Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-09-18

Snnids . n rW oown trip the driver handed
bina ayes meos5er's spelling book. His
ne SAID nothing except to exnress his
s sna But when the stage rolled away,
anu o.qulds was alone. he onenad tTe
n t haphazard, and then, standing be-
sore the tosl-poard, said, with an accent
~ itr,ulnph IN his tone and the CLEAN Of
ono 0uy III n's eye: "By'mby l can paint
So. u pao u up that will be a credit"
SsetredW words, but beyond that he found
namselt mired in many difficulties very
OFTEN. He struggled and wrestled man.
Iully, but rather despairingly. with the
o%po,vsyllabled words in the speller. "That's
~ ne would say, "sure, and that's an
get a this t era v spells b. b.. But I don't quite
ana that's an R. K is a K. 3 is an 3.
n Is an K Ker. That must be Keer.
that:n ~ WIN 40
lhus Baker overthrow him, and he was
very ~despondent. One night, as he Law
upon MS bed, his eyes wide open and his
mystery OF BaEeer, a great light came to
him. He arose., lighted a candle, and from
MS canvas bag drew forth ten copper PEN
MES, which he placed co~nspicuously Upon
MS table. Then he no sooner touched his
pillow than he fell asleep.
In the morning the ten coppers were
given to the driver, with the request that
they should be exchanged at Hartford for
ten peppermint bulp s-eyes, streaked red
and white. When Squids received the
bulPs-eyes he put them away on a plate
in his cupboard aud bided his time until
the next Saturday afternoon. At that
time, about an hour before shutdown, he
bend, for it was at such time thath he knew
that every Saturday q young lad came
along with some good things from his
fathers farm for the minister's Sunday
dinner at the parsonage, q mile away on
the other side of the Quinnebaug. Atlast
q basket ON his arm seemingly heavily la
den. Squids, with a slyness born of some
sense of shame, concealed himself in the
toll house. Soon the lad was at the gate
calling upon Squids to come out and pass
him.
'.Hulloo! It's you, is 1t, Ebenezer, going
heavy: Should think you'd want to rest
a Bit"
"'Tis heavy. There's a spare-rib in
"H'm. Want to know" said Squids,
opening his eyes in surprise and sympa-
thy we'll simulated. "Come in ana sit
kinder good"
"Now what's that air thlng?" asked
Squids, when he had Ebenezer in the
house, holding up the monstrously tempt
ing CONNECTION before the boys eyes.
"Pepentick BULBS eyes, said the boy,
delightedly.
"You like 'em. You shall have one.n
Here Squids seemed about to give Eben-
ezer the candy, but suddenly restrained
himself.
Hold on" he said. "You've got to
earn it. Let's see! How will you earn it.
Oh! You go to SCHOOL,"
eyes, in winter"
"H'ni-m. How far have you got?"
"pve got to fractions and second
| reader"
"Sho! No! want to know. Now, let's
see." Here Squibs meditatively produced
the Webster's speller from its place under
his pillow, and opening it said: "H'm-m:
that colyumn down straight you shall
have two BULBS eyes. Right here. just
to see how much you know"
"That's easy" said Ebenezs r. II will
read soms harder ones."
Squids seemsd a little perplexed. At
length he said: "Let's try the easy ones
first. It'll be so much easier to earn the
placed the point Of his jack-knife blade
"That's Baker," said Ebenezer.
Baker" replied squids, with the
queerest accent in his voice. Baker,
sho! so 'tis." Here squids abstractedly
"Of course it's Baker. Ker don't spell
keer. Anybody but a fool might a. known
that. Let me write it down, Ebenezer."
Then Squids, somewhat to the astonish-
ment Of Ebenezer, brought forth u
single, and on the smooth white side,
with a piece of charcoal, spelled out the
UWhat do Won write il down for.
| Squids?" asked the boy.
:.What for? Oh, only to see how many
you get right" replied the cunning
Squids.
Thus squids mastered some ten or
twelve words, aud the boy received two
bulps-eyes, and Squids made a covenant
| with him that he SHOULD stop there every
| Saturday afternoon and show Squids
| whether he could read rightly such words
in Webster's speller as Squids showed
| him, for which he was to receive two or
more bull's-eyes.
Thus Squids, taught by a bribed and
| unconscious teacher, mastered the speller
and began to make preparations to build
! a new toll board, on which he proposed
to paint the tariff of prices in q manner
that would be q credit.
But something happened that made tho
new toll-board and the credit that it was
to be seem of petty consequence to him.
! One evening in March, when the line
storm was raging without, Squids, with
mis- speller on the table between two can
dies, and a single on his knee, was
painting with almost infinite pains
the word cattle, so that he might be
schooled in printing it correctly and as
artistically as possible upon the toll
board.
Suddenly Squids paused in his work and
listened. There was surely a knock upon
his door. That sound was not made by
the beating of the oak branches on the
roof. Squids took a candle and opened
the door. A gust of vino blew the
light out, as we'll as the other one on the
table, but Squids had seen q woman,s
form on the door step, and he put forth
his hand and drew her within. He babe
her to be patient until he relighted the
candle, but before he could do so he heard
her staggering step, and then he knew
that she had fallen.
When Squads at last with nervous I'm.
gers coaxed a spark into the finder and
lighted a candle, he saw that the woman
seemed to have sunk to the floor. :Her
face. over which her hair had fallen and
was matted by the rain, was pale, aud
her ewes. half opened with unconscious
stare. seemed to him like the eyes OF
the dead. Her head, having. fallen back,
rested against the door. Squids held the
candle to her parted lips and saw that
she was not dead, but faint, and even
before he could apply the simple reme-
dies that he had. she had somewhat
recovered. She feebly rose, tottered to