The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-11-30
RICH or POOR.

I0y OI000030 Ut0ePan$, teAtIUl b0Wus p
To5Ersete hes II lhe imM sstai year.
RICH Or POOR.
80 you've come back again, Jerome?"
sid old Mr.. Sewell. "Well. We heard
you was thinkin' Of returnia' to Elm
Mountain. Bad pennies always come
back-ha! hal hat Aud you did not
make such q biz fortune as you calcula-
Ted, ehfv
Jerome Clay leaned over the old zig
zag rail fence and rubbed his eyes. Had
time stood still all these years while he
had been in the Southe For here was
Farmer Sewell IN the same old blue-
checked Overalls, with the same bat
tered straw nat, the same wrinkles be-
tween his brows, driving the sarna old
red cows home through the twilight lane,
where the scent Of trampled spearmint
came mp, and the melancholy notes of a
whippoorwill sounded family on the
purple silence.
And yet-and yet il was twenty odd
years since he had. left Elm Mountain,
with ill his worldly goods balanced in a
bundle on his back. He had been a
dashing lad Of twenty-one, then; there
and he left . dead past buried under the
swee magnolia groves. And here was
Moses Sewell, Just the same RS ever.
only . trifle ypllower and more dried up.
Yes Clay said; quietly, 1--WE come
back. And YOU are right when you say
that fortunes don't grow on every bush.'
1Goin' tolyour uEcle's house?" said Mr..
Seweli, leaning over the bars. Hes
dead and buried. poor fellow. Always
had . weak chest You know. And the
gals atn't no younger. The three old
maids We call 'em-ha, ha, La, hal"
And again the old farmer chuckled
himself into astate of semi snffocation.
Come in and see u.s., said he. "My
widow and does tai!nrin' and plain SEWN
The old woman,s stone deaf but she's
dreadful quick at catchin' q persons
me~aningi"
And OF he trudged over the patches
Of sweet smiling spearmint, his broad
figure vanishing Into the gloom like u
Shadow.
Three old maids, chi" repeated Jer-
ONE Clay to himself. Clara and Bess,
and little Kate, the golden.haired beau.
ty, the soft eyed peetess, the wild little
aprite who was mixture of Und,ne and
Queen Nab. Then surely, Father Time
has not atood stillW
The light shone out, as of old, from
the red-curtained easement, the great
fire Of logs Wa blazing on the hearth,
and the three cousins greeted the re-
turned wanderer with unaffected
warmth.
They Q changed, Of course. What
else could have been expected? The
beauty had grown sharp and freckled
and her lovely hair)had lost its burrish..
and she was not quite q tidy as she
used to be in the old days about her
ribbons and frilis. Soft-eyed Bessie's
sweet voice had degenerated into a
whine; she had grown round-should-
ered and lost one Of her front teath;
and little Kate wal q stout, middle-aged
woman, who reminded n OF Undine
no more.
But they were cousins still-the girls
who had played and romped and
hirted.with him in due arithmetical pro-
erosion. Aud there still existed a bond
OF steadfast friendship, and he told them
the story Of the Southern wife who had
been buried for five years under the
magnolias, and they all sympathized
and beauty even cried q little.
II have brought my three children
to the North" he said. 81 left them III
New York, and if ! can get some genu-
inc, whole-souled woman to take charge
OF my home, ItM thinking of settling
here in Elm Mountaia. Clara, dear,you
used to be fond Of me in the old tllRGs!
charge??n
Th"o h..,,f., roo.J s.u.
sharper, more business-like in q second;
tf cousin jerome had come home a mil.
iionaire, she would have jumped into
his arms.
But Clara Nicely was mol Economically
inclined. To her, love il a cottage pos
eessed no charms.
4 couldn't Jerome she answered,
quickly. "Im not very strong, and l
couldn't assume any responsibility of
this arduous nature. Besides, I'm not
fond Of children. I'm greatly obliged to
you, I'm sure. but IL rather not"
Jerome Clay bit his lip.
q course" he said. tit is for you to
decide. But ii Jessie
The poeteas shrugged her shoulders,
cashination.
cousin Jerome said abe, ssips Just
swell to be frank abyut these matters.
wouldn't marry q poor man-not If I
loved him like Romeo and Juliet. It's
. enough TO scrape along as we do
ne!e. with only half what one requires
~ 1--we on decently. But to plunge into
poverty. with two or three children be-
yon.n
For time. as may easily be perceived,
ma elimmateda great deal o fpoetical
element from Bessie Neely,s soul.
The qaindam Unaine did not wait for
y question, rs far Us she was concern.
60 out added, promptly, that she quite
tiers.
.'It's such apity.you'aidn, stay here,
where. you werewolf off, jerome" said
ene, in the plying, patronizirY manner
Which your genuine man most abhors.
pr0yedsof y0ur going south. And you
might have got the situation Of agent to
the White Castle Place. at eight hum
arod 2 PEAR. and q cottage found, If
yoaa only been here on the spot. Pa
usod 70 know the old agent, and could
h1se recommended your
Jerome smiled.
Whits Castleee' said he. .Thaps the
big house on the hill, whore We chill
d.en used to peep at the roses and
Mhits Hrapes through the glass sides of
9 grsat greenhouse. A grand place,
> r0tn6tnhers il"
fsAnd the position Of agent is most re-
sponsible. md highly considered,n
broke in Bessie.
depressed.
~ u not the lot Of every man 10 be
thrice rejected in one evening.
They think Fam q failure in life y