Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-04-04

that she had not sooner asked me.
cit was your place to tell me without
my asking" she said when I told
you my name, You should have told me
yours. Don't you see?'
I acknowledged the justice of her re-
buke.
The day passed rather pleasantly,
with the exception of the influence of
the night before, which naturally !
enough she could not dispel and which
1 could not keep from arising OCCASION
ally. We sat on a log and ate dinner,
and Munette's remarks gave me ad-
ditional insight into her close habit of
observation. When evening came, we
stopped at a farm house, where the sad
story of the little girl awoke such SYM
pathy that the kind-hearted housewife
begged me to allow the child to remain
with her.
1T is a question that she must de-
eide" 1 rejoined. What do you say,
Munette?"
Il am surprised that you should
ask me such a que %Stion,' she replied,
approaching the chair where I sat and
taking my hand. Would it not be
%ungrateful in me to desert you SO soon,
or to ever desert you?'
"She's got more sense than an old
woman right now said the host, adj
dressing his wife. 'Our twcnty-eight
year old daughter that married last
month amt a patchin' to this girl
Ivy, Jcsperson,' said his wife, in
mild censure, Margaret amt twenty
eight years Old
She's mighty nigh it,"
"An' besides that" continued the
woman. ''she n yer had q chance
didn't 60 to school three months
outen nearly every year, eh? What
show does a gal want, I'dlike to know
This little c%reetur, l warrant you never
has been to school,
''Oh, yes. sir. My whole life has been
a school. The old house where 1 used
to live contains many books. If you
want them you may 60 there and get
them. l shall never 90 after them. l
could never read them again"
''Well, blast my buttons if l don't
mosy up that way. l amt much of a
scholar, but I reckon l can worry
through with a lot of them"
CHAPTER II.
My mother welcomed Munette, and
when l related the sad story of how l
found her, the sympathetic woman
took tho child in her arms and kissed
he:'. A few days afterwards, when l
returned home after u short absence,
she flashed upon mi in a gay red dress.
She was more of 4 child than l had
ever seen moro so than | had thought
- ,,oresll> {-. hor 10 h A.,
mother vas delighted to see her inno-
cent pranks. and l, for the first time,
kissed the child.
You have kissed me at last,'' she
said. is it because l look better in
this dresS?'
at is because you look more like a
child: Before, you reminded me so
much of a woman
DO not women like to be kissed?"
l laughed and my mother, shaking
her head-I can see her gray hair. now
said: 'Ah. Ambrose, our young
girl has a very old hcad.'
We sent Munettc to school. The
teacher, Il man who had the reputation
OF being profound. me me one day and
said:
Look here. Muncttc is the most re.
markablc ch Id | ever saw. She has
read so many hooks and makes me-
such wise observations that I am con.
stantly surprised. TO tell you the truth,
l cannot q vance her. Not that l an
not intellectually ablc-ahcm-b but Ell
because 1 DO not think that at her
would advise you to take her from
school. | know the effect that toe
much learning has on youth. l know
how narrowly | escaped"
When ! spoke to Munette, she said,
THAT school is Il very T. III place. 1t is
a constant hum Of arithmetic. l dom
like to cipher. as the children call it.
Fractions make my head ache and mis-.
c%ellancous examples make me sick. LIE,
me study at home.
took her from school. She was q
devoted student. but was never so alb.
sorbed that she was oblivious to tho
little attentions which Il woman of my
mother age prizes )" highly. Munette
grew rapidly and | was pleased to see
that she vas daily becoming more
graceful.
CHAPTER Ill.
The war came on. How natural il
is, in writing a story. i" Il 1.-The wal
came on" but tIIi, is not a story, anc
nothing can be more natural thar
truth although it is said to be stranger
than fiction. Therefore, when l say
that the war came on. | intend that thu
, declaration should have its full mean
ing. left home full of pride. was
, captain. My mother prayed: but Mu
nette did not seem TO be affected
GOOD Bye she said. War is one o
the incidents of civilization, as well a.
: feature of barbarity. l know tina
! you will do your duty, and that yol
, will not forget the little girl whom yo'
. once saw sobbing under the hand of
! dying a When you return. | shall
be old enough to kiss you"
I looked at her in establishment
Merriment sparkied in her eyes. ''Yo'
> don't like to kiss children, it seems"
: 'Munette, you are strange. l one
: said that l did not kiss you because yo'
: looked like a woman"
: "Oh, yes, that is true. l though
, that you did not want to kiss me be
i cause I was so small. There now, CAP
! tain, don't swell up like a toad"
u l turned away. She called me, whe
I was about a hundred yards away an
. said: "When you pass the big gate
y look IN the right hand post"
- l did so and found the words. II Low
" you" Under this 1 wrote, "And l Low
you.'
4 I did not receive but one letter fror
Munette, and that might just as we
, have been written by a professor