New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-03-25
JEAN.


JEAN.
t'Ah, how pretty she is!'' he said.
ssWas there ever such a pretty lass,
dye think, Jean?''
perhaps not,'' said Jean; and she
took her milking pals, and followed
Hulda going on before with light
step and gay song toward the
meadow where the COWS browsed.
But when she was quite out of hearing
of Ned Welton, sitting perched upon
the stile, she muttered to herself,
3:Pretty! pretty! pretty! All, they
ring the changes upon that, these men!
as the old bell-ringer that knew but
his one tune used to, down in the
church tower. Pretty! pretty pretty!
Its never 'good;' it's never honest
it's never true It's always pretty"
Then she stopped and looked up, and
said, with culver of passionate grief
IN her voice: ooh, I'd give the world
I'd give half the shortest life that
could have-pd give half an hour, if that
was all had to live, just to hear Ned
Welton call me pretty! What fool l
am! what fool I am! what fool l
ami" and she went on with her pals
toward the cows-Brown Bess and
Lily White and Pretty Polly.
Certainly she was not pretty; and
what there was in her face the man on
the stile would have been the last to
see. Had she been queen, many
would have seen something strangely
fair and regular in her face. Had she
been only rich gentleman's daugh-
Ter, some one might have dreamed of
iShose deep eyes and that pure brow of
hers; but red and white, and fat and
~dimples were the recognized beauties
"shere, as indeed they are all over the
world, to such folks as her lot was cast
among, and she was spoken of as
S@plain. J" Two years before she had
taken into her foolish head to like Ned
Wilton very much; and he, the farm
: er's son, had thought we'll enough of
Che dairy maid to say some very pleas
ant things to her. She had had a
sweet dream, but Hulda Britton's COM
ing broke it. Her beauty was very
bright and rare, and Ned forgot the
nice girl he had been so fond Of chat
ting with, for the pretty one who
smiled and glance at him.
She was not SO good as Jean; she
had not half her earnestness and con-
stancy; but the face was all to Ned.
SO Hulda Britton wore little plain
gold ring that he had given her, and
had promised to be his wife in mid
summer; and Jean knew it, and out
swardly gave no sign that she suffered
only now and then, as at this mo-
Gment when Ned babe her notice
Huida's beauty-as at the moment
when she paused, meadow midst, and
said to herself that she would give half
of her life, were it but an hour, to hear
Ned Wilton call her pretty.
They lived upon the coast of Lin
,ssolnshire, and it was years ago. None
OF them knew how to write more than
their names. The farmers deepest
lore was the market price of grain.
Outside Of them, the great world OF
letters-great, at that day, as perhaps
1t never has been at any other time
rolled on without giving them any
sign of its existence. And none of
them had ever read novel or poem,
or seen play. But they acted out the
drama just as well, and Ned loved
EHulda and cared nothing for Jean, and
!. Jean loved Ned and hated Hulda.
And Hulda knew the whole, and tri-
umphed over Jean, and cared a little
for Ned, because of his broad shoulders
and bronze curls, but not over-much;
land many a novelist would have given
much to have had the little plot of
their daily lives, to touch up and make
pretty with his pen.
ahe girls slept together in an upper
sroOm OF the house, and on her wedding
veve Hulda spread out gown and shoes
and cheap white veil, and dancing
about them, boasted that when the
morrow's sun set she should be mis-
tress of the house, and Jean her SER
want. And Jean, thinking of the old
grandmother who had begged her not
TO lose so good a place, said nothing,
but stood silent, white-faced and wan,
and felt a bitter hate rising in hel
heart. Ned was away at the town,
and would not be back until next
morning, the morning of his wedding.
The old folks were asleep below. How
easy it would be, in the dead of night,
to do this beautiful boasting creature
some harm-to mar her beauty, o,
even end her life.
The. thoughts grew so, and were SC
horrible, that she could not be sure o.
relief. Hulda, watching her, saw only
"a deadly whiteness creep over her lips
and with the first touch Of pity in he1
heart, folded her veil away, and said
nnwisely enough, but meaning i
kindly.
mo doubt, the next wedding viii
be yours, jean"
Then Jean, without look, turned
from her and left the room. Sh,
: sought to be safe from herself, TO
..fendish thoughts possessed her; ane
longing for solitude and quiet, sh!
climbed ladder that led to the tilet
roof, and seeking the shelter Of tn
great chimney, sat down in its shadow