Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-11

fresh 0~VluoHC0S OF OfiS6 n
thoughtfulness, and noble devotion to
duty; and patient endurance Of evils
that would have crushed any ordinar y
steadfastness l have never seen equall-
ed.
For n thing, she had the entire
charge of the three younger children,
for her mother was an utterly helpless,
thrlftless creature, who did nothing but
amuse herself, and dress derself, and
could never be brought to see that this
was not the whole duty of woman.
No sooner had she breakfasted than
she put on her bonnet and started off to
pay visits in the village.
Where she went and whether she was
welcome or unwelcome, | have nc idea,
When h came home at night she wal
generally cross and tired, and after tax
ing her supper, she would pick up a
novel to read, and set Mergaret at work
altering her dresses according to her
directions.
These dresses were secondhand fin
cry, sent her by a rich sister, and were
continually %remodelled in accordance
with every caprice of fashion.
How often have l caught a glimpse of
the poor child's pale fece bending wei
some such piece of work, after a day in
which she had been alternately cook,
nursery-maid, house-maid, searpstress,
laundress, and no one knows what be-
sides!
Were beds to be made, Margaret made
them; it was she who, with Aunt Stubbs'
help did the children's sewing; was any
one i'll, Margaret nursed them; and as
to the odd jobs, who can number them?
The poor little body and SOU and
heart and mind must have all been one
great ache, sometimes-after a field-day,
for instance, when she mad been cruelty
mortified by her father, and snubbed by
her mother, and the weather was warm,
and the children troublesome, and the
work unusually heavy. But l never
once heard a complaint from the brave
spirit, and | never saw her break down
but once.
About a month after my arrival, Mar
garet made the acquaintance of a grown
girl, who took a fancy to her, and asked
her to go to a picnic. Moved by some
vagrant impulse, she had agreed to 60.
III take Bob and Tom with me, ma
they won't be any trouble-if you will
take care of the baby" she said to her
mother, and for a wonder that remark
able parent made no objection.
On the morning of the long-Iooked-for
day Margaret came into my room to say
good-bv. She was dressed in a new print
her hair was neatly braided, and she
sported a straw hat Miss Warning had
given her. AS she stood there holding
a small brother with each hand, she
looked for once almost like other glrls.
keep an eye on ma, please" she
said, in a beseeching tone, land don't
let her give the baby a teaspoonful of
paragoric without any water, as she did
to Bob. here, and almost strangled him.
you know. My dear baby never gives a
bit of trouble, though, to anybody, he is
30 good!"
l promised to do as she wished, and
she left the house. Three times during
the day did I 60 over to Mrs. Rea's
room, ostensibly to offer my services,
but really to see what she was about.
She was looking very important and
busting around, the first time, with
baby in her arms.
The second time she received me
coldly. Baby was OF a sofa lear the
fire, and she was reading. The inter-
ruption was evidently u~nwelcome.
On my third entrance | was surprised
the hearth, apparently badly burnt
about the face, as 1 saw to my unspeak-
able horror when Ipicked it up.
Mrs. Rea afterward explained that
the child was fast asleep, and she had
stepped over to the rectory to get the
| pattern of lovely mantilla she had adj
mired in church the Sunday previous.
AS for Margaret. when she was told
the news, she gave one shrek aud
tainted dead away AS soon as she was
able to sit up, she took the little thingto
her room and there nursed it with fran
tic tenderness day and night, until it was
quite we'll again.
Happily the injuries, though serious,
were not as great as l at first had feared.
l did my best to atone for my share of
what seemed an awful crime,-though /
really was blamed by no one. And [
grew more attached to Margaret every
day, as 1 watched her devotion to the
sick child,-a child herself, but as o
Bile and thoughtful as though she had
been q oma Of forty.
! discovered, too, that she had a poet
zeal and imaginative side to her charac-
ter. She was ~passionatelv fond of read
ing, and had deveused the few books
that had come in her way with the great
est eagerneSS.
gained her health, and my summons
home had come, l had so interested my
family in Margaret, that my eldest
brother offered to give her agood educa-
ton. | laid the matter before her parents
who were both delighted, but Margaret
would not listen to it for a moment.
Educate mel" she exclaimed, in
amazement.
Gracious mercy! You've d one this!"
turning to me a grateful face). "What a
good man your brother must be! Ide
like it Of all things. 1t would be nice to
learn about everything-but." and she
hesitated,-"I suppose 1 couldn't take
the baby and the boys?"
| shook my head and smiled. Her face
fell, but presently she smiled in re-
Spouse,
"Well, when the children are big, and
ma gets well, and Aunt Stubs don't
have to take boarders anymore, I'll get
some books and study by myself"
threw no cold water upon the mill
ennial programme, but l wrote home
about it, and the result was an arrange
ment that went into effect the following
year. A servant was hired to attend to
some OF Margaret's many duties, and
she spent part of every day at the best
school in the village.
The morning l left the Stubs mansion
found by my plate at breakfasts bunch
of daisies tied with a coarse Irvine, and
an untidy brown-paper package contain
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