Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-14
earning lust enough money to scrane

one unIulnlleO aSplratlOn, ana That was
to lay up enough to bury her deccntly.
She had not yet been able to put aside
the first penny; but she did not think
long on so mournful a subject. She
sang about her tasks by day, and in the
evening wa made happy by her gossip
with a neighbor, or by her innocent
games with a very worn and greasy
pack of cards in which she used to let
Marquis cheat her a little, partly to
please herself by thinking how cute he
was, and partly to put him into better
spirits than lie was, or than she thought
he was; for it seemed to her he must
be depressed with his invalid depend
ence,. and his failure to possess that
grand mansion where wine was to flow
like water.
Half of her love for him, after all, was
pity; it seemed to her such a shame that
he was not tall and large and full of ro-
bust health, as her other sons were.
That he ate well and slept well, and
was broad-shouldered, if understood,
and laid on fat, and enjoyed himself
generally, did not signify. 1t was not
healthy fat; only bloat. Hers, now,
was solid flesh. And so it was, poor
soul; the less she had to eat the plump
er she grew, bullying out of her dresses
and over her chairs, the embodiment of
comfortable good-nature. And yet>
If half that love was pity, the other half
was pure alteration. She used often to-
take the candle, and, shading it with
her pudgy fingers, look at him asleep in
the middle of the night. Then, if ever,
one innocence comes to the top as far
as n has it to come; the warmth and
moisture of slumber slightly curled
back the short thick locks, and left the
forehead bare where lit was white, and
he seemed to be still the little child
that she had idolized as a baby, only
idealized and enlarged now, but as beau-
tiful as a I am ashamed to say that
the word in her thought was seraph,
because in yours or mine it would have
been pirate.
This was her state of mind, as it al
ways had been and always would be,
when her son Bel made her an after
moons visit.
"Mother," said Bel, without any de-
lay, 81 have come round on family bus.
mess. We have all been up to Quincy's,
and been talking you over"
AAlhAuS " OtClS Sdlu MIS-. VLASUs
ershead, with adim p%remonition. "Well,
| hope you enjoyed your conversation.
But speaking of me, 1 just had a call
from Eliza Pearson, and I haven't seer
her before since we were schoolgirls
together"
"No matter about Eliza just now,
mother. l haven't much time to spare,
and l must have my talk with you be-
fore Marquis comes in. 1 suppose he's
loafing round somewhere"
"Why, how you talk, Bel, about your
brother!"
elm going to talk some more about
him before l get through. The fact is,
mother, it's hard on us to see you work.
ing the way you do at your age, and it's
a disgrace to us besides. We're all of
one mind. And we want to put an end
to it. There's nice room for you in my
house, andsw want you to come down
and take it. When you get tired of us
you a 60 to Semantha's, and then to
Miry's, and so on to Lydia's and Eliza
beth's. whenever you feel like a change.
And Quincy and Mirah, who haven't
any spare room, will furnish you with
clothes and pocket-money-a regular
allowance-and you'll be as comfortable
as a queen, without lifting a finger"
"How you talk??"
swell, SC far so good. That's for
you," said Bel, a little encouraged.
"And as for Marquis, we all, one and
all, unanimously, consider him as able
bodied a man as any n of the rest of
us. We n and all feel only contempt
for him in his keeping you away from
us and from comfort, to work for him.
We one and all refuse to do the first stroke
or him or have him come upon us for sun
port. And this is the upshot of the decis-
ion we've come to about him-seeing
he'll never work so long as you're any
where round to work for him, that he
must go away"
$50 away Marquis Lafayette! Sep
arate me and my boy!"
"I'm sorry you feel so, mother. But
it's best for you. The old house is go
ing to rack and ruin; it's leaking, and
the chimney bricks tumble down every
storm; it's got to have q new roof and
new stills and there's none of us able to
do it. But you could sell it for seven or
eight hundred dollars, and put your
money into United States securities,
and be the only bloated bondholder
among us. You're working yourself
to death. Look at your poorold handss
Do you suppose we haven't any feeling?
And why should all your feeling be for
him and not for us?"
cit isn't-it isn't" she said, trem-
blingly; shut he needs me, and you
DON'T"
eyes, we do, and we mean to have
you. There's a ship going to weigh
anchor tomorrow morning for San !
Francisco-thc Scorpion, Al, bark
rigged-and we've arranged that Mar
quis a go in her as steward. It's a
lirst-rate chance. And when he reaches
San Francisco the first mate has a
brother who'll give him place on a
ranch, where he can earn his living,
anyway, herding cattle, and make his
if he wants to. Now, mother,
I'm in earnest"
"And so am T." cried Mrs. Casters
head. sect rid of him on a ranch, as
if he were u cat dropped overboardl
And you've arranged it all! Let me tell
you, Marquis Lafayette is going to. herd
nobody's cattle; he's going to sea in no
Scorpion, bark rig or any other rig. We