Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-02-22
up IN Mahaly as Mshaly was

stance happened. I was SEWN at
Mahaly's at the time, a-makin' Cicely
a mighty purity buff shally delaine, with
a iiny bit Of pink tigger in it and a
raised green silk leaf. l mind l made
1t with a Garibaldi waist an six rows o.
black velvet ribbon round the skirt.
There a f1owin' sleeves lined with
green silk, an white swiss undersleeves,
that didn't plum hide Cicely's purity,
plump pink arm.
eft was her first real long dress, an
she didn't like it. l mind how she put
her arms round Mahaly an kissed her,
sayin' she couldn't feel like she was
Mahaly's little girl any more in that
dress.
II know Mahaly told her she must
begin to be a woman now, but when
Cicely'd gone a-singin' down cellar af-
ter a mince pie fer dinner, Mahaly come
an whispered to me to run some little
tucks under the brood bands O. velvet,
an turn the skirt in q little more at the
top.
"Well, while 1 was stitchin' away at
the dress there comes a knock at the
door, an fore Mahaly could open it, in
M q tall, bearded. tine-lookin' man
OF bout forty. Mahaly was unrollin'
the velvet from the pasteboard, an
when that man comes in she turns as
white as q sheet for a second, an
seemed ready to faint. Then she tried
to say somethin', but couldn't; an in
another minnit her an that Teller had
their arms round each other, an was
huggin' way like sixty.
uI had caoco ,nonrh RI Epow fhot
my room was better'n my comp'ny
bout that time, so 1 grabbed up my
work an put off out into the kitchen,
where Cicely vas settin' the table fer
dinner. She'd got a sight O the doin's
in the front room, an l mind how I
bust out latin when she said, so inner
Gently:
"'Why, Miss Dorcas. who on earth is
that man kissin' my ma?
eve didn't know for half an hour
that that man was Dave Bascom.
at was a long story he had to tell,
bout how he'd been clean crost seas,
an into Turin parts. He got word
while he was in Californv that Mahaly
was dead. She was mighty low of q
fever for a long time, Just after her
folks died. They was several times
when it got out in Elderville that she
vas dyin'; an some busybody couldn't
wait till the poor girl was clean gone,
but had to write to David that she was
RELY dead. He said he'd writ three
times fer perticklers, an got no answer.
Letters got lost ofsener them days than
tAey do now, an Mahaly hadn't got
his'n Elderville was a little, out-of-
the-way place, with only one mail a
week, an Dave he had to send his let
tiers nearly a hundred miles to post en-.
The Injuns got away with manga mail
bag, too. Neither Mahaly nor David
was great hands for scribblin'. Then
they was promised to each other, any
how, an l reckon they thought courtin'
by mail didn't mount to much.
can SO, tween letters that did go
an letters that didn't, DAVID and Ma
haly'd been KEEP apart fer nigh onto
twenty years; an neither of 'em had
seen fit TO marry anybody else. They
'peared to set IS much store by each
other at forty as they had when they
was half that old; an the way they
went round there like young lovers was
enough to make one split latin.
DoAJ NhS RAIu OA LILLY >
count that Dave had come back gin,
sound in body an mind, heart-whole
an fancy free.
"Both of 'em bein' we'll an healthy
an in their right senses, an likely to
live many q year yet, they didn't seem
to be no goodreason why they shouldn't
marry an enjoy the rest of their lives
together. 1t seemed to me that the
Lord had brung 'em together for that
purpose. I'm sure they want so KILN
old either, after all.
"David hadnt come back with gold
mine in his pockets. l guess he was
nigh bout as poor as when he left,
through havin' the ups an downs of a
miners life.
"But mercy IN us! Dye reckon Ma
haly Doolittle ever asked whether the
man was rich as Cresus or poor as Jobs
turkey, which poor critter hadn't but
one feather in his tail-not she! She
never thought O. that. He'd come back
true aid faithful; his heart was hers,
an hers was his forever. That was ali
a woman like Mahaly Doolittle cared
to know. Riches an this worlds glory
counted for nothin' with her. If the man
had come home blind an bald, 'thout
airy leg or ARM, she'd still OF been true
as steel to him.
$50 1 want a bit s'prised when Ma
haly comes an bespeaks two weeks O.
my time to sew on her weddin' outfit.
They was goin' to marry in May, an
that was the middle O Aprile.
"Cicely didn't at first seem to take
to David, an fought kind O. shy O him.
I used to tease her, an tell her she
was jealous; an she'd laugh. and say
she was.
"But she soon got to be great friends
with Dave, an that tickled Mahaly.
She throwed 'em together as much as
she could, an they'd 60 stroll n arm
in-arm all e the country; an some
folks did talk some bout it; but I'd
shet 'em up mighty quick if l hecrd
'em. 1t seemed material an right 'nough
to me, seem that David was old 'nough
to be Ciccly's father, an that was what
he was RELY qoin' to be, so to speak.
"Many's the time, when 'Haly an
me was busy SEWN, have I heerd her
in her joky way:
"'Come, now, David, you an Cico]y
90 down to the mnIde hack ~ tbn