New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-12-16
"ELIZA."
BY HELEN FOREST GRAVES.

scarlet ribbon at her neck, and those
coils of hair waving blue-black in the
! intense light! 1t is like a dream of
Italy,"
eyes, said Mrs. Leeds, "she is very
pretty, but that don't signify so much.
She's a good, smart girl, and don't
loose any time looking at herself in
The glass, like some I've had"
/ "Where did you pick her up?" asked
the young clergyman, carelessly draw
ing the newspaper from his pocket as
ne sat down on the carpet Of pine
needles under the big evergreen tree.
Didn't pick her up anywhere, /" said
Mrs. Leeds tartly (for this was a part
Of the transaction that had never been
quite satisfactory to her business like
souD. "She came along"
"Came along?" with a slight accent
Of surprise).
"Yes-looking for work.
Mr.. Villars lifted his eyebrows.
"Then howdo you know who she is?"
he asked.
"Idon' tknow!' retorted Mrs. Leeds.
unconsciously betraying her weak
point by this irritability Of manner;
"but I know what she is, and that S
more to the purpose. She's the best
washer that ever crossed my thresh-
old; as docile as a kitten, and as smart
as a cricket; does twice the work of
anyone else that l ever had; and if
she's ever tired, she don'tsay 500
Mrs. Leeds hustled off to interview
Farmer Parks for more Attorney
cream for the summer boarders, now
the house was beginning to fill up.
Mr.. Villa1s improvised n pillow out
of his coat, folding it cylinderw,se and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in q sort ofsumner dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza spreading out blackber-
ries to dry on theboard platform that
had been erected along the garden
fence, began to sing softly to herself.
She was very silent ordinarily, but
somehow it seemed as If the sunshine
had thawed out her very heart to-day.
Mr.. Villars had been right. There
was something of the atmosphere OF
italy about Eliza-her eyes were so
deep and dark, her hair so glossily
black, her cheek stained with such a
rich olive.
Moreover, she did not move like the
girls of rock-bound New England.
There was a subtle, gliding motion
a languor of gracefulness in her gait
which was foreign to all her sur
:oundings.
The girls of the vicinage did not fra
ternize with Eliza when, at rare inter-
walls, she accompanied Mrs Leeds to
church, sewing circle or village gather
ing for in Stapleville the employer and
| employe occupied one all-comprehen-
sive social platform.
They said she was "odd;;" they look
ed at her askahce; and Eliza always
very quiet in her ways made no effort
to insinuate herself into their good
graces.
Why should she? What did it sig
nify, one way or the other, whether
Deborah Smart, and Keziah Hayes,
and Abby Jane Clark liked her or not,
rs long as Mrs. Leeds was pleased with
her?
But the village girls made one error
in their calculations. They had not
intended, as the time .crept on, to
emphasize their antipathy to Mrs
Leeds Eliza SO strongly as to awake
partisan feeling in Mr.. Villars' breast;
but they did so, unconsciously to
themselves.
why do they neglect that girl so?"
the young clergyman asked himself.
"Can they not see how Infinitely SUI
perior she is to them? It's a shame!"
And SO Abby Jane Clark, and Deb
orah Smart, and Keziah Hayes seal
ed their own doom. SO far as Mr. Vii
lars was concerned.
There was not one of them but
would have been delighted to win a
snAe, q glance, q pleasant word from
the young man who was summering at
the Leeds farm house.
But, alas! like the priest and the
Ievite, he passed by on the other side;
and when the village girls, in their
afternoon mMslins and ribbons, sat at
their windows and wondered why 41he
came not, he was, in nine cases out
OF ten, helping Eliza to gather peaches
for tea; standing beside the brook,
while she spread out towels and
poekethandkerchiefs to bleach, oreven
explaining to her the difference be-
tween the notes of the thrush and the
wood1ark, the speekled eggs Of the
robin and the pearl gray treasure Of
the whip poor-will.
1.He seems to be taking a notion to
ner, said Mrs: Leeds to herself as
she eyed the pair shrexdly from her
milkroom window. '4Well, why
shouldn't he? It's true he's q minister,
and my own nephew; but in my mind
Eliza is good enough for any man.
Ny sakes! won't Abby Jane Clark be