Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-16

How di5 ~, W. pipes III our mouths.
pane OF glass or window curtain. let alone
having gardens, and vines, and fancy no.
lions; What did we ride then? Blessed. if
we dIun,t walk everywhere. Yet. i've
I've har more man one that has been helped
way With her, cause why? She lust lives
10 10 good to everybody, and Tomorrow
thereIl be people going to her house. and
eating her good things, who will throw
o;n, '1 g. same mean hints. Such folks
WELL" "one oetns eea'cA
I'm powerful glad, it amt me YOU'RE
n't1lng' Simeon Gravitt, for 1 do despise
d slanderlnS tongue. | guess I'll be goin'
now so as to be ready for an early start
III the morning. Come along right early
ana Wen all g otogether."
"Ha! ha! ha! thought she'd start. 1t
takes Inc to clear out hornets am rattle-
snakes and old women with strings in
tongues"
And you oughter to be ashamed of YOUR
self, for doesn't she tell us we must treat
people Well in our own houses. Howsom-
ever, was kinder glad to hear you speak
out. We must get things good and ready
for morning, as Mrs. Fundy said. 1 feel rs
II we should never nave another day ~
Miss Dorothy's."
That's some more of your nonsense, Su.
sauna. YOU'RE always feeling what is GO
ahS ~ iapICAs 1 tlOuSuG l u "Oulu COlue
true this time, I'd never smile tomorrow
once"
ppm sure I hope not, Just as much as you
do; but what is going to happen, III hap
pen, whether or no, reckon" After a
few more words, the visitors rose to leave,
and in twenty minutes fires were covered,
and all was quiet in the log house Of Simon
Gravitt. Perhaps they dreamed of the
coming day, perhaps they did not dream at
all, but while they sleep we will tell some-
thing of the woman and the day, hat
caused all this excitement.
Dorothea Langley had been delicately
nurtured, had been accustomed to every
comfort and even elegance of life, Yet ut
the age of thirty-tive we find her living
among the mountains in one of our border
States, apparently as much at home among
the supplemented country folk, as she had
formerly been with the cultured and re-
fined. She wore a small cap of white mus
lin, that merely limited at her golden-
brown hair, and tied under her chin with
snowy strings, like her grandmother's in
the old-fashioned portrait at home. This
cap would have been a most unbecoming
adornment to ninety-nine women out Of
every hundred, but Miss Dorothy was the
one out of the hundred to whom it was an
ornament. 1t gave an added sweetness to
the curve of the chin, and softened the
brightness of her hazel eyes by its soft
edges. Yes, her cap was becoming to her,
and though she found this out after having
worn it u year or so, it had no effect what
ever upon her. She wore it for reasons of
her own, entirely apart from the question
OF beauty or looks.
To have lived thirty-five years, possessed
of more than usual attractions, was suti-
cient in and out of itself to set idle
tongues wagging; but to leave society
and the great world OF fashion. put Il
Quaker-like cap upon her head, and settle
among the wilds of distant mountains,
leaving no clue to her whereabouts, keep
ing up no connection with the old life;
surely this was more than a nine days
wonder, and even among the class to whom
she had come as an angel from heaven, it
was u mystery constantly forcing itself
upon their notice.
1t was the last day of the year 1881, and
the morrow, or, "Miss Dorothy's Day." was
in the thought of old and young for many
miles. She had been among them seven
years. She had come when aZaleas and
rhododendrons We're in full bloom, and the
mountain-sides showed neither bowlder or
bloom that concealed them. She had
bought twenty-five acres Of wild wood
land, had put men with strong muscles at
work to clear it, with an eye to
final beauty; and here she had seen
her log house built. II she was to
must meet them where they We're, not on
her own level, SO the house Was of logs like
their own, with all the added beauty that
taste and refinement could give. She knew
enough Of human nature to be assured of
a welcome not altogether hearty, and her
first step must be to win their confidence.
1t was slow progress she made, but sure.
The log house did much for her, for it
spoke constantly to the passers, saying,
"Here dwells a woman without nonsense
and airs" but with the logs all similarity
ended.
Everything within and around it was as
aesthetic as ii belonging to a poets home,
and all its beauty was planned with a
single intent, viz: that they should see,
admire and initiate. That this had not
been in vain, we can CLEAN from Simon
Gravitt's words; that Miss Dorothea her.
self was not satisfied was just as true. The
worker never sees the full effect of his
work, and Miss Dorothy at times gave wa
to a feeling of discouragement that would
have astonished the people who saw far
Their than she, and felt more deeply than
she dreamed.
them had been just where she would have
placed it least of all. This was in teach
ing them to set apart certain days OF the
year for holidays, whereon they must
dress in their best and meet together for
social enjoyment.
She began with Christmas, by inviting
them to meet in the school-house, where
she had prepared a Christmas tree and
some trifing gift for each. Next year she
added the Fourth Of July; then Thanks
giving, and followed it the same year by a
cordial invitation to her w home for
New Years Day, where she entertained
them from morning till night, gave them u
bountiful repast, Il sent them home as
happy as mortals could be. From that
time the beginning Of every year found
them gathered together at her house, and,
far and near, the day had come to be
known as Miss Dorothy's Day."
The mountains where all this life went
on, We're a range running from northeast
to southwest, through one OF our Southern
States, that through the war Termed a bor-
der land between North and South. They
We're bold, and high at their sides, and hid
beneath their surface miaes of iron and
coal, sufficient for countless generations OF
wasteful humans. On their tops, broad
table-lands stretched for miles, as level as
the rolling prairies of the West, and rich
with lumber for the needs Of the future.
Capitalists passing over these mountains
made a note OF all these possibilities, where
some day they might invest surplus capi-
tai; but to the dwellers Of the region, nc
thought of marketable values ever came
To them it was a place where nature joined
hands with human nature to help 1T to
thrive without effort, and this was the rea.