New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-07-15
RUSSETS.

ping its golden horn behind the maple
swamp in the west, and the ground
sounding crisply under loot We had
just come in from foddering the cattle
I'VE" sounds rather singularly when
you reflect that it meant Kitty and
me, two girls Of seventeen and nine
teen; but you see there WASH any one
else to do it. Father had been bed
ridden ever since that last attack OF
paralysis, and we could afford to hire
no one to take his place about the
farm.
/ was in great spirits playing with
pussy. who came to meet us with her
plumy tail erect; but Kitty leaned sad
ly against the wooden mantel and
looked into the fire with mournful eyes.
"Kitty," cried I: at last, sswhat does
make you so dul]?'
Tomorrow is the Sd of March,"
said she, gravely.
''What OF that?" I demanded.
Don't youremember? Theinterest
on the mortgage comes due to-mor-
row."
$50 it does,'' said I, my radiant face
falling faster than the thermometer on
freezing day. "Thirty-fve dollars!
And we have nothing to pay it with,
except the fifteen dollars Laura Osgood
paid for the old ,nelodeon.
perhaps Willis Avery would watt"
suggested Kitty.
! drew myself up slightly.
ri don't choose to ask him to watt"
said I.
Now it happened that Willis Avery,
who held the mortgage on our home
stead, was the son Of neighbor, and
an old play-fellow and boy-beau ofmy
own, who had gone to the prosperous
young city a few miles north ofus, and
commenced business on his own &C.
count, and l had aparticular aversion
to asking aid or help of him in any
way. might be poor, but I was al
ways proud, and Kitty was quite SYM
pathetic enough to understand me.
"But then what are we to do?" said
Kitty.
[ sat down on the hearth rug, with
my chin in my hands, and stared
earnestly at the big cracking back log.
Pussy crept away and nestled down
in the corner, as if she knew by instinct
that there was a change OF tempera-
ture
"Look here, Kitty said Isuddenly.
Those russell apples!''
"Well?"
awe can sell them. There are eight
barrels at the least. Eight barrels at
$3.50 barrel
"My dear Addy, no one will buy
them at one-ffth the price. Apples
are a drug in the Market
"Here, / grant you; but not in the
city. | will take them to Mapleton
and sell them"
"You will, Addy?"
"And why not? Squire Dyson would
charge at least twenty per cent COM
mission, and make a favor Oft at that.
can't afford either the price or the
patronage. Don't say anything about
it to father. He would only fret and
raise objections. What must be done
must be, and 1 am the girl to do it,
"But, Addy, how? All this seems so
perfectly wild and visionary to me-
"Well, it needn't; for believe me, it's
the most practical thing in the world.
All we have to do is to sort the apples
out in barrels, nice and sound-I cao
easily do it by lanternlight tonight
and tomorrow morning we II rise early,
harness old Dobbin to the lumber wa
gOn-"
"But how are we to get the heavy
barrels up into the wagon?"
"Goosie!" cried I, laughing, "can't
put the barrels up into the wagon
while they're empty and fiji Them at my
leisure? And I'll have them sold at
Mapleton before you've got the pork
and cabbage boiling for dinner
"But where will you go?" asked Kit
ty.
30, know lots OF places. 1 went
once to town with Obadiah Fairweath-
er when he sold a lot ofcheese. Ihave
a pretty good idea of the locality of
the commission stores, / can tell you"
"After all, Addy,' hesitatedmy CON
sentative little sister, cit ism a Wom-
ans work"
'Why isn't it, Ishould like to know,
so long as a woman can do it? At all
events, awoman must pay her debts
SO, if you'll hurry up the tea, I'll be off
to the barn.
"And what shall we tell papa?"
ooh, he'll think I've gone to singing
school with the Dysongirls, and don't
thinkit's a Christian duty to undeceive
him, answered I.
But Notwithstanding the brave face
| put upon affairs, my heart quivered
a little the next day, as drove off to-
ward Mapleton, with the scarlet stain
OF sunrise dyeing all the East, and my
own cheeks flushed with the keen morn
ing air.
But it wasn't so bad, after all.
With pardonable egotism, I supposed
that every one wouldbe staring at me,
but on the contrary, a young woman
selling apples might be the commonest