The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-10

came through 1t in yellow bars. They fell
upon the furniture of the bare little room;
they fell upon tho iron bedstead and upon
something lying on it, which he did not mt
first notice, because it was covered with o
sheet.
Augusta walked up to the bed and gent |
ly lifted the sheet, revealing the sweet face, |
fringed round about with golden hair, of |
little JEANNE, in her coffin.
Eustace gave an exclamation and started |
back violently. He had not been prepared |
for such a sight; indeed, it was the first
such sight that he had ever seen, and it
shocked him beyond words. Augusta,
famiiarized rs she was herself with the
companionship OF this bcauteous clay-cold
Terror, had forgotten that, suddenly and
without warning, to bring the living into
the presence of the dead is not the wisest
or the kindest thing to do. For, to the
living, moro especially to the young, the
sight of death is horrible. 1t is such n
fearsome comment on their health and
strength Youth and strength are merry;
but who can be merry with yon dead thing
in the upper chamberr Take it away!
thrust 1t under ground! it is an insult to
us; it reminds us thai we, too, die like 9TH
ers What business has its pallor to show
itself against our ruddy cheeks?
IL beg your pardon" whispered Angus
tn, realizing something of all this in n
flash. II forgot; you do not know-you
must be shocked Forgive me'
"Who is it," he said, gasping to get back
! his breath
| ''My sister, she answered. at was to
try and save her life that | wanted the
money When / told her that could not
get it she gave up and died. Your uncle
killed her. Come"
Greatly shocked, he followed her back
into the sitting room, and thcn-as soon as
hc got his composurc-apo!ugize for hav-
ing intrudcd himself upon her i'll such an
hou- of desolati0n.
~ am glad to see YOU" she said simply;
al have seen nobody except the doctor
once and the undertaken twice. It Is
dreadful to sit alone hour after hour face
so f"ce with the irretrievable. IL l had
not been SO foolish as to enter into that
agreement with Messrs. Mecson | could
have got the money by selling my ne W
book easily enough, and | should have
been able TO take JEANNE abroad, and |
believe that she would have lived-at least
hope so. But now il is finished and can
not be helped"
"I wish had known" blundcrcd Eus.
tace II could have lent you the money.
have n hundred and fifty pounds"
You are very good" she answered,
gently ''but it is no use talking about 1t
now, il is finished"
Then Eustacc rose and went away, and
it was not till he found himself in the
street that he remembered that he hao
never asked Augusta what her plans were
Indeed, the sight Of poor Jeanric had pm
everything else out Of his head. How
ever, he consoled himself with the retlec
ton that he could call again week or ten
days after the funeral.
: Two days later Augusta followed th'
remains of her dearly y-loved sister to thei
last resting place, and then came home OF
foot. dor she was the only mourner) ant
sat in her black gown before the little hr'
and reflected upon her position. Wha
was she to do? She could not stay in thes
rooms. It made her heart ache every tim
that her eyes fell upon the empty sofa cp
posite, dinted rs Il was with the accus
toned weight of poor Jcannie's frame
Where was she to SO, and what was sh
to do? She might get literary employ
ment, but then her agreement with MessrS
l Mecson stared her in the face. Tha
agreement was very widely drawn. !
bound her to offer all literary work of an
, sort that might come from her pen during
the next five years to Messrs. Meeson 4
: the fixed rate of seven per cent. on tn
published price. Obviously, as it SCENE
TO her, though perhaps erroncously, thi
clause ght bc stretched to include eve
> a newspaper article; and she knew tn
1 malignant nature of Mr.. Mceson we
enough to be quite certain that, if poss
: BILE, that would be done 1t was true sh
i, might manage to make Il bare living OF
of her work, even ut the beggarly pay {
: seven per cent; but Augusta was a pcrso
i of spirit, and she was determined that sh
T would rather starvc than that Meeso
$ should again make huge profits out of he
: labor This avenue being closed to he
Q she turned her mind elsewhere; but, loo
= where she might, the prospect wo5 equal
J dark.
Augusta's remarkable literary succe:
q had not been of much practical advantag
0 to her, for in this country literary succe:
e does not mean SO much as Ii does in SON
others. AS Il matter Of fact, indeed tf
I average Briton has, Mt heart. consider
e. BILE contempt, il not for literature. at lea!
for those who produce it, Literature,
). his mind. is connected with the idea
;. garrets and extreme poverty; and. ther
d fore, having the rational respect for none
10 he in secret, if not in public, dcspises it.
tree IS known by its fruits, says he. Il
"a a man succeed ut the Bar, and he max
IN thousands upon thousands n year, and
ly promoted 20 the highest offices in Il
III State. Let man succeed in art, and
o will be paid one or two thousand pouns
apiece for his most 'pot-boilery" po
traits But your literary men-why, wit
;" a few fortunate exceptions, the best
a them barely make u living. What can Il
Id erature be worth il man can't make
e, fortune out of it? So argues the Eriton
at no doubt with some of his sound ccnamc
e, sense Not that he has no respect f
Is genius. All men bow TO true genius, eve
when they fear and envyit. But he thinl
to a good deal moro OF genius dead than &c
lie ius living. However this may be, there
no doubt that if through any cause-suc
for instance, as the sudden discovery
n the great and highly civilized America
rn people that the seventh commandmel
ed was probably intended to apply to autho
at amongst the rest of the world-the pecu
co iary rewards OF literary labor should
e. put more upon an equality with those