Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-04-20

AaG' Auso VIC uoShetJ \ Will lake SOOu care
you may be sure, and do you forget all
about u.s.
'Oh, Nell, as if ever could?"
Then forget all about the baked beans,
and brown breadspart of us, and buy your
self a nice dress, and be the queen you de-
serve to be-"
Hooked over at Nell. She had coiled her
hal. in heavy putfss on the top of her head.
and the frill around her neck was as white
as snowl She had sat down where the gold
from the west window touched her hair to
such a bronze! No painter could ever hope
to catch it, though l could we'll believe he
might almost wish to die for it. "Queen
Nell, the proudest Stenart, or Tudor, or
Howard among them all, with her ermine,
and her crown, and her scepter. never looked
more the queen, than do you'll"
After dinner, the day before 1 was to leave
home. / went up into the garrett, broom in
hand, and busted, inside and out, an old
horse.heir trunk which had lone duty
through two generations of my ancestors.
1t had belonged to my father, and to his
father before him, but ever since I could re-
aember it had stood in that same place an
der the ~rafters. To cleanse it from the dust
of two decades, and drag it to the light OF
day, down a t%ortuous, winding pair Of back
stairs to my chamber, vas the work of an
hour. I had folded a newspaper in the
bottom and had commenced the unique task
of packing, when Nell opened the door OF
my room. "In the name Of all that's hui
man, what are you doing?"
Trying to coax my six linen collars, and
as many handkerchiefs to adapt themselves
to the dimensions of this paper box" l re-
piled, squeezing down the cover.
Nell stood a moment as if undecided
what do next, then she suddenly collapsed
in the doorway, and threw her apron over
her head, rocking herself back and forth,
and sending out peal after peal OF laughter.
when you get ready or recover your
self" said ''perhaps you will be willing to
tell me what you are laughing at"
''That trunk! horse-hair in New York!
Why Patty, it was that identical trunk that
Mrs. Noah used before she went into the
ark. and it has survived to this day.
Which regard rs a clear illustration of
he survival of the %ittest," l replied laying
In a dress.
But Patty you don't mean i'll"
"About the survival Of the ~ittest9" Ger.
tainly; where can you find a better built,
more reliable piece of work thar that trunk?
Besides, l must take it with me, unless i
tie my worldly possessions in q pillow case,
Tor l certainly have nothing else, wherein
to bestow my goods"
But you know l have a better one, at
least | have one, that does not look quite so
much like a mummy case as that, and to
drag that trunk in here, and lay it fgura-
lively speaking at your feet, shall be my
first
planted mysslf firmly against the door.
mo, Nell, that trunk is yours not mine,
you picked berries for that trunk in the
broiling sun, while l."
"Staid at home and cooked us something
to eat, over a %oroiling stove. 1t belongs to
you as much as to me, and you shall take
it."
Judge Of my su rprise when all prelimina-
ries having been arr anged, l was made the
recipient of a square tin box! whatever it
might contain it had no weight to speak of,
there was no jingling, no rafting, no NOV
ing from one side te another. 1t was as
empty as air, and light as a feather. There
was no key to unlock ii, no word accom-
panying it. On our way home Marian or
dered the exile" to stop at Mr.. Reming-
tons office, and there in the midst of 8 pro-
found stiffness, save for the s~queaking of the
rusty hinges as they yielded to Mr.. Reming-
tons ''open esame" guiltless of %wrappings
or adornment of any kind, we :.solemnly
drew forth a br~own-stocking bag-we turn.
ed it. inside and out, held it up to the light
Of day, opened it this way and that-there
was nothing else-not even as much as a
ball of yarn or a skein thrambs.
Then we e home, NJ srian and 1. We
did not laugh much, We certainly did not
cry, the whole thing seemed SO like the
freak of imbecility it was pitiabie, but I
glad that l nor any of my family had ever
built any air castles over my legacy, that we
had never stopped in our busy whirl to give
it u thought. When I got to my room, I
opened Wy horse-hair trunk, and deposited
it, tin box and all, safe in the bottom.
1t was a thud in my room, that awoke
me. l can not described by any other word.
1t was not a footstep-it was not the turning
of a key, or the grating of a file in a lock,
or the opening of a door. 1t was not out
side or in the wall, but right in my room.
So perfectly did I possess myself, when 1
awoke, that I was able instantly ID locate
myself and my belongings. AS I lay per-
fectly still, 1 heard a clock striking the hour
of ''2"-the dead hour of the night. Pres
emily there was a little stir, as of the moy-
ing of cautious feet on the carpet, toward
my bed. l was able then to locate the
stand. My trunk stood in the corner OF the
the door leading to the hall. l
had locked this door when I retired, but
the intruder slust have picked his way there
for the room had no other access. Whoev-
er he was, h. was making his WY straight
for me. Wk"i ,uld l do? II bought Of
my poor old father, and Nell, and the boy
of Tot asleep in her warm bed, of what /
had meant to do for them all. I thought of
my old home, and of the cozy corner where
I used to sit and read in the afternoons, of
my books and their belongings. This had
all occupied but q second, but in it I had
lived years. A little jar of the bedl He
was there, then!
Marian's room was separated from mine
by a double wall. If I screamed she might
not hear me. Was there nothing, then,
nothing2 I lifted q silent prayer for help,
and the answer came like a flash.
It was the accomplishment I received
old Meb that saved mel I co~ncentra-
led all my strength in one wild whoop. It