The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1886-01-21

s5So& W WIG slore, sIle AlWRyS LOOK Ine
opportunity to inquire Of her neigh
bors what they had received before
she would believe that the merchant
had not given her less than the usual
price. 81
Il he had not the article she asked
4 or she went away in the belief that he
was y simply hiding it for some favored
customer; while il he produced it she
was equally tortured lest he consid-
cred it unstable.
1fshe was invited to a tea party or
quilting, or any Of the mild festivities
OF Argonac, shesalways sat on the ex-
IRENE edge OF her chair in the most
5perpendiculap Of attitudes, and re-
piled to all conversation in the brief
est ofmonosyl!ables, while sheinward-
" weighed every word and action in
the light Of its possible relation to
herself; if she was not invited she laid
the fact up and bro ded over it with
q certain frosty resentment which
nothing could ever thaw. Is
The simplest pleasures were even en-
FILTERED by her suspicion. She was
fond OF flowers, and would have en-
joyed her well kept garden if she had
not constantly suffered with tho fear
that someone /; flowers would look
better than hers, or they would have
a variety she had n lot. u
With Mrs. Ames, the village post
masters wife, whose yard was usual
5ly gay with flowers, she waged a cease
less though one-sided rivalry, mas
much as the lady was wholly unaware
Gof it's existence. On her head, too,
rested one Of the wild owls darkest sus-
picions, for as it CHANGED one spring
they both sent to the same florist for
some choice lily bulbs, and because
Mrs. Ames received hers a few days
sooner, she always cherished the firm
md impl ncable belief that Mr.. Ames
had purpo sely withheld her own iii or
der that his Wife's might get started
first. M ii y \
nlistrusted it at the time, she
used to relate; he didn't look like q
man ought to look when hesaid there
was nothin' for me, an !. when said,
tit isvery strange, for was expecting
some bulbs he said he was sorry but
they hadn't come, and that very af.
ternoon Mrs. Irueblo God told me that
Mrs. Arnes had got her'n. They very
next day I went again, and he said
no, they hadn' It come yet, but he
couldn't look me iii the eye when he
said it. an when / tried to catch his
eye he pretended to be busy stampin'
some letters. And the next day was
Sunday,sso you see Mrs. Ames had
had hel s four days before got mine,
an when he did give ,em to me
they looked that dry as though he
might have kept them week. But
that wasn't the strangest part Of it;
sf,you'l II believe me not one of them
bulbs came up the next spring-not
one, with a grim nod OF her head by
way Of emphasis. aOf course, / don't
SAY that anybody came and. pulled
'enl up in the night. make it a roole
never to judge people; but I do say
thnt it is very curious how Mrs.
Ames's all happened to live through
the winter and none Of mine. z II 3s
But happily for kindly Mrs. Ames,
who was without q single spark Of
jealousy, she never knew the imputar
ton she rested under II or why her
friendly advances to the Widow Hatch
were so frigidly received I 3s5535.
Ano ther cause OF suffering to the
good woman was, that she was total
ely destitute Of any sense of humor.
A joke always 1nysti fled, and as a
$conseque fence aggravated: her, as when
sone Haliow.e'en the Frew5 boys appear
ed ut her wind ow with o. jjack-o' Ian
tern carved from d pumpkin, instead
of laughing at the apparition as did
the other neigh bors, she HE'D herself
across the field to Mi. Frew's and
made grieyous and fearful complaint
Sof the treatment she had received,
for Mrs. Hatch could drop into
tears as easily as Mr.. Wegg into poet
3ry;;SS and the fact that she md her
gdalghte ter were lone, innpro tected fe.
males was impressed on her listen
sers. ~:
Mr.. Frew end ayored to mollify her
resentment with the plea that they
were only in fun, and that boys would
be boys, though on their return home
hereproved them for their indiscre-
8tionsin o manner that SolomonWould
have approved of.
For Mrs. Hatch was not the only
occupant of the rall, thin, red house
in the edge Of elittle country village;
her daughter, Almira Sophia shared
lit with her, and never was the old
Sadage, IS ike mo her, like daught er, z
more strikingly verified; the same liz
vertebrate spine, sail w5 complexion,
stony eyes colorless hair, and worst
Eof3all, the.sanne Sjeal Gus, suspicious ma.
stl,re. Without question the poor girl
WINS to be pitied for the sblighted at.
smosphere III which she had grown up.
Perhaps indeed, people Of thattem-
permanent are; to bio more pitied than
blamed for the diseased state of mind
which fills their lives with such need
less misery; at the same time our
compassion ID usually hest we'd on,
those who snffer because 81 the
jealousy, rather. than the ones who en-
Sdnre the pangs 81
From Almira Sophia y earliest child.
hood she had been on the loo kont for
Sights and injuri q search inswhich
they who engage seld fail to find
their object. When q little girl in pin.
azores, She used Ito come homo from,
school with long complaints of THE
teaeher,s Partially OF tho girls who
had made faces ut her, and the boys
who had called her names. AS abe
grew oldersa and her self Consciousness
Increased. s IL any one ojolsed At hef.