Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-07
Skeggs' Bound Girl.
(.I

d Skeggs' Bound Girl.
Nov be quick about it, and don't
stand there lookin' at me that way.
Them eyes o yourn IS enough to give
one the creeps, they air that ugly. 1
wish they'd q sent one a girlswith blue
eyes. I never could abide black ones,
there's something SO evil in 'em.
( CRASH. Well, jest look there! if that
amt the second dish you've broke
this week. I'll cuff you for that, l
will. You'll go without your dinner
now. too. Well see if you can't learn
to be more careful. Sech a. thing as
you air IS enough to wear ones life
out" a.. Z. !. - TIM
The thing referred to turned to
her work. There was a sudden scowl
| upon the face-a little dark, colorless
face, lit up with great, black, wide-open
eyes, that were just now shining with
a vlndictiye expression that was any
thing but!pleasant. Chow do hate
her. she was saying to herself, as she
/ clinched her small fists. "She is al
ways calm me ugly. AS i'll could help
1t. Then she fell to wondering ifby any
means the color of her eyes mis- ht be
changed. She had never heard Of such
a thing, but il they only could, what
a great boon it would be to her. Her
mother had thought her eyes beauti-
| fu!, but she was so different from any
| body else. If she could have them
changed to blue, just exactly tine color
OF the sky, how pretty they would be.
So engrossed was she with the idea
that she forgot for time all about
her mistress and her surroundings.
But that rasping voice again broke
the silence. "Do dabble away there
i'll the water, an be all the forenoon
washin' them dishes. Pears as if you
tries to see how aggrivatin' you kin be.
You never atopto think reckon, that
you ought TO do somethin' to pay for
the home, an clothes, and vituals you
git; but that's the way with sech cree
ters as you-they're always ongrate-
full. 1don't know what ever put it
into my head to want q boun' girl
anyway. If you don't do better I'll
Jest turn you over to the poor-house,
| will"
! The "creeter" looked at her mistress.
Ii she only dared to speak what 8 re-
lief it would be. What ugly, hateful
words she would spit forth. A home?
And what q home! A bare room in
the garnet, with hard, scant bed. She
did not mind that, if they would only
speak to her kindly sometimes, orgive
her now and then a word of encour-
agement or commentator. Clothes?
Look at them-cast off garments of
her mistress, hastily cut down. i'll fit
ting, faded, and worn. She did not
care for the holes in them, or for the
fit of them. II they had been put on
her by loving hands no queen in robes
OF velvet would have been happier.
Food? The very coarsest. She was
| never allowe7 any tid-bits With what
hungry eyes she sometimes watched
Mrs. Skeggs caress her boy, Sammy,
and feed him weetmeats-hungering
not so much for the sweetmeats as for
the caresses. Would anybody ever lovs
herN again? she wondered. Not since
the day her mother, with an stfort,
turned her white face toward her, and
laying her ii lin hand upon her head
tenderly, had whispered, for her voice
was nearly gone: "Janie, be good
girl, and we will: meet. again by and
BY" had there been 4 loving word
spoken to her. That was only two
years ago, but it seemed an age to the
little waif. She had looked in fearful
perplexity while they screwed down
the lid OF the rough coffin in which her
mother lay, but no one paid any at
tention to her. She remembered one
neighbor woman had said to another:
"What an uncanny little thing it is;
she's all eyes," After they had carried
her mother away she was sent to a
children's almshouse, and in q little
time a home was provided for her ':out
west" in the Skeggs family. She was
known as Skeggs' bound girl. The
neighbOrs sometimes remarked that it
was very kind OF Mrs. Skeggs to take
that girl to raise; they wouldn't want
such responsibility :
"Well, what air you standin' there
about? Why don't you '2scour your
knives now?.. =. You always have to
wait to be told: And do take them
eyes off me. Ill had such ugly eyes
$500! 49,. loon @o G my 10y ~ we
10y W." ~ ia s'S s1sy. ne anys sinGe she
tad;o, w W. Iut e Pr .~nny VIZ alMAys
e innn 49, entS ono ssee1hel UNUSUAL.
E,;tbng , r. ~ 9n,er 81 s Ia ~ g
ed a c1nst ,nnerco;,a Sne h hnt tn~ard
e.-o-;na sba fa,t 500 49, $500, so"s..I
onnrassa . u.;+h y w" No oan5,nt eIro
b beau;nass W." ~ eot'n 't VIC
a. 1nas = =, ), - ~
~ o" ~, % 49, $50. 2 peen =. >"aset aC
t ~ ga sJl VIZ" s'.:.h t;a ce'n19 ~ IRON
o cne e. nv "ra 1 dnL,a1 ~ IaI
ee' G stetha, skaelasu IVY
Init SAMMY i seeing that Ta ~ ' had 1t inst