The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-09-14

He held it up to the light, wondered
who could have sent it, puzzled over
the address, and tried to decipher the
post-mark in the musing, deliberate
manner that is so exasperating to
youthful impotence. Marcia's interest
vanished, however, as soon as he
4" lowed it was from Cousin David. .
She knew David only by reputation,
and his reputation was not attractive;
thriftless, happy-go-lucky, always in
present straits. but with brilliant
prospects just ahead, who had dri fled
to the farther West years before. So
Marcia turned her attention to her pa
pers, and Uncle Seth spread his letter
carefully on the table before him, and
perused it in silence.
Half an hour later she looked UP
and saw the sheet still before him, but
his eyes were looking beyond it in a
bewildered, troubled way.
why, Uncle Seth, what is the
matter?"
Nigh as / can make out, said the
old man, slowly, David he's dead,
and he's left me little child to take
care of. y
"a child?"
Marcia dropped her paper, and
Nancy her pan of mullins.
That's it, nigh as I can make out, y
repeated Uncle Seth. david never
was no scholar, an he didn't write
much. He calls it little incum rance
like. .
"lncumbrance! / should think sou
Marcia's amazement and Indignation
flashed out. ''Why don't the rest of
his family take care of it?''
''He amt got any. He says his wife
died few months ago, an he's dyin',
an we're his next of kin. An he's
glad to leave it to me, cause he knows
| won't use it noways but well''-
Hes right enough there. You
never mistreated even dog that come
to you,' interposed Nancy. ..But a
baby Pears to me some folks have a
dreadful knack of dyin' an leavin' all
their affairs at loose ends.
"David says it's small now, but he
hopes it'll grow to be considerable use
to me some day, " pursued the old man,
patiently.
"ln the same way its father was, prob
ably!' commented Marcia. "You were
always helping him when he was
here.
"Well, consider BILE. You see, some-
body had to- admitted Uncle Seth,
funbling at the corners of the letter.
'David meant well, an he was ALWAYS
a-gittin' up plans that seemed 'sif they
might work, only they'd run agin a
snagn
Marcia glanced at another paper on
the table, one in clear, bold chirog-
raphy.
That's from a lawyer out there;
David's was inside of it," explained
her uncle, placing the sheet in her
hand. "He says he s'poses my relative
has 'quainted me with the nature of
his little bequest.'
'Well, he haint!'' declared Nancy,
irately. why under the canopy
couldn't he tell what twas, girl or a
boyp 'Twould be some consolation to
know whether body'd go to spend
their days patchin' jackets, or tuckin'
petticoats. :"
Marcia, CHANGING over the brief,
business-like epistle, which covered
DEFICIENCIES by the statement that further
particulars would be furnished upon
had found one item of in.
terest.
HE says if you don't claim it within
three months, it is to go, by David's
to another branch of the
family"
''Joel's folks; that's all there ISL said
Uncle Seth. "Joel's rich enough to
take it, butt
They all understood the pause.
There was money at Joel's house, but
it held nothing else that was desirable.
Give been thinkin', Marshy,n re-
sumed the old man, after minutes
silence, 'Ive been thinkin' that you're
the one to decide about this. 'Tw ouldn't
be fair for me to do it. Pm gittin' old
now, an SOS Cousin Nancy, an the
weight OF every thing'l be comm
more am more on you. You're the
one to have the say about tnis; an if
you think it's too much-I amt de-
nyin' 'twould be a hefty care, with
clothes, schoolin' an every thing
why, then all we've got to do is not to
claim it, as shat lawyer says. Joel, he
has money enough, that's true"
So the matter dropped into Marcia's
hands, and, though she had been quite
sure, only a few minutes before, that
she would settle it very speedily if the
power were hers, she found it a tangled
question.
Marcia assured herself that this un-
NSlSOilO iOSoSy w uo upOSlUlOu, tllo
idea of accepting it preposterous; that
Uncle Seth had done more than his
share of caring for other people all his
life, and now it was her turn to care
for him. That must be the end of it;
she would think no more about it.
Then in five minutes she found her
self thinking it all over again, wonder
ing how the little fellow would fare
at Joel's; or If the little one should be
a girl-Marcia shuddered as she re-
week of her own child
hood passed in that hard, penurious,
selfish household.
That unknown baby was the most
troublesome child in her school the
next day. 1t intruded between her and
the pages of the book she held. Cues
tions concerning it tangled in and out
among the problems on the board, and
the day became such a WEAKNESS that
she breathed a sigh of relief when a
young weather-prophet, who had been
taking observations from a back win
dow instead of from his spelling book,
L Z l. T. 6