The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-09-19
~uess--in his oVn p~laOe--it wonldn't have han.

tors limited his chances for ever seeing skv or
earth again was probiematicai, was as bitter "a
anything in Jobs experience. To lie up stairs
in q close back room and hear a shrewish
step mother scold his little boys all day was
hell on earth There was, in these DAYS OF MT
ter wratChedness, a sound that John Chapman
we'll knew; d sound of h~urrying feet, and then
the shrew's tongue dashed tho lazy lump that
ougEt to be working in a neighbor's kitchen.
As there never was any love in the case tall
on the second wife's part, when dire poverty
flung the door wide open ali the windows in the
houee were not large enough to echo her dis
content and IL humoE to the ends q town
Nell Chapman sat in silent despair in the one
room set apart for herself and her brothers.
Although it was a little past high noon, md the
air was sitting hot, her little brothers were
compelled to remain in their room. Ned and
Jim had been guilty Of the enormous offence OF
Offering the house" with the trimmings and
pieces of paper they had gathered at Judge
Hammers house, whore the paperhaHgers were
at work. Such brilliant paper was never seen
before. The boys swooped down upon it as
misers might appropriate a gold mine. They
and bodies, and waltzed away
with ii home, where in due season Mrs.
Chapman gave them 'such a warming that
they both cried themselves asleep in broad
daylight in their bedroom Ned onthe floor:
Jim in Nell's shielding arms. When she laid
him down beside Ned gently, and seated herself
again, it was an attitude the Almighty never
intended youth to take.
Her elbows were planted on her knees; her
palms clasped her cheeks and chin, and she
looked slaight before her into vacancy.
As she sat there in the darkened room, she
recalled a face in which compassion and ten
derness blended so sweetly that her memory
could not grasp the approach of a frown upon
it. 1t was not possible the dead could see the
living-if her dead mother could see them
now, it would be torture inconceivable.
What could a girl like her do? II her faith
er did not recover his eyesight, her brothers
would be bound out 1t would be as much IS
she could do to pay her own way.
AS she sat there with stony eyes staring 1t
the door, the cat pushed it's wayin, and rubbed
against her, purring. 1t fastened to little Jim's
side-it always purred around him when he
cried-and curled beside hin Mrs. Chap
man number two hanged at the front door,
leaving it wide open, and when Nell, recalled
to herself by the sound looked down upon the
floor, a broad bar of sunlight falling through
the door of the room, slanted across the floor.
1t fell upon the tangled trimmings of paper
them little wretches brought in" around
their legs and arms, and drew with them in a
heap as they fled from the heavy hand of the
stepmother. The scarlet tints burned like FIRE;
the purple shimmered; the yellow stones
shone like gold As Nell looked at the queer
patches of purple and dull brown interlaced
with a network of tangled trimmings, she
started. Her pulse quickened An idea
formed itself slowly in her brain. Then she
few-fairly flew to her treasure in the cup
board, brought forth her poor little box OF
cheap water coIors-pathetic in their
cheapness, and her shabby pencils
and a piece of paper, and began to paint
The flies hummed through tho open door,
the cat purred loudly beside little Jim, the air
palpitated with heat, but Nell was obliVious TO
these. 1t was only when Mrs. Chapman num-
Der two returned and noisily slammed the door
to, that Nell paused in her work. Then she
put her paint box and paper in their hiding
place,
II you please, indeed sir, / did it all my
Him. Mr.. Hague, the elder, looked down
upon her through his glasses in a way that al
most made Nells heart stand still, she was so
overcome with awe by the appointments OF
Mr.. Hague's private Office, and by the manner
of Messrs. Hague, father and son.
'My father did not intimate a doubt of the
truthfulness of your statement; he simply
expressed surprise. This is, / must say-Ohl
by the way, what's yourname?" Nellie Chap
man"
"Young Mr.. Hague looked meaningly at the
elder Hague, the elder Hague said somethingin
a low tone to his son, then the latter asked
abruptly:
"How is your father, Miss Chapman?'
1t sounded so strange to be called Miss Chap
man" that she was 1urried, but she managed
to say, 'aThe doctor thinks he may see again"
"H'm! h'mln said the elder in a peculiar
manner. Every odd-unaccountable.D
"Not at all, said the son. 81 have heard OF
cases almost similar
"H'ml rare-rare, I should say" He wheeled
around to Nell suddenly, then, sMy child
this, / scarcely know what to say of it Best
put it in Boone's hands and let him decide
snow that is precisely what do not propose
to do" said Hague, JE. 1t won't be fair. Boone
must not know where we obtained the design
/ suggest be permitted, as usual, to order linn
TO supply any details that may occur to him,
in preparing the design for the frame"
You are ~right-quite right. And you Miss
this is the most extraordinary case that ever
came under my notice-call on us-say in q
week"
snake it Saturday if you wish interposed
Hague, Jr., kindly, as be looked into the VIE.
/ fui eyes that seemed to search his very soul
in their anxiety.
81 will be back Saturday Nell said simply
as she skipped out. She thought she would
have tainted If she had remained q moment
longer, her JOY wasso great
The present owners Of Haese,s- fscssrT the sh1s
foremost in the land, point 70 an elegant resi-
dence on the ummit overlooking the town,
where the hobby -horses of the grandchildren
and children of Hague, senior and junior shine
under the trees. The Hagues amassed q COM
potency and retired from active pursuits The
greatest stroke Of business the Arm OF Hague
Il Son ever did was when thev put their famous
Bar Of Gold" pattern on the market The Sc
ries Of patterns following yielded them larger
profits In two years, than all the profits Of the
two years put together. There is q story cur
rent in the trade that the profits of the origin
al Bar of Gold pattern amounted to upwards
of two hundred thousand dollars. Incidental
ly / may mention that the succeeding prohta-
bic patterns were designed by the same hand
The hand that was appropriated by Hague,
Jr, before the firm retired from active bust
ness.
Needless to add hat Nell's brothers and
father shared her good fortune, or that her
father thinks TO this day that there never was
q pattern as handsome as sgThe Bar Of Gold"
"A ---