Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-14

lived in the other half-two rooms he.
low, two rooms above, the wood-shed.
and the well. The rent of that half
was all the certain income that Mrs.
Eastershead had ;and when she had maid
the taxes, you can Judge how much
there was left for coal. fionr1 moat. too
and clothes. She had other sons and
oaugnters they were all of them hard
working people OF narrow means. She
nerself could have made her home with
any OF them, but not one of them would
ave Mark. They worked, and why
shouldn't he? If he wouldn't work. they
wouldn't work for him. Mrs. Casters
mead did not blame them at all. except
Tor being so obtuse as to see that Mar
gus couldn't work. Au reste. It was all
they could do to take care of themselves.
ana Tor her part she was q sight happier
IN her W house with MARQUIS. Ii the
wind was tempered to the shorn lamb.
she guessed it would be to her. THINGS
were never so dark but they might be
darker. just now, for instance. she had
been afraid they would have to 90 with.
out mlnce-pies this winter; there never
had been a winter before when they had
gone without mince-pies-just a few
even ifthey had hadt to OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
on bread and water for supper, and glad
to get that, for weeks beforehand. Hav-
ing the old apple-tree in the back yard,
1t seemed like a real waste not to have
them. And here, just as she thought
she must give up hope of them, a mar
ket-man had bought all her apples out
that half-peck for just enough to pay for
the beef and suet and sugar and spice
and cider. 1t fairly repaid her for the
trouble h had in picking them; Mar
quls was so lame he couldn't, although
she waited till the first frost came, and.
d almost broke her neck in the tree.
Mrs. Eastershead had that sanguine
temperament to cross whose grain the
Rates must weave a very tangled web,
indeed; she not only believed that Prov
ldence helps those that help themselves,
but that it helps those that don't help
themselves, and this comfortable creed
upheld her through all her wants and
woes; she had on unbounded faith that
she would be provided for, and of course
Marquis with her, as a part of her, in
deed; that she need have no anxiety
about the morrow-the morrow would
take care of itself and her, too. And
often as she scraped her woodshed for
the last chip, and her cellar for the last
coal, often as she went hungry to bed,
her faith never failed; things might be
worse, she was very sure; and even
when somebody came for her to 90 out
watching with a sick person, and paid
her a half dollar instead of a dollar, she
was heard to say that that was better
than a slap in the face. 1t was true
they could have been much more COM
Portable if Marquis could have made the
garden, since people can actually live
on vegetables-that is, can keep the
breath between the teeth-or if they
only had q COW. Somebody had once
given Marquis a little heifer calf, that
they could posture in the paddock at
the back door, and that by this time
would have been furnishing them with
milk and cream and butter; but it was a
sore task for Marquis to take care of it,
and very combining, and they would have
had to buy hay for it, and it was a posi-
tive mercy when Farmer Bruce took it
off their hands a free gift, and then he
had always felt a little obliged to them
ever since, and often brought over a
mess of potatoes, or a squash, or even a
pat or two of her butter, in recognition.
There always had been something to
live on, she would say, and she sup
posed there always would be. Last
week she had spent in the parsons
house, making their fall pickles for them
onions, artlchokes, peppers to stuff
with mustard seed and mangoes with
little cucumbers, and chowchow to
mince and spice and boil and bottle, and
tomatoes to stew down in catchup; and
they knew how to treat poor folks at the
parson's-always asked you to sit at the
table with the family, and gave you u
ten-dollar bill when you came away.
Very likely they pinched themselves for
it, but nobody could say it hadn't been
earned; and the parson liked good
things to eat, and she would have made
them for nothing if he would have let
her. To-day she was sent for up at the
great house to make the years pre-
serves, which could have been bought
already made for half the price. but they
had a notion to make them at home, and
when she returned at the end of a week
with another ten-dollar bill in her glove,
she always said: 81 told you so never
saw the son Of the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread" And she
spent it all in a grand dinner of turkey
and accompaniment, to which all her
sons and daughters and their progeny
were invited. She considered everything
clear gain outside of the little pittance
of the rent; that was expected only as a
religious observance in relation to the
taxes, and as far as it would 60 toward
the fire upon the hearth.
"Well," Mrs. Eastershead would say,
when her guests had gone, ''that was
pleasant to have all our tribe round the
table, and you in your place at the head
of it, Marquis Lafayette. II | should
ever see you in a grand mansion of your
own, and dispensing hospitality, with
wine flowing like water, l shouldn't be
a grain happier than I've been to-day.
And they enjoyed it, didn't they? How
Samantha loves a merry-thought! And
Zerubbabel always was a master-hand
at the second joint" And they picked
the bones for dinner next day, boiled
them on the third day, and had what
they could find in the way of a crust on
fourth and relished it az if it were