The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-02-29
A FARMERS WIFE.
From the Hartford Times.

an living among the green hills of YER
mont, whose life is typical of hundreds
in that vicinity and scores scattered
throughout the far West. She arises
at 5 o'clock in the morning, chops
wood, draws water, makes fires, pre-
pares the meals for five stalwart ''hired
men," besides doing the family wash
ing, ironing. scrubhing, churning, pre-
serving. picking, mending and knit
ting. She beheads the chickens, feeds
the hens and calves, and is occasionally
called upon to accelerate the departure
of pigs to that bourne from which no
pig ever returns. Her work is never
Gone. She fries donghnuts at 10
o'clock at night, and begins
life on pie the next morning.
Her only designations are prayer-meet-
lngs, funerals and huckleberrying, va
rlcd by winter kettle-drums where the
guests sew carpet-rags, refreshed with
cider, ~forfeits and kisses. Her litera-
ture is limited to "Bunyan's Pilgrims
Progress" Josiah Aliens Wife, and
the "zion's Herald" Her music to Il
fountain filled with blood, dismal sound
from the tomb and invitations to anx-
ious seats. Her pictures to q plump
prodlgal son, a perpetual Samuel, a
furious Cain. an amiable George Wash
ington, Napoleon on his death bed at
st. Helena, o weeping willow and Wild
ow in n graveyard OF hair, and q few
glistemng tin-types Of freshly engaged
couples, who with hands clasped, hair
oiled, and Imitation watch chains spread
out to "show," stare rigidly into a flu
ture the counterpart of her own. Her
b~rlc-a-brac consists of wax-work, da-
gucrretoypes, plaster dogs with green
noses, yellow baskets and crushed
strawberry tails and a shell-box con-
tanning reward Of merit cards,
the pathetic remembrances of her van
lshod childish ~years-the only visible
recognition of her goodness that the
poor little woman ever had. Her dress
Is calico all the year around for week
days and black ALPACA for Sundays.
Her windows are covered with green
paper shades and the parlor floor with
the envy and awe of the neighborhood,
O tapestry carpet overfowing with red
and pink atrocities in yellow horns Of
plenty.
She is q woman after Rev. Morgan
Dixon VI heart. She STAYS Mt home.
The glorious pictures OF majestic noun
talns, the flashing cascades, the leafy
woods, the splendor of blue skies, the
soft white clouds and understanding
daisy fields are not for her. except in
tantalizing glimpses which only increase
the thirst of her thirsting soul. She
hos not,ne to receive the sense of pow
er and peace that comes from those
stately mountains; no time to revel in
the exquisite beauty of those-waterfalls:
no time to lie on the grass and
watch the softly sailing clouds, OF trace
the truthful symbols and discover the
wondrous revelations that nature gives
to those who love and understand her.
Yet this woman's husband has made
a little fortune of $50, 900 from lumber,
which is considered something colossal
in those regions where wants are few
and pleasures circlmscribed. She has
cENe tIpaShO ut' W itlitNt tllttU Ic WAS
created % superior being. So was he.
He is course, rcd-haired. freckled,
pious, penurious and 'asthmatic. He had
n change of heart and one change of
"meetin' clothes" in which he looks
more hideous than he does in his over
ais. His chief satisfaction is to chew
tobacco, talk in class-meeting and to get
q bargain. Heneyer owes a penny and
never gives one. He can pray and
he thinks he can sing. 1t takes him so
minutes every night and Is minutes
every morning to tell the Lord Of sew
eral mistakes in the universe, and to
ask a few mild favors. One is to wreak
eternal vengeance on the wicked by
plunging them into everlasting fire and
another. is a request for power to
wrastle with the stranger So
farming within his gates;;" and
notwithstanding her promptly
paid board bills, to bring her to q sense
Of her own vile nature and hardened
heart; created bad in the first place,
only to be purified and saved by the ac-
ceptance of this mans peculiar theo-
logical beliefs. After singing, exhort-
ing and Wheeling, he takes to snoring
with an equal spirit and energy that
makes him audible all through the
night, and the sinner within his gates
to look for a new boarding place next
morning. 1t does not occur to him to
use his money to make his wife and
their lives any happier; or that he a
afford to bring a couple of strong SER
wants into the house to perform the me-
y -.1 ,.,,1. - lsr,,oJc o,lHL;,. L,nol ,ar
He means we'll. This superior being
does not know any better. The circum-
stances Of his narrow life and the in
heritance of a narrow nature are ac-
countable for his blind ignorance.
One day his wife returned from the
village, after selling 80 cents worth of
eggs, produced by her own hens. She
tilnidly asked if she could keep the pro-
ceeds. He generously handed her Is
cents, and ~pocketed the rest, with the
grumble, 4"Wimmin folks is alters
spendin'." He did not realize the
of his act, but when We saw
it, q line of Tennyson's seemed to spring
suddenly into the air and enwreathe
him in living words that said "half his
little soul is dirt" But he does not
know that, and never with this life.
He cannot read the pitiful story
stamped upon his wife's careworn face,
with it's habitual expression of uncon.
scious self abnegation and meek resig-
nation. They never have any pleasant
walks, talks, jokes. read any books or
have friendly companionship together.
He never gives her ice-cream, anniver-
sary presents, unexpected praise, flow
ers or kisses. When she dies she may
have a flower in her coffin, which will
look strangely out of place, as none ey-
er came into married life.
Twice she made feeble attempts to
bring some cheerfulness into their