Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-09-05
WINNY.

~ W 1luIlIl
Creek. Take Il chair on the piazza
till dinners rcady-wc dine early in
these new-wor,d parts.
Fine farm? Well. yes; Indian Greek
is a nice place, it do W it. All as
far as you can see-erass-!and, corn
fields, woods and crccks-all belong
to it. Stock, ton-they call it the best
stocked farm in Ontario, | believe, aud
l dare say they're right. All mine;
and yet l came to Canada twelve wears
ago, without ever the traditional half
crown in my trousers pocket. You
look surprised. Would you like to
hear the story? There's a good half
hour to dinner time yet. and It's a
story | never tire of telling, somehow.
hbcgan life as the sou OF u village
carpenter in the south of England.
You know that class pretty well,
dare say. and what Il gulf was fixed
between me and the vicar of the par
,sh. And yet-and yct-from the
time she was Z years Old and | II, and
she fell down in the dusty road out
side the carpenters shop, and cried,
and l picked her up, and smoothed the
little crump!ed pinaforc, and kissed
the dust out OF her golden curis, l low
cd but n CIR! III the world, aid that
was the Wears daughter, Winny
Branscome.
Madness, you'll say. Well, nerhaps
SO. and yet a man is but q mar. and Il
woman 4 woman; and love comes,
whatever II may do. Thtle', no
class distinction rccogi.n ed by ,..ild-
hood, and we We're ay.rates and
friends til! she went o boarding school.
Ii Miss Winny had had Il mother no
doubt things would have been very diff
f%erent; but We arc alike in never hav-
ing known a woman's care, and the
old vicar was blind to everything but
his theological treatises.
But when she came back from her
London boarding school, Il beautiful
young lady, all smiles and laces and
little lovely ways-then l knew. lhad
tried my best to study and work, and
make myself moro like the men she
would meet: but what can a lad in an
English village do? had just enough
education to make every other lad in
the village hate me; and beside the
men of her world | suppose l cut rath-
er an astonishing figure. Yet the love
of her was so beyond all else in me.
that mad, hopeless as | felt it, l had
no power owe myself; and the .irSt
time l caught her alone in the woods
she avoided me, | saw. and | had to
whole story, and waited for her an
swer. She grew scarlet-a rush of
color that dyed her sweet face-then
deathly white.
"Dick." she said, and she was trem-
bling from head TO foot, '.you know it
can never, never be; you know you are
wrong even TO dream of such Il thing.
Some girls would think it IN insult
know you better; but if my father heard
of this he would Say you had abused
his kindness 10 you; he would never
forgive you. Forget your maAaA,s."
And she ran from me.
l let her 90. l had seer the blush
and the tremor, and l guessed that if
l had been Mr.. Lotus, the young
squire, instead of Dick Hawtry, the
carpenters son, her answer might have
been different. A great resolve srrang
up in my soul, and l took Il solemn
vow in those June woods. That very
night l sold the old shop (mv father
was dead and | had taken TO the bust
ness), and with the money ! bought an
outfit. and started straight for Canada.
1t was pretty tough work at first, but
l worked like a galley-slave-starvcd
and pinched and saved, and never spent
a penny on myself except for the books.
sat up half the night to read and
study. Well, in this country the man
who works and doesn't drink is sure to
get on; and | had a mighty purpose
in my head. By-and-by ! bought some
land dirt cheap, and sold it for three
times what | gave for it-t!len | BEGAN
to make money fast. / should cuii my
luck wonderful if l believed in luck,
and didn't prefer to think | was help
ed by a power far ADLER than my own.
At last, ten years to the very day after
l set foot on Canadian soil. | hoight
Indian Creek farm, and began to build
this house. All the ncighbors thought
my good fortune had turned my brain.
for | fitted up and furnished ii for q
lady, down to a little rocking-c!IaIr by
my study-tablc, and a tiny work basket
with a tiny gold thimble in it. And
when all was finished l took the first
ship for Liverpool.
Ten years builds a city over here. 1t
doesn't make much change in a Dew
shire village. The very gates were
still half-off their hinges. as l left them.
only the people were a little older and
a trile more stupid. and there was a
new vicar. Old Mr.. Branscome had
been dead six months-died very poor,
they told me: there vas nothing left
for Miss Winny. My heart gave one
great leap when l heard that. And
Miss Winny? Oh, she had gone gov
~ernessing with some people vino were
just of TO Canada. and the ship sailed
tomorrow from Liverpool.
The Liverpool express never seemed
to crawl so slowly before. l got there
to find every berth taken on. board the
Antarctic, and the captain raging at
the non-appearance of two of the crew.
Without a seconds pause l offered for
one of the vacant places. was as
strong as 4 horse, and active enough,
and, though the captain eyed me rath-
er askance,-I had been to q West-end
tailor on my way through London
he was too glad to get me to ask any
questions, SO l sailed on the ship with
my girl, little as she knew it l saw
her the first day or two, looking SO
pale and thin that she was like the
ghost of her old self, and yet swceter
to my eyes than ever before. The
children she had charge of were trou-
blesome little creatures, who worried
and badgered her till l longed to cuff
them we'll. But there was q gentleness
and patience about her quite new to
n,p to-, of Miss VV;ppv ooJ oc1,,