Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-07

a. j. the squire was a-goin' to
beat, Jason Hutchins he settled down
Study an punctooal to courtin' Mary
Ann. Idon't say as there's no connec-
ton between them two idees. In point
of fac I'm one o. them that thinks that
as fur forth as he's able, Jason Hut
chins alwers has set by Mary Ann. It
comes material to him to love himself
best, an he has reasonable doubts
whether lovin' anybody else pays. He
Mary Ann except with the medder lot
throwed in, for he was shrewd enough
to a found out even then that the
squire had begun to go down-hill, an
all the rest Of his property wouldn't
more'n pay his debts il there was a fair
an square settlin'.
THAT was nigh upon fourteen year
ago, and Jason Hutchins he's been
a-courtin' Mary Ann Topham more or
less stiddy ever since without ever COM
in to the pint.
"Now, you may say what you will,
that kind of courtin' must be terrible
wearin' to a woman. She must "a been
expectin' an expectin' all the time that
he'd up an ask her to name the day.
l suppose she was a-makin' up reasons
an excuse for him all the time.
a-thinkin' mebbe he was bashful an
didn't oarst to ask, or mebbe, because
he used to, be kind of consumpted, he
didn't think he'd orter get married, or
mebbe because his father had objections
you see, he an the old man lived
alone then. 1 know't she used to
get mad because folks called him mean,
an she told my darter Ann Lily that
folks didn't understan' him, that he had
generous impulses Ginerous i'm
pulses!-so's the calkerlatin' merchine
that that Teller was showin' off ter the
fair. But a woman that's in love with
a mar she alwers sees a sight in him
that other folks can't see. Sometimes
mebbe it's there, but this timeit want.
Leastways that's my opinion, and most
other folks's. When it come out that
the medder lot didn't belong to neither
the squire nor 'Liph'let, but to Ezry
Topham, over to Plaintield, by reason
of his foreclosin' a mortgage that he'd
held on it for years an years-when
that news come out, an it begun to be
known that all the squire had wouldn't
more'n pay his debts, Jason Hutchins
he kind of Stacked up his courtin' of
Mary Ann, an took to goin' consid' able
often to see Persis Tibbetts. Persis she
was kind of gettin' along in years, an
want never much to look at, an was
odd an Tightly an subjic to spells. She
must have been surprised tohave a beau.
Folks said she put a feather on her bun
nit, an went to meet'n'-a thing that
she never was knowed to do before.
Old Iibbetts was a miser, an the story
was that he had no end of money hid
away in holes in the ground, an old
stockin's an SIGH; but Persis she was
peppery, and Jason was thin-skinned,
an he didn't keep company with her
but a little while; Mary Ann she'd flare
up if anybody called it keepin' compa-
ny; she said they were neal neighbors,
an Jason pitied her cause She was
lonesome. He'd never gin up courtin'
Mary Ann, only kind Of Stacked up a
little, an now he took to goin' to see
two or three of the other girls, Just as
he used to when he was younger, jest
to show that there want nothin' per
ticker between him an Mary Ann.
"Now you'd think a girl like Mary
Ann would "a had enough of SIGH a fell
Ter by that time, wouldn't you? She
jest kind OF wilted down when he was
goin' to see Persis Tibbetts, an some
folks thought she was a-go:n' to die OF
a broken heart. 1t was about that time
that 'Siah Holmes, over to Plainfield,
wanted her to hev him: he was a terri
BILE likely man, 'Siah was, a store keep
er an a sleck-man an a deacon, but
Mary Ann wouldn't hev anything to
say to him, though her father was dead,
and hadn't left her enough to buy her
v%ictuals an clo'es. Some said that Ja-
son advised her to hev him, but l don't
know the rights O. that. Anyhow, every
body else in town was advisin' her to
hev 'Siah, even to the minister an his
wife. They had an extry SEWN circle
to deal with her. l guess they talked
to her poorly considerable plain about
Jason, an at last she got mad, an
showed that she had some Of the Topham
grit. 1t must be middlin' rilin' to a
woman to hev folks tell her that she's
set her heart on a man, an is sottn on
marryin' him, when he hain't no SIGH
idee. Mary Ann was mad, an no mis-
take, an she got the winter school over
t. the East Deestrict, an she licked the
big hoys like a major, an they all
thought a sight of her.
"She did perk up amazin' that win
ter; mebbe it done her good to git her
temper up a little; I have knowed it to
hev that effec' on folks that was de-
pressed in sperit before now. Anyhow,
she got some flesh on to her bones, an
the color back into her cheeks, an she
looked most rs if she was eighteen agin.
There was one or two of her old beaux
that want married that would a been
glad to "A made up to her agin, but
there was. SIGH a kind of a way to her
that they didn't darst to come anigh.
''It was about this time, too, Mary
Ann begun to show a hankerin' arter
the medder lot. She never had been
the kind of a girl that thinks much
about business or money matters, any
how; but now she begun talkin' an
thinkin' and plannin' how she could
git the medder lot. Most folks thought
it was because she see that was what
Jason was arter, an he'd marry her if
she had it. 1t don't seem as if it could
"a been that. though I will say that, so
fur forth as my observation goes, the
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