver heard O. their bein' trou-
bled with anything O. ssthe kind after
wards. All the same I'm sorry for you,
Jamesey by" she fastened to add, see
ing his under lip begin to hang down,
''for you're a poor dilikit lad, and a
t,Oin." Jamesey was appeased.
"The strength is clane gone out o.
me-" he remarked, presently. "The
work drags me hard an I'm fearin' I'll
soon have to lay BY"
clay by, then; do, for a SPELL"
urged Patsey, kindly: "It's only a lit
tie rest you're needin' after all. I'll
work enough for the two of u.s."
He was glad to do something for the
brother whose suffering he felt respon-
sible for, and SO he says again, eagg-
erly:
"Lay by, Jamesey, lay by a WHILE"
and his mother added her entreaty.
Jamesey vas only too willing, and
accordingly the next morning, when
the mill-bells rang, instead of rising as
usual, he turned over in bed with a lux
urious grunt and went to sleep again,
while Patsey hurried through his simple
toilet, %tiptoeing round over the bare
floor with painful care not to disturb
him, and his mother put the largest po-
tato and the choicest bit of bacon by
the fire to keep warm against his CON-
ing down.
After his late breakfast, Jamesey
lounged about home awhile and then
betook himself to the street, where for
an hour or more he picked his teeth and
pared his nails, leaning against q lamp
post and watching the passers-by. He
wound up the forenoon in the corner
grocery store, where he had a friendly
chat and glass of beer with a fellow
loafer.
III. lo-, ,1:n~oJ NV, Me-,