The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-12-18
A FRIEND In NEED.

Ethel and | are cousins, and both or
phans; but, as is frequently the case
with '.daughters of one race" we are
as unlike rs we we'll can be, for while
she is decidedly "fairer in the face
she is an nei,e ,ess as we'll. AS to dis
position, there we differ, too; for.
while am spunky-so aunty mildly
puts it-and have an opinion of my
own which is frequently asserted, she
is yielding, gentle amiability itself.
| will relate little incident. Once
we were invited to visit together an
old uncle who had lived in solitary
bachelorhood up to the advanced age
OF eighty years.
''Joan, what would you do with
money if it were left to you?" he ask
ed me one day.
"Why, spend it, of coursc!" re-
Piled, without hesitation.
Now, nothing had been further from
my thoughts than disrespect; but that
answer certainly cost me the fortune
which only six months later came to
Ethel. That happened two years ago,
and since then Ethel has had and re.
fused five offers of marriage, although
she has just passed her eighteenth
birthday. am twenty, and have had
as yet not one single proposal.
"You are too sarcastic, Joan" Ethel
says. Gentlemen do not like critical
young ladies'
"Thcn they should not lay them
selves open to critlcism,' | reply,
promptly. ut ism: THAT, cousin mine;
It's because I'm plain, and beside you
| look even palmer still.
Ethel smiles q little consciously as
she says:
''Now, Joan, you know you're talk.
ing nonsense. Only the other day
Hart Holman told me he thought your
eyes were glorious.
"Oh. Hart Holman-he doesn't
count!h say, lightly.
Joan shakes her yellow ringlets at
''you are incorrigible, Joan!" Then
her face suddenly grows sober
"Cousin,' she says. II want to ask
you something. How do you like Mr..
! De Nerepn
mot one Bit" | answer conciscly.
But whv?" she asks. "Surely you
cannot deny that he is very handsome
/ and entertaining.
/ Just rs | open my lips to reply al
elegant equipagc draws up at the gate,
and tho vcritable individual under dis
cussion alighls. He has come to take
my cousin for u ride. l watch them
drive off with sensation of discom
fort strong in my mind.
Not because am jealous of her su
perior attractivcness-a Thousand
Il
! prouder of her beauty than she is her
self!-but because something tells me
that of all her admirers Ethel likes hin
the best, and that he is not the true
good man to whose keeping she could
resign her sweet self and be sure OF
the happiness her tender loving hear
deserves. Seeking auntie | pour on
my trouble into her sympathizing ear
Don't worry, Joan, dear" she say
reassuringly; ''for you know that yol
are both my wards and neither of yo,
can marry without my sanction before
you are twenty-onc. Three years is
good while. If MIR. De We're is wha
YOU think him, Ethel will surely fine
it out before that time.
l am cOmfortcd, for although sh
does not say so can see that aunti
shares my views, and that Mr.. Raou
De We're has found no more favor wit
her than with me.
A month rolls by. During that tim
something ns-something sur
prising-1 have proposal.
II love you, JOAN Hart Holman
says. "you have never given me TIL
slightest enconragemcnt--indecd, 20
have been very cruel oftentimes; but
nevertheless, l love you and hay
loved YOU ever since | first kne,
you
That's impossible" say, "for
was IN infant in arms. Auntie ha
often told me what friends ou
mothers were, and how frequcntl
they used to visit each other and con
pare babies"
But he dsregards my Aippaucy.
Don't try to evade an answer
JOAN" he says. 81 love you dearly
do you not like me the least blt?"
His tone is so earnest, that as / loo
up into his frank, wistful blue ewes.
l,,l.