The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-03-07

HBLENORB

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6uuld take her into our service.
She belonged 10 . miserable French
Canadian family that had lived in the
~ Tor many years; but, shiftless and
asgraded 80 they were, il was evident
tscm che young girls account, that they
considered her the black sheep among
them; and her mother, always harsh
u7Eh her, for some reason had recently
grown moro SO, until that morning, af-
ter An unusually cruel beating, HeIe-
pre- she said her name was Helenore
DaldeAu-hsd fed from under her
hand, and shaking off the dust Of her
native alley, wandered, she neither
knew nor cared whittier, till hunger and
fatigue led her to seek a shelter with us.
Her plain and somewhat heavy face
was swollen and red with weeping, and
there was q look of pleading in her great
softblaok eyes that was difficult to resist.
aOh, if you would but try me!1 she
said. II can do good many tings; I care
only for some bread to eat and u place
10 leey, and'-with a shudder-.tto be
hurt no more.
I held the door open and looked at
her with compassion stirring my heart,
Poor child! she seemed so young and
yet 30 for1orn, standing there in her
dripping garments. She could not have
been more than Is or 16 years old, and
Tho looked into my face with an ex-
preston of gentle confidence that I felt
& would be cruel to wholly disappoint.
And then she asked 80 lttle-'on]y a
place to leev and bread to eat, and to be
hurt no more"
Tho tears came to my eyes as the
simple words REQUIRED to me, and
yielding to . sudden impulse / took her
in, fed her and made her as comfortable
Is possible; meanwhile turning it over
and over in my mind us to what I should
do with her.
At dinner time / held . consultation
with Jack, the nominal head of our fam
ily.; I say nominal advisedly, for: he in
aists that I defer to him only us a mat
ter Of form, after having fully deter
mined in my W mind upon any course
Of action.
Be this rs it may, he generally con-
firms my decisions, thus making assur-
ance doubly sure; SO this time, after
looking over my very latest. as he
called her. he promised to go to her
mother and negotiate, if he could, for
Helenore's services.
As q resultof that interview he found
ont for q certainty that Madame Bal
deau was q horrible old vixen, but she
readily agreed to let her daughter re-
main in our employ if, after a suitable
trial, we SO desired.
When Jack came home at night he
found us all together in the sitting
room. I was sewing and Helenore was
sitting near me playing with little Ned,
our 3-yesr-old boy. !
We'll. Helenore," said he lightly,
II have seen yonr mother, and 0 can
stay with us If you are a good girl
Sometimes quite an audience would
gather around her while she PLAYED.
and she always received their applause
with much dignity, and as o matter Of
course. But there was one thing about
this instrument very remarkable and
mysterious it responded to Helenore's
touch and to hers alone. Many others
tiled II, but always with poor success.
Even Jack, who lIas n, sort OF facility
with Q dozen instruments, and can play
the whole opera of Patience on q tin
whistle, after a fashion, finally gave it
up in despair, declaring that he believed
that Helenore was q witch undoubtedly
Il wa the popularity Of her voice that
gave to her footing such wonderful eff
feet. jN
She seldom sang, and when she did,
it seemed to be solely for the sake Of
giving vent to some powerful emotion
otherwise i~nexpressible. Her voice was
low, but very sweet and flexible; she
had no high tones. I think she consid-
cred them too light and frivolous to
convey the feelings Of her soul.
I once asked her why she never sang
high.
Mime heart is down here" she an
swered laying her hand on her heart; and
/ wns glad to believe that in those low,
deep tones of hers, SO tremulous and so
solemnly sweet, the strange, poetic soul
Of this poor untaught creature found
full expression and was satisfied.
She sang her w words generally,
and they were without connections
senseless tumble; and yet as she a
them they often possessed y weird and
startling significance. Here is one Of
her songs:
ooh happy, happy. me!
80 still, so still, white moon.
To leey, to love, to die.
All still and white, to die!ss
BY questioning l found out what these
words meant to her. She was aIwaysat
ease with me. and could express herself
more freely to me than anybody else; SO
she tried to explain this verse.
She turned toward him with q look
Of unutterable gratitude and tried in
vain to speak; then, with one swift
movement, she threw herself at myfeet,
and fastening her great eyes upon mine
with an expression / shall never forget,
b made the sign of the cross upon her
forehead and breast.
We saw her do this afterward on sey-
eral occasions when deeply moved, and
it was as expressive and touching rs
characteristic.
We soon became much attached to
her, and her odd wild ways furnished
us no little amusement. One of her fa-
yorite pastilnes was to sit with baby in
the back door and play on her Emusic, ;
a she called ii. This va. an invention
of Helenore's own, and was oaly one OF
her many grotesque but Poetic fancies.
II was only large sheet Of thiekspa-
per, rolled up into 81 huge trumpet