Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-26

they talk about what they don't know for
certin, and l call that lynn. If I was a
bettin' character I wouldn't be afraid tc
bet that they couldn't prove one earthly
this hull afternoon"
0 dear!" said Sylvia, piteously; "now
you don't really think tbey're SO bad as
that, do We, Dorcas"
"ido. l amt such an old lambkin as
you be, Sylvy,, North, that I don't know a
shee'p-skin. I've lived quite a spell to
Hartford when I was ~learnin' the tailorin'
trade, n we'll l know what sech sort of
folks be. I've heerd 'em time and again,
and l mistrusted these was the same
feather. But you've lived right along here
forever n amen, never hearin' nothin'
worse than the parsons geese cackls and
DR.. Goodwin's old mare whicker, and SO
you're easy took in"
"Well, now, Dorcas, it don't seem as
though real respectable folks, church men,
bers and sech, would tell them stories
without they knowed they was true"
Claw! they wouldn't make no bones of
lynn about you if they wanted to-"
This was awful. A cold SILVER ran down
Miss Sylvy's back. Miss Dorcas smiled
sarcastically; but what further fruit of
the knowledge of good and evil she might
have offered her :coqpal{9p she vas pre-:
s senssd from ono ofds rdn ~ the Ptoxlmity Of
she dfd not invite Miss Bor ras;u al idea had
struck the simple, charitable. woman, and
she wanted to be alone to think it over.
The result of this elaborated idea was
that at the next society meeting, as Miss
Sylvy sat down at the still unfinished
quilt, she took from her pocket a doubled
piece OF letter-paper and a pencil, and laid
them in her lap, where the quilt hid them
from observation, and opened her ears,
ateent to take in whatever statement, hint,
or vague rumor went her round Of the
church parlors that afternoon. We record
"Say! did you see Susan Brooks to
church yesterday? Why, she set there
with her eyes shet all sermon-time jest
like o dead image"
"They say she don't like the new minis
ter a bits she did that to slight him, you
"Well, il 1 didn't like a minister, ]
wouldn't take that way of showin' ont;
tits sort of insulting to be 80 public about
It,"
Miss Sylvy made a little note on her pa
per-: "See Susan Brooks about sleeping in
meeting"
The talk flowed on.
"Oh, did you hear how old Mis- Cole had
whipped their bound girl? The mistress
up to the Rock school, house says tie girl
como to school cryin' like mad, her hands
all tore up"
"You don't say so! Well, I always
thou yht Mis- Cole had a temper of her
own. the deacon looks so meek"
Miss Sylvy noted: "See Mrs. Cole about
Hepsy Perkins,"
Then a sharp high voice made itself
heard: "She did! Our Lurany saw her O.
Saturday night COMM down Huckleberry
ten O'Clock. She knows twas Cola, for
'twasn't a covered buggy, and the moo
shone real bright, land Lurany was jest
COMM out of her folks door,. I'd let her
go home, because her mother he'd a chill
Friday, and she wanted Lurany to wash
the clothes Sat'day, and, she could leave
'em in the tubs, and Sharp could hang 'em
out q Monday"
"That amt ell, "put in a'slow, hard voice.
Husband wa comm from a %neighbor-
hood meetin' in Love Lane only last even
in, and as he was joggin' along he passed
siderable slow, and he kind OF turned
about to see 'em, and twas Celia King and
Sam Coke; and when he come home he ask
me il I'd hoard anything about 'em, and I
ask him what he meant by that, and then
he told how he seen EN- that time o. night
out there"
"Hm!" shifted several of the company,
and the first voice snapped:
"a baby could tell what she'll come to,
a~.standin' all day in that shop showin' off
bunnets, her hair all did up in putfs and q
curlin' onto her forehead like a doll! She'd
better have gone out for somebody's help;
them good-lookin' girls that am got no
body to look after 'em most always goes
to the bad.",
SWELL, now, I can tell somethin' fur
| ther," put in a fiat, false voice. ~ was
goin' into Miss Cases shop Monday night,
say about ha' past leight, and I stopped to
look into the winder before l opened the
| l-o- -rl ,x,ho ho-lJ ooo hut Go,o roLo
in the back part Of the store a-whisperin'
into Celye's ear. I might ha' ratified the
knob before goin' in, but l didn't; don't
further no sech doin's; l justibounced right
in quick. and you'd ought to have seen her
jump. He walked of direct, but l knowed
there was somethin' wrong"
! INC so the orphan girl was tossed like a
ball from one to another till her character
was we'll b~lackened, while Miss Sylvy set
down these charges on her paper in silent
| indignation.
Thsn Mrs. Pine, the widowed daughter
of the. old minister Of Dalton, who had
.'outlived his usefulness" and was now
| existing Oh the small pension his daughter
received from the Government for her dead
husbands services in the army, eked out
| by her writing simple little stories and
bits of rhyme for the "Children's Corner
of various
Sundav?"
~ guess I did - echoed several Voices.
swell, I don't know how she contrives
to get such . dress as that Twas heavy
and soft, too, and couldn't have cost, hus.
band says, under five dollars q yard; and
husband knows-he used to keep store, ye
know"
eyes, and her pa goin' in that shabby
old ulster, and his hat as brown as mud! !"
"And her bunnet to match, all set stf
with cut jet beads. l priced some OF them
beads to Miss Cases the other day. and
they went beyond my means, now I tell
you" ,-
"She always was a stuck-up thing when
she wasn't nothing but a girl, and sence
she married Captain Pine you can't touch
her with q ten-foot pole; but l should
old parson for to rig herself up-0ad a
! wider, too"