Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-14
In . cheer by the w,nder, fest as straight

in . cheer by the w1nder, fest as straight
an smart as could be, in her new black
bunn1t an gown, was-Aunt Rebecca-
-'~Na'al. Of I was to tell you what [
did, Almiry, | s'pose you'd think it was
awful. But l s'pose the sudden change
from feelin' SO bad made me kinder
highsteriky. l jest sot right down in
the first cheer I come to, an laughed; [
laughed till the tears was runnin' down
my cheeks, an it was all I could do to
breathe. There was quite a lot of I'm
Gle Enos's folks settin' round the room
his brothers. family, an some cousins
an they looked at me as eff they
thought / was crazy. But SEEM them
look only sot me off again. Some of
the folks came IN from the entry, an
stood starin' at me, but 1 jest laughed
harder. Finally Aunt Rebecca comes
up to me.
"'For mercy's sake, Sarah says she,
what air you dom SO for?'
"eOh dear!' says 1. Il thought you
was dead, an that you was q settin'.
"And then l began to laugh again. 1
was awful ashamed of myself, but I
couldn't stop to save my life.
AOA cAO ltlASl . oUNCs ]Aoho AtOOCO.
ca says l, is thar a funeral or q we'd
din. an eff thar is a funeral, who's
dead?'
"'Come into the bedroom with me a
minute, Sarah, says she.
"Then we went into her bedroom,
that opened out OF the settin'-room an
sot down, an she told me that it was
Uncle Enos that was dead. 1t seems
she was the one that hailed the man, an
he was a little hard of hearin', an thar
was a misunderstanding between 'em
some way.
"Uncle Enos had died very sudden
the day before of heart-disease. He
went into the scttin' room after break
fast, an sot down by the winder, an
Aunt Rebecca found him thar dead in
his cheer, when she went in a few min
utes afterward.
.'It was such awful hot weather they
had to hurry about the funeral. But
that want all. Then she went on to
tell me the rest. They had had the
awfulest time that ever a The show
er had come up about one o'clock, and
the barn had been struck by lightnin'.
It was a big new one that Uncle Enos
had sot great store by. He had laid out
consider'b BILE money on it, an they'd jest
got in twelve ton of hay. Is'pose that
was how it happened to be struck. A
barn is a good deal more likely to be
when they've jest got hay in. Well,
everybody sot to anF put the fire in the
barn out. They handed buckets OF
water up to men on the roof, an put
that out without much trouble by takin'
it in time.
"But after they'd got that put out
they found the house was on fire. The
same thunder-bolt that struck the barn
had struck that, too, an it was blazin'
away at M end Of the roof pretty live
".
"Wa'al. they went to work at that
then, an they'd jest got that fairly put
out q few minutes before we come.
Nothin' was hurt much, only thar wa;
a good deal of water round; we haC
hard work next day cleanin' of it up.
"Aunt Rebecca alters was q calm sor1
of a woman, an she didn't seem neal
as much flustered by it as most folk:
would have been.
81 couldn't help wonderin' an look
in at her pretty sharp to see how sh,
took Uncle Enos's death, too. You see
thar was something kinder curious abou
their gittin' married. I'd heerd abou'
it all from mother. don't s'pose sht
ever wanted him, nor cared about hin
the best she could do, any more thansh'
would have about any good respectable
man that was her neighbor. Uncle Emo;
was a pretty good sortof a man, though
he was alters dreadful sot in his ways
an l believe it would have been wus'
than death any time for him to hav,
given up anything he had determined
to hev. But l must say l neverthough
SO much of him after mother told N,
what she did. You see, the way of i
was my Grandmother Wilson, Aunt Re
becca's mother, was awful sot on he
hevin' him, an she was dreadful nerv
Gus an feeble. an Aunt Rebecca les
give in to her. The wust of it was, tina
was some n else she wanted, too, an
he wanted her. Abner Lyons his aam,
was; he want any relation to TIL
Lyons woman l had when I was sick
He was a real likely young Teller, an
thar want a thing agin him that an.
one else could see; but grandmothe
fairly hated him, an mother said sh'
did believe her mother would rathe
hev buried Rebecca than seen her mar
ried to him. Well, grandmother tool
on and acted so that Aunt Rebecca civ,
in an said she'd marry Uncle Enos, an
the weddin' day come.
|, another said she looked handsom
as a pictur, but thar was somethin
kinder awful about her when she stool
up before the minister with Uncle Emo
to be married.
"She was dressed in green silk, an
had some roses in her hair. l kin i'm
agine jest how she must hev looked
She was a good-lookin' woman when
knew her, an they said when she wa
young thar want many to compar
! with her.
"Mother said Uncle Enos LOOKED
nice, but he had his mouth kinder harl
[ sot, as eff now he'd got what he wante.
an meant to hang on to it. He'd know
} all the tine jest how matters was. Aun
Rebecca'd told him the whole story; sh,
declared she wouldn't marry him with
out she did.
dispose at the last minute that Aun
Rebecca got kinder desprit, an a real
lin sense of what she was dom CON,