The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-08-21
A PLAIN STORY.
What a Mess o. Vittles" Came
Near Being Upset.


"An' next week I'll finish up them
puffs, an then I'll wash that wooden
wrapper for Calista, an Mat'U be
DONE" said Miss Jane, with emphasis,
as she remorselessly wrung the last
drop of water from her cloth, and,
hanging the dish-pan on a nail. vigor-
ously rubbed out the sink with bit of
flannel moistened with kerosene. There
vas no one in the little "but'ry'' with
her but she had a habit of thinking
aloud, just as her father read his week
ly paper aloud for forty years. 1t was
like telling some one what she thought,
or what she saw, or did, or heard. AS
she stepped briskly across the kitchen
floor a voice from the back room
called:
''Sisterp'
The squeak in Miss James shoes
gasped helplessly, and then died.
''WellP'' said she, interrogatively.
1 ''Are you going out?''
Only jes'to hang these dish-rags on
the fence. What is itP'
I'll wait till you come back" said
the voice, and the old rocking-chair re-
sumed its creechy- crawch, and Miss
James shoes tapped little moro brisk.
ly than before, for a minute had gone
out of her lifetime while she waited to
hear what her sister had to say. "Looks
kind o'ketchin'," she muttered, spread
ing her towels on the.picket fence, and
tipping back her head to squirt one
eye at small black cloud that was
creeping up from the horizon. 81
b'lieve / must try for another mess
o them strawberries, though; there's
nothin' makes so rich sauce for me, :"
and Miss Jane gathered up her milk
pans from the cellar door, where they
had been la2Hly summing themselves
since five o'clock in the morning, and
went in.
She announced herself as "goin'
down to the sOu'west corner O. the back
pastur'," when she appeared at the
back-room door o few minutes later,
lying calico sun-bonnet under her
chin; "that isl she added, cit you
didn't want nothin' that you wanted
me to keep in for"
The old rocking-chair creaked merry
ously few times, and Calista's fingers
trembled as she tried to coax the thread
into the eye of the needle.
Miss Jane waited.
"TheroP' Calista laid down the
needle, and drew long breath.
''Do you remember, sister, what the
minister's wife was saying yesterdays"
"About that slack piece, Sereny Jack
son, gong to be married? Can't make
a pudding sauce! Not that Miss Chand-
Ter said anything about that, but la!
don't l know the whole kitp"
mo, not that, sister. What she said
about the poor children coming out in
to the country for little vacation. Oh,
sister, laid and thought last night" -
Calista choked a little, and then she
spoke out bravely-''Ive been thinking
why couldn't we take one for the two
weeksp"
The shot was fired now, and the half
frightened gunner waited for the smoke
to clear away before she could reckon
the effect on the enemy. Miss Jane,
who stood for the enemy in this case,
certainly wasn't dead, but it was equal
ly certain she was pretty we'll stunned.
''Wel, she said, recovering herself
little after few minutes, Il hadn't
thought nothin' about it, an l don't
believe you could stan it one day an
night Calista;" and this tiny plant of
an objection being well sprouted, Ii
grew with rapidity that almost
amazed the oultivator herself, and
Calista was informed that such "a
young one, bein' uneddicated and un-
hammered, would bang up the dishes.
eat the preserves, smash the eggs and
kill the chickens, worry the cat, and
finally cry nights for its mother, if it
has one, which l shouldn't be sur
prised if it hadn't" added the good
woman, grimly ''An' it's two chances
to one but 'twould be foreigner when
we got it, and sarsy at that; for you
know, Calista, as well as l do, that o
good part of the city is made up of
toreigners-one kind and another" y
Miss Jane had emptied her CULVER,
and paused, but Calista was running
her needle slowly through the block Of
pink print, rs if every arrow had flown
over her head.
She laid her work on her knee now,
and looked through the window away
to the blue hills that melted into the
horizon. 81 didn't sleep much last
night, she said, gently-a shade stole
over Miss James sharp face, but Calista
went on, quietly-"and | thought, as
laid in my good clean bed, Just as the
light was coming, and heard the birds
singing everywhere, and the lay-locks
brushed against the window, and they
smelled so pretty-I thought how Mis-
Chandler said some of them dear little
things never'd Smelt rose, nor SO
much as seen any green grass"
The voice ended in sobs, and Miss
Jane felt her own eyes grow dim, and
realized that her strong-tower of de-
Tense would fall if she fingered here
much longer.
She rose determinedly, and tied her
bonnet-strings in snugger knot.
There! don't feel bad about it, she
said. TN think it over, and-we'll
see."
Dear Lord, do Thou be in her
thoughts" silently prayed the sister
left at home, but she only said, cheerily,
as Miss James shoes creaked out across
The kitchen floor: They're the Lord s
little ones, you know" but Miss Jane
Vouchsafed no reply
Never saw no grass" she shifted,
rubbing her nose.
''What nonsense! as much grass as
there is in the world! An won't have
sarsy young one here" But as her
shoes trod energetically over the short,
crisp moss and crushed the fragrant
pennyroyal, she found herself wonder
ing vaguely how it would seem if this
were the first time.
No one but herself and her God knew
OF the warfare that went on down in the
outhwest pasture that afternoon, out
|alista knew who had the victory when