The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-12-25
"ELlZA."
BY HELEN FOREST GRAVES.

Mr.. Villars. "Look at her, with that
scarlet ribbon at her neck, and those
coils of hair waving blue-black in the
intense light! 1t is like a dream Of
Italy?"
"Ies,' 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 herup?" asked
the young clergyman, carelessly draw
ing the newspaper from his pocket as
he 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
souI. "She came along"
Game along?" with a slight accent
of SURPRISED.
"Ies-lookingfor work"
Mr.. Villars liftedhis eyebrows.
"'Then how do you know who sheis?"
he asked.
"Idon't know" retorted Mrs. Leeds,
unconsciously betraying her weak
point by this irritability OF manner;
"but l know what she is, and that's
more to the purpose. She's the best
washer that eve crossed my thresh-
old; as docile as kitten, and as smart
as a cricket; does twice the work OF
anyone else that | ever had; and if
she's yer tired, she doh'tsay So"
Mrs. Leeds hustled OF to interview
Farmer Parks for more Attorney
cream for the summit boarders, now
the house was beginning to fill up.
Mr.. Nillars improvised n pillow out
Of his coat, folding it cylinderwlse and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in a sort ofsummer dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza spreading out blackber-
ries to dry on the board 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 heartto-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
r%oulldings.
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 S~tapleville the employer and
employee occupied one all-comprehen-
sive social platform.
They said she was "odd;"theylook-
ed at her askance; 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
nifty, one way or the other, whether
Deborah Smart, and Keziah Hayes,
and Abby Jane Clark liked her or not,
us long as Mrs. Leeds was pleased with
her?
But the villagegirls 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
a partisanf:ellngin Mr.. Villars' breast
but they did SO, uncorsciously tc
themselves.
why do they neglect that girl so?'
the young clergyman asked himself
"Can they not see how Infinitely su
perior she isto 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
smile, a glance, a pleasant word iron
the young man who was summering a
the Leeds farm house.
But, alas! like the priest and tn,
Levite, he passed by on the other side
ard when the village girls, in thei:
afternoon muslins and ribbons, sat a
their windows and wondered why "h'
came not" he was, in nine cases on
OF ten, helping Eliza to gather peaches
for tea; standing beside the brook
while she spread out towels ant
pockethandkerchiefs to bleach, orevel
explaining to her the difference be
tween the notes of the thrush and TIL
woodlark, the speckled eggs OF tn
robin and the pearl gray treasure Q
the whip-poor-will.
"He seems to be taking a notion t,
her." said Mrs. Leeds to herself, a
she eyed the pair shrewdly from he
milkroom window. "Well VIII,
shouldn't he? It's he's q minister
!, and my own nephew; but in my min'
Eliza is good enough for any MAJ
!, My sakes! won't Abby Jane Clark b
mad: Ii ever agirl wantedto be a Eal
sons wife. Abby Jane does"
Thus things were progressing, whe.
one day a smart young tradesmal
from an adjoining town amet to boar
out his fortnight's vacation at Dea
con Clark's.
: The Clarks were o well-to,do family
but the deacon was a little close in hi
, financial administration, and Mis-
Clark and Abby Jane were not AYERS
to earning q new dress now and the
out OF the rent of their big spare-roon
. And Mr.. Trudkins brought a letter {
recommendation from a friend j
Packerton, and he dressed in thelates
fashion, and had bigblack mustact