Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-08
.sThey via teach all sorts Of street.

.eThey Win teach all sorts Of street.
talk and bad grammar to our children,
depend upon IT," said Efie. then. draw
ing her arguments from probabilities
since facts mad failed her.
"Street-talk, indeed! Iwish you could
have heard the little things! The most
innocent pair I ever saw; the danger of
contamination will all be the other
way"
Miss Barnard would soon have made
cherubs out of her young applicants
had her sister continued to attack them,
but Ellie simply shrugged her Shout
ders at this last remark, and said pres
emily:
.'Well, it's not my affair; do as you
like! But take my word for it, Pauline.
you have taken steps in o path that you
don't see the end Of"
"Do you know, Efie," said her sis
ter, softening, '.that I've felt for q long
time as If I were very selfish to be lay
ing up so much when there are so many
people who need help and deserve it?
And it really seemed as if these chill
dren were sent to give me a chance to
do something, because 1 haven't the
time myself to look up such matters. ]
haven't felt comfortable for some time,
but ! didn't know what the trouble was
until to-day"
Dear, dear, you are incorrigible"'
sighed Efie. ':lf you had Socrates
demon you would never be contented
to wait till it checked you; you'd be
forever looking round, and saying:
where IS that demon of mine? Why
doesn't he come and check mep I'm
sure I'm doing something [ ought'nt
to-"
But as she said this, the younger
woman put her hands atfectionately on
the elders shoulders, and'looked with
loving reproof into her eyes. There
was a motherly feeling oftentimes
in Pauline Barnard's heart to-
wards this half-sister, ten years her
junior, but she did not know motherly
ways of expression, and that made a
troublesome reserve between them at
times, for Effe was by nature demon
stratve and fond of demonstration from
others. When a child she had once
complained to their mother: .'Pauline
puts out her hand sometimes as if she
was going to pat me, and then she just
buttons my dress, or straightens my
collar, and l feel so disappointed"
When, in later years, during Effie's
college days, there came to her a real
disappointment in the shape of a lovers
quarrel and a broken engagement, the
mother who had listened to her com
plants was dead, and she felt that she
could tell only the bare facts to Pauline,
/ -h0 ho1 o1ruovyc hnon 90 1loorlol -
making her w way, as scarcely to
know that such a class as lovers ex-
listed. So she had simply mentioned
in her letters that the young senior
and herself were henceforth to be
nothing to each other, and had added:
please do not speak of this to me
the ooner it is forgotten, the better"
Pauline had looked upon this as a
very sensible way of taking it. and had
expected her sister home again the
same gay, saucy girl as before; it took
her a long time to account to herself
for the change in Etfie's looks and
tones and ways, but she accustomed
herself to it gradually and kept silence
as she had been hidden.
1t had all happened five years ago
and by this time the lives of the two
women had settled into a rut so deer
that they could ''barely see over the
edge of it." as EHie said. There was
nothing to look forward to. very little
that was pleasant to remember; every
Christmas found them buying gifts fol
each other in a perfectly open and
a~boveboard way, by which all the dis
tinctively Christmas flavor of surprise
was lost; every summer they took the
same trip to the same farmhouse,
where no one came but themselves. and
where they spent the summer months,
lamenting inwardly that it was not fall
and they had no work to do.
That Fanny and Katy. sitting in her
little reception-room, were angels,
whom she was entertaining unawares,
Miss Barnard had no idea-if she al
lowed herself to dwell upon the matter
of obligation at all, she felt rather thai
the role of beneficiary was theirs.
At the end of the week, Ellie said,
abruptly, as she sat c%rocheting by the
study-lamp: "Pauline, something must
be done-those shabby skirts in the
midst of all the finery look like blotches
on Il painting, and I simply can not
stand it."
what do you mean?"
Pauline looked up from the evening
paper, surprised.
II mean that I'm going to get some
flannel and make some dresses fol
those children. They look like Ra
phael's cherubs in a splint frame"
"But do you suppose their mother
will allow it?"
'.I'n 20 to see her and find OUT"
II wouldn't do that if l were you
Efie. 1 don't believe she knows tn.
children are attending aprivate school
and she might take them away
Christmas is not far off, and you coulc
make up the dresses and send then
anonymously as Christmas gifts"
''But how shall / get their measured"
"Let me see." said Miss Barnard
musingly, ''they must be Just abou'
the size of Madge and Maude Ryker
and you could take Men. measure:
some day in fun, without any ones
s~uspecting what you were about"
Eyes, I can do that" said' Effie
would you make them up as Mother
Hubbards?"
Eyes, and make some little hoods