Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-17

Vas nn; blissfully happy. There
mrsta neather romance, o riya1ry. nor
1T.ystefy IN an affair so commorn1soa
nsna was .'our Annie's steady com.
fo Any, and all the factory had.
md '"o years, quietly accepted
f ~ understood the situation
ahet attachment was ike tho
constant flame of a burning lamn
dav tot te phosphorescent light; some
wa;tod dney We're to be married, and
faros; u only, as such lovers do, for a
was .nas opportunity. Meanwhile she
s ""I satlsled with the daily nod and
shn le she looked for and received as
o one passed the cutters table. She
~ tio even be proud of Tom; he was
nu oy only strong and handsome, bit
hniolClous, master of his trade, and
uound TO make money by it. When he
vas mead cutter, and the old folks com.
aoitaoiy settled, when Johnny was bic
enough to take the burden from her
shoalders, then she might begin to
Sn a Oh her simple trousseau. With
such thoughts to speed her fingers she
moulu sing softly to herself, and her
eup oi Joy seemed too full to keep with
out sharing. There was something
more than generous in the manner Of
her dlftusing SO small a sunbeam of
happiness to her right hand and to her
left. She befriendcd a new workar
1orlorn, homesick and discouraged,
WIN . Kindly grace that sprung from
her own glad heart, and impaired to
ner IN a few days all those secrets
whereby labor might be saved, and
Which it had taken her some e of
toll to discover. When the crusty FORE
man OF the prcsscrs would no longer
grant the privilege of making tea upon
The laundry stove, our Annie found a
way. Down upon her knees she went.
and patiently boiled her water on a hot
fat-lron, and shared her cupyul with a
comrade, and Hebels immortal bosom
never thrilled with more delight, hear
ing Olympian praises of her nectar,
than did Annie's when there was a
gathering OF the clans, a rise in hot
irons, and the corner in boiling water
being broken, little clouds of fragrant
steam arose once more to that black
and sooty heaven, the factory ceiling.
When grilny and fatal oil spots, almost
as tragic in the consequences as that
''spot which would not "out'' for all
the .perlumed washings and invocations
OF Lady Macbeth, scared some poor
timid worker with their ruinous ugli-
ness, Annie would leave her seat, and
with q drop OF cold water and her magi-
cal touch restore the snowy whiteness
OF the fabric. When a neighbor's scis-
sors grew dull, and funds Tor sharpen
ing were low, she gave them an edge
upon the neck Of a glass bottle. count
ing her time well spent for q grateful
''Oh, thank you'll" and her needles. her
oil, her soap to smooth a stubborn
seam, or to hide the lime in weighted
muslins, We're ever at the service Of
others, who were not slow to avail them
selves OF her liberality. With a piece
worker, time is literally money, and
though the power of fifty horses drove
the wheels, it would have taken a con-
centration of seltishness not possessed
by Annie to see any one, unaided, try
ing vainly to make living wages on
shirts at fifty cents a dozen. To amore
worldiy-minded worker, who chided
her good-nature, and reminded her of
her own loss. she replied:
s'But, dear heart, you don't want a
voice from Heaven or handwriting. on
the wall to tell you What to do. when
there's something to be done and no.
body by but yourself to do tia
homely paraphrase of the noble maxim:
DO the duty that lies nearest.
There was nothing in her akin to the
priest or Levite who merely looked on
OF passed by; she had the sociable Sa-
maritan way of crossing over and Civ
ing her two-pence unsolicited; and in
the exclusive society OF the other
world-more exclusive and more just
than thls-little Annie and that good
man may stand side by side with other
kindly company whose merits have
been overlooked or underrated.
It seemed impossible for harm to be-
fall one SO gentle and SO safe in her
obscuriiy. That Heavens lightning
should fell a acknowledging tree or
tower is in the course of nature; but
that,it should descend merely to root up
and blast q simple violet, OF strike a
wild bird dead in ruthless violence, APP
peared to us who Jay it like blindest
fate or bitterest chance.
One frosty winters morning a stran-
ger came into the factory to work. Her
White and awkward fingers tumbling
nervously with the bands, her softer
voice and finer dress, marked n who
had descended a step or two to walk
upon our level. A fierce tempest it
must have been that drove her from her
world down to this, s. poor, so bare, SO
grinding. No nobleman sighed nor
wealthy friend protested in her case,
nor were there, apparently, any nsthet'
ic bonnets to be made. Silent but as.
siduous, she took her place, and what.
ever she thought Of the poor company
in which she found'herself, she breathec
no word of it aloud. The absence OF q
lordly lover may have sealed her lips,
for she never declared loudly of us, a.
did the bonnet maker, that we were
guilty Of a newly discovered sin, exclu
siveness being new 10 us, ut all events
..They are poor silly things, most o
them, and rs full OF prejudice and OK
clusiveness as any one,' she AYERS
ave never seen distinctions in societ,
so awful rs the distinctions between
shop-girls and parlor-girls. l sup
posed once that all work-people were
On a level. but really [ had no idea 0