Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1884-01-03

Heaven go with thee, fair son, and keep
Ana this thy guerdon be,
rhat at thy end some eyes may weep
As they have wept for me.n
tGodey's Lady's Book.]
TWO NEW YEARS. EVES.
Richard Dolton, my great-grandfather
on my mothers side, was the Youngest
son of an English lord. Hewas edncat-
ed at Oxford, and, being unusually gift
ed, stood near the head of his class when
it graduated; but he sowed SO many wild
oats during the term that the place was
uncomfortable for him, and he deemed
it wise to leave the country. He came
to America and fell in love with pretty
little Puritan. The sun of her gentle
eyes fell upon the good seed buried in
his wayward heart, causing it to spring
into life and develop q hardy plant.
They married, and, going eastward, set
tied in the green hills of Vermont.
where, as years passed, they trained
their small family OF three boys in the
way they should go. The mother. who
was endowed with rare voice and a soul
full of,music, taught their young hearts
to expand in reverence to God, by means
OF cradle song and evening hymn, and
developed within them the simplicity of
conscious rectitude, sustained by holy
faith, as q guide for all the acts of life.
Their father left their training in her
hands. yet brought to bear upon them
the effects of his thorough education.
feeding their bright intellects with
crumbs from the great sfesst spread by
his Alma Mater. Their eldest son Mar
tin) married Hermina Vanderslice, whom
he met while she was visiting her aunt
in the vicinity of his home. Her.
mina's home was in Catskill, where her
father owned broad acres Of field and
forest land. She being an only child
would only marry Martin on condition
that lie would live with her father and
gradually relieve him of the cares which
he was growing too old to bear. So
they settled on the Vanderslice home
stead. Their family never exceeded
two daughters. One of these died with.
in year of their wedding, leaving a
little daughter to take her place in the
family. The other, my mother, mar
ried my father, who died when L was
two years OF age; when. was twelve she
married again-a gentleman who lived
in San Francisco-and I went to Grand.
ma Dolton's to live, with which ar
rangement I was much pleased, for
there l should have a young com panion
my cousin Nina, named after grand
ma. She was not quite year older
than /; yet, under my grandfather's in
structions she was reading Horace and
Shakespeare, and studying the history
of England and the United States.
This would have been great mortifca-
tion to me had she been less lovely; but
as. it was, she gave me SO much encour-
agement that by ethe time was four
teen we were nearly even in our studies.
Grandpa soon discovered that had his
mothers voice and s'a deal" of his ia.
ther in me- About this time one of
grandpa's nephews came from Vermont
to gee US, bringing with him one of his
motherless daughters, I don't know
what the girls charm was, but we all be-
came very fond of her. She seemed to
have no particular talent, but was uni
iyersally capable. The trait Of character
most marked was ambition-not wick
ed ambition, however. We became SO
much attached to each other that her ia
ther finally went home, leaving her with
u.s. The following winter we were ff-
teen, sixteen and seventeen years of age,
l being the youngest and Hildegard the
Oldest. We had lots OF country swains,
and.a very merry time. iHildegard had
come in the spring, and riding and driv-
ing had been succeeded by husking par
tins H.y f,rr1fin1r I,
bees, SO that there had been no cessa-
tion Of fun till an early fall of snow
brought winters pleasures to us.
There were no girls for miles
around that received as much at
tention that winter as we did.
A circumstance that contributed
to this in no small degree was the locat-
ing near us of a handsome and wealthy
widower, Mr.. Farquhar, from New
York. He had come on account of the
delicate health of his Oldest child-a
young girl about Mina's age. But the
daughter had quite recovered, and yet
they fingered away into the winter.
Nina and this charming little city girl,
/, Adele, had become quite good friends,
and through this friendship we received
many little pleasures. On Christmas
Eve we were going caroling; but heavy
snow storm prevented. The boys, un-
willing to lose the fun, proposed a 6etl.
Sc1nieglea for New Years eve, when we
would serenade few of our neighbors,
have some coasting, and then gather at
eur house to watch the Old Year out and
the New Year in. The programme was
successfully carried out, and after the
last guest had departed, we three girls
kissed our grand pasents good night, re-
peated our hearty wishes that they might
enjoy another happy year, and hastened
| pera, and tumbled upona great robe in
front of an open woodfire, we proceeded
to Chat over the evenings merry-mak-
ing.
s'Well, girls said Nina. I'm going
to leave, ,you.' It was hard totell wheth.
er the tones were those of sorrow or glad.
ness.
why. what, do you mean?" cried
Hildegard and I. l{s%.a
" That I hope to have you both watch
the next New Year in, with me in my
own house on Murray Hill."
This was a startling statement. For
an instaptswa.wsr silenced with aston.
ment, then Hildegard, recovering her
voice, cried with agitation:
Explain! explain in words, Nina .
"You know" said Nina, chow much
I have been with Adele, and how fond
she has been of me and Of her. You
know how attentive and kind her father
has been to me, that I suppose that of
course 1t was out of consideration for
her: Well to-nightas we were going out
to the sleighs, he said to me: Come,
you had better ride with me. His man
ner was tender and affectionate all the
evening, and began to imagine that
he would prove y devoted escort for She
xest OF the winter, when my antici.
pat'ons were cut short by his proposal.