Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-30

and there strewn lavishly around were
h~ob5y-horses, locomotives, wheelbarrows
and doll babies, with a full accompaniment
OF baus and tops, drums, trumpets and
crowd, and was rather disappointed when
at last the wagons drove up and deposited
on the gravel-walk two groups of silent,
snlverlng little ones, who huddled close
together in a helpless way like a flock of
stray lambs. Mr.. Dwight hurried to the
they only looked at him with a %bewildered
stare, and some began to cry.
."Bless their hearts, they're freezin'
colol" exclaimed a clear, CHEEKY voice, and
Biddy, The housemaid, ran down the steps
and shoo5d item all in as if they had been
a brood Of young STICKS. Biddy's manner
was evidently familiar to them, for they
to her skirts as though they recognized a
friend.
"Come In here, now" said Biddy, land
warm yerselves by this blazin' fire. There,
nov, amt tkst good? My sakes ~ she cried,
as her hands passed rapidly over each one's
clothing, "jist as Miss Rounds said 'twould
be-,aothin' but caliker and gingham, and
old at that-not a scrap of flannel on any
o fen! Wait a minit"-and out she ran,
but returned Immediately with 3 great bun.
die which she threw on the floor.
Miss Rounds, sir" she explained, in an
sWel to Mr.. Dwight's inauiring look, "Miss
Koulds sent off yisterd'y to that Dorcas
clothes fetched, and says She: SNOW Biddy,
youjist examine them children the first
thlIg and put warm clothes on them as
needs 'em,' and the Lord knows they every
needs 'em; don't they now, STRIP
dare say you are right, Biddy," said
forthought. II will leave you to dress the
children as you like, and then YOU can bring
them to me in the library"
Half an hour, afterward they were ush-
ered before him, now thoroughly warmed
and dressed in their new clothes, and they
certainly looked like a different set Of
children.
What kept us so long, SIR" said Biddy,
was the bullion that Miss Rounds said
they must all drink, and it was steamin'
hot. But 1T done 'em all a might of good, as
you can see, SIR"
"Sarah is very thoughtful" said Mr..
Dwight, "but think you have done them
good, too, Biddy; you are a fine girl"
"Ihank you, sir. My mother always
said, says she: tBiddy'.but sure Pm for
gettin' myself. I'll jist leave the children
here with you, sir, and help cook dish up
the dinner"
Alone with those little waits Mr.. Dwight
took, as it were, an inventory of them. He
had asked that, as far as might be, he should
have the orphans, and certainly, b. thought,
these poor children could never have known
a mother love or a fathers care. They
that class known in by streets and alleys as
"nobody's children" s%pringing like fungi
from dark and dingy places, claimed by
nobody, cared for by nobody, sleeping
wherever they could find a hole or corner,
eating what they could gather in the gar
were tnrown to them for shame's sake alone.
All, reader, there are hundreds such in all
our great cities, though you may not know
it as, wrapped in warm furs, you roll
through the wide streets in your carriage,
as free as the lilies of the field from the
gnawing hunger, the famished heart brings,
and which make up the whole sum of exist
ence for such children.
Like a rush Of mighty waters the ~realiza-
ton Of it all came upon Benjamin Dwight
as he marked the sunken eyes and cheeks,
the dwarfed and spindling limbs, the fright.
ened glance, and worse than all, the old,
almost unhumanlookon some of the pinched
faces.
"Great heavens :"hei nwardly exclaimed,
as involuntarily he shrank back, "what
horrors do these children representa-
And each one standing there was a re-
proach to him; every glance they cast up
on him seemed to bid him ask himself what
he had done with his life, with his prosper
ity? He had said he was not a heather. o,
worse than a heather had he been all these
long years when, having all things himself,
he had been blind and deaf to the misery of
those who had nothing. He could not bear
to think of it; he would not, at least not
now. Little by little, he induced the fright
ened children to come forward and handle
the toys he gave them, and the ice once
broken, he had no cause to complain that
his gifts were not appreciated.
Mr.. Dwight hoped and half expected that
| Sarah would n1aka her Qnnoaranra of tho
dinner table, but she did not. Bridget was
in charge, and had evidently received her
instructions for every detail. And what u
dinner it was! no fancy dishes, but every
thing that could satisfy and please the APP
petites of children who had been hungry
all their lives, and whose eyes now sparkled
as they learned the taste OF the good things
they had so often wondered over in the city
restaurant windows. 1t did Mr.. Dwight's
heart good to see them eat, and he could
find no fault even when some of them be-
came clamorous at sight of the delicious
grapes and pears which were served up for
dessert.
After dinner, as 1t still rained, the boys
were all transferred to a large room from
which most of the furniture had been re-
ment the little crowd was allowed to dc
pretty much as it pleased. And it pleased
after a while to make a good deal of noise,
as Benjamin Dwight heard through all the
} closed doors as he sat smoking in his lib
rary, and as Sarah Rounds heard shut up
in her room in the third story, where she
sat on the hearth-rug gazing into the few
embers that were left of a small fire she
had lighted. Ever and % she stopped
her ears with her hands, as though to shut
/ out the sounds which We're as far-off echoes
of her lost happiness. How long she sa'
there she hardly knew, but the children
had had their supper n were a little more
, quiet under the influence of a story Biddy
was telling them, when there came q low
, knock at Sarah's door. At first she paid n.
attention, but when it vas repeated sh'
spoke in her quick, sharp tone, and said
: "Come in"
There was some fumbling at the Knob
) and then the door slowly opened and a littl
, girl came timidly forward, and before Saral
} could arise had approached and stood gag
I ing curiously at her. She was q sweet
} looking little thing, with earnest BROW
; eyes and a head full Of tangled curls.
! "Who sent you here-how dared yo'
Gomez" cried Sarah, angrily, as she turne
aside her read and put out her hands t
$ warn the child away.
3 "Nobodv didn't send me; I just come al
r alone," said the little thing, as she cam
closer to Sarah and laid her handlightly o
!, her shoulder. "Do you love me, too?" sh
asked, peering into Sarah's face. "Bidd
, says everybody in this house loves me. D
!, you, too?"
t There was a usefulness in the baby voic
| tbot upoo ;rrosistihla Sarah looked into th