Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-03-25
THE OUTWARD SEEMING.

NO, not single cent will they get
from me-" said Miss Sarah Jenkins,
with peculiar expression of her thin
lips, as she took her spectacles from
her nose, and slowly replaced in its
envelope the letter she had been read
ing from her friend, Miss Hepzibah
Jockey. II think | know my duty as
we'll as most folks, an givin' help to
Susan Bayard an her children don't
come under that head"
But bein' as they re- your own kin, !"
said Miss Hepzibah, deprecatingly,
''It's only natural for 'em to look to
you"
LET 'em look. They'll take it out
in lookin'. told Tom when he mar
ried Susan Bayard that the day'd
come when he'd rue it. She was alters
spindlin' an sort O. helpless. But Tom
was that headstrong he wouldn't lis
ten to anybody. He spent islast cent
inbu YIN that farm over to Milford,
an then had to mortage it fore he
could start his crops"
''It was unfortunate his dyin' so
soon," said Miss Hepzibah, who was
a kindly old soul. eff he'd lived
couple O. years more he'd paid for
the place and left Susan comfortable
| shouldn't wonder but she's had a
hard pull these two years to get along
with those three children"
Most likely she has. But [ don't
see as I'm called on to shoulder her
burdens with her. Goodness knows
I've enough already without lookin'
out for any more"
Eyes, your hands are pretty full
that's a fact" said Miss Hepzibah.
Il hear folks sayin' every day that
they don't know what the minister
would do without you"
4 reckon I've labored pretty faith
tui IN the masters vineyard" said
Miss Sarah, eff do say it.
''And you'll get your reward, Miss
Jenkins, said Miss Hepzibah, as she
rose to go. "You can alters take COM
fort in thinkin' that. But do wish
you could see your way to help Susan
a bit"
.She don't deserve help" and Miss
Sarah's tone was DECIDEDLY acid. "She'd
oughter have taken my advice in the
first place. l told 'em how it would be-
an it comes out pretty much as I said
told Tom she was too everlastin' del
lcate, an would break down in less'n
five years. But would have his own
way an marry her, an now she's laid
up-just as | said she'd be-"
"Pity they didn't listen to YOU"
said Miss Hepzibah, as she went out.
But you know young people is gen
er'lly mortal headstrong"
Miss Jenkins often boosted that she
never spent an idle minute; and there
was always work of one kind or an
other for her to do; but after her
visitor had gone she sat for some time
with her hands in her lap, thinking
over the contents of the letter she had
Just received.
Toms marriage to Susan Bayard,
an orphan daughter to the man who,
TO use the expressions of his neighbors,
had never been ''forehanded," had not
pleased his sister, who thought Susan
far too delicate and dainty to prove of
such help as the wife of a farmer of
splendid means.
Tom, however, had been very happy
IN his welded life, and had never re-
GREETED his choice, as he took pains to
say to his sister whenever he wrote to
her.
And Miss Sarah, who wasn't as
good a Christian as she thought her
self, and did not fancy being called a.
false prophet, resented his happiness,
and allowed a feeling of enmity to
grow up In her heart against Susan.
Toms death seven years after his
marriage, was a terrible blow to his
wife, and his children who were left al
most penniless.
But Susan knowing the wav in
which she was regarded by her sister
in-law, did not dream of calling upon
Miss Sarah for help.
Through the influence of friend the
poor young widow secured the posi-
tion of teacher In q district school,
and for two years, on a very slender
salary, had managed to keep the wolf
from her door.
Then the mortgage on her home was
foreclosed, and a long illness which
followed her removal from the farm
to q small room In the village of Mil
fold made it necessary for the trustees
of the school to appoint another
teacher in her place.
The sale of thefurniture of the farm
house provided Susan with money to
deHdy n6f expenses uuIlllS uoE Illness;
but she found herself when GONZALES
cent utterly penniless, and with three
children looking to her for support.
1t was then that, with a heavy
heart, she wrote co her sister-in-law,
and it was a letter which ought to
have called forth only sympathy and
pity from its recipient, but which gave
Miss Sarah only a strange sort of
pleasure in being able at last to say,
Il told you So"
As she sat at her kitchen window
that warm July afternoon, the quiet
broken only by the ticking of the large
eight-day clock, and the purring. of the
cat by the stove, she was. thinking
what she should write in reply; in what
words she would remind Susan of
Toms declaration that ''neither he