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

tNefe III unaU LrOplcal sunshine, SAD
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,"
Eyes" said Mrs. Leeds, "she is very
pretty, but thatdon'tsignify 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
soul). "She came along"
"Came along?" with q slight accent
OF surprise).
"Ies-lookingfor work"
Mr.. Villars liftedhis eyebrows.
"Then howdo you know who sheis?"
he asked.
"Idon't know!" retorted Mrs. Leeds,
nnconsciously betraying her weak
point by this irritability of manner;
"but | know what she is, and that's
more to the purpose. She's the best
washer that ever crossed my thresh-
old; as docile as a kitten, and as smart
as q cricket; does twice the work OF
anyone else that / ever had; and if
she's ever tired, she don'tsay So"
Mrs. Leeds hustled off to interview
Farmer Parks for more Aldernev
cream for the summer boarders, now
the house was beginning to fill up.
Mr.. Villa1s improviscd a pillow out
OF his coat, folding it cylinderwlse and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in a sort ofsummerd dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza spreading out blackber-
ries to dry on thoboard 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 hervery heart to-day.
Mr.. Nillars 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.
M0ranIor che Ii1 ,ot ,,1,a I'll a..
girls OF rock-bound New England.
There was a subtle, gliding motion
a lansnor of gracefulness in her gait
which was foreign to all her sur
roundings.
The girls of the vicinaee 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 Stapleville the employer and
employee occupied n all-comprehen-
sive social platform.
They said she was "odd;" they look
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, n way or the other, whether
Deborah Smart, and keziah HAYES,
and Abby Jane Clark liked her or not,
as long as Mrs. Leeds was pleased with
her?
But the village girls 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 partisan fcellngin Mr., Nillars' breast;
but they did so, unconsciously to
themselves.
why do they neglect that girl SOP"
the young clergyman asked himself.
"Can they not see how Infinitely SUI
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 q
smile, a glance, a pleasant word from
the young man who was summering at
the Leeds farm house.
But, alas! like the priest and the
Levite, he passed by on the otherside;
ard when the village girls, in their
afternoon muslins and ribbons, sat at
their windows and wondered why che
came not" he was, in nine cases out
OF ten, helping Eliza to gather peaches
Tor tea; standing beside the brook,
while she spread out towels and
pockethandkerchicfs to bleach, oreven
explaining to her The difference be-
tween the notes of the thrush and the
woodlarll, the speckled eggs of the
robin and the pearl gray treasure OF
the whip-poor-will.
Gle seems to be taking q notion to
her." said Mrs. Leeds to herself, as
she eyed the pair shrewdly from her
milkroom window. well why
shouldn't he? It'strueh he's a minister,
and my own nephew; but in my mind
Eliza is good enough for any man.
My sakes. won't Abby Jane Clark be
mad? II yer agirl wanted to be a par
sons wife, Abby Jane does.'
Thus things We're progressing, when
II day a smart young tradesman
from an adjoining town cameto board
out his fortnight's vacation at Dea-
cor Clark's.
The Clarks We're q well-to.do family;
but the deacon was little close in his
financial administration, and MIS-.
Clark and Abby Jane were not averse
to earning a new dress now and then
out OF the rent of their Die spare-room.
And Mr.. Trudkins brought a letter of
recommendation from a friend in
Packerton, and he dressed in thelatest
fashion, aud had abig black mustache