Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-04-05
ELIZA"
BY HELEN FOREST GRAVES.

coils of hair waving blue-black in the
intense light 1t is like a dream OF
Italy?"
"Yes," said Mrs Leeds, 'she is very
pretty, but that don't signify SO much.
She's good, smart girl, and don't
loose any time looking at herself in
the glass, like some I've had"
Where did you pick her up?" asked
the young clergyman, carelessly draw
ing the newspaper from his pocket as
he sat down on the carpet OF pine
needles under the big evergreen tree.
Didn't pick her up anywhere, +" said
Mrs Leeds tartly for this was a part
OF the transaction that had never been
quite satisfactory to her business like
souD "She came along"
Game along?" with a slight accent
of SURPRISED.
"Yes-looking for work"
Mr.. Villars lifted his eyebrows.
"Then how do you know who she isH"
he asked.
"Idon't know" retorted Mrs. Leeds,
unconsciously betraying her weak
point by this irritability of manner;
''but / know what she is, and that's
more to the purpose. She's the best
washer that ever crossed my thresh.
old; as docile as kitten, and as smart
as a cricket; does twice the work o.
anyone else that ! ever had; and d
she's ever tired, she don't say Sc"
Mrs. Leeds hustled of to interview
Farmer Parks for more Alderney
cream for the summer boarders, now
the house was beginning 70 fill up.
Mr.. VillaIs improvised pillow out
of his coat, folding it cylinderwise and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in sort ofsummer dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza spreading out blackber.
ries to dry on the board platform that
had been erected along the garden
fence, began to sing softly to herself.
She was very silent ordinarily, but
somehow it seemed as if the sunshine
had thawed out her very heart to-day.
Mr.. Villars had been right. There
was something of the atmosphere OF
Italy about Eliza-her eyes were so
deep and dark, her hair so glossily
black, her cheek stained with such a
rich olive.
Moreover, she did not move like the
girls of rock-bound New England.
There was subtle, gliding motion
a languor of gracefulness in her gait
which was foreign to all her sur
roundings.
The girls of the vicinage did not fra
rernize with Eliza when, at rare inter
walls, she accompanied Mrs. Leeds to
church, sewing circle or village gather
ing for in Stapleville the employer and
employee occupied one all-comprehen-
sive social platform.
They said she was todd;" theylook
ed at her askance; and Eliza always
very quiet in her ways made no effort
to insinuate herself into their good
graces.
Why should she? What did it sig
nifty, one way or the other, whether
Deborah Smart, and Keziah Hayes,
and Abby Jane Clark liked her or not,
as long as Mrs. Leeds was pleased with
her?
But the villages girls made one error
in their calculations. They had not
intended, as the time crept on, to
emphasize their antipathy to Mrs.
Leeds Eliza SO strongly as to awake
partisan feelIngin Mr.. Villars breast;
but they did so, unconsciously to
themselves
'Why do they neglect that girl so?"
the young clergyman asked himself.
"Can they not see how Infinitely SUI
perior she is to them? It's shamel"
And so Abby Jane Clark, and Deb
orah Smart, and Keziah Hayes seal
ed their own doom, so far as Mr.. Viii
lars was concerned.
There was not one of them but
would have been delighted to win a
smile, glance, pleasant word from
the young man who was summering at
the Leeds farm house.
But, alasi like the priest and the
Levite, he passed by on the other side;
and when the village girls, in their
afternoon muslins and ribbons, sat at
their windows and wondered why che
came not, he was, in nine cases out
of ten, helping Eliza to gather peaches
for tea; standing beside the brook.
while she spread out towels ana
Observation-Disclosures to bleach, or even
explaining to her the difference be-
tween the notes of the thrush and the
woodlark, the speckled eggs of the
robin and the pearl gray treasure OF
the whip-poor-will
He seems to be taking a notion to
her." said Mrs. Leeds to herself, as
she eyed the pair shrewdly from her
shouldn't he? It's true he's minister.
and my own nephew; but in my mind
Eliza is good enough for any man.
My sakes! won't Abby Jane Clark be
mad? If ever agirl wanted to be par
sons VIE, AoDy Jane does!
Thus things were progressing, when
one day q smart young tradesman
from an adjoining town came to board
out his fortnight's vacation at Dea-
con Clark's.
The Clarks were q well-to- do family:
but the deacon was a little close in his
financial administration, and Mis-.
Clark and Abby Jane were not ayerse
to earning new dress now and then
out OF the rent of their big spare-room.
And Mr.. Trudkins brought a letter of
recommendation from a friend in
Packerton, and hedressed in the latest
fashion, and had a big black mustache
that overshadowed his upper lip like
a penthouse.
"Oh, ma, how very genteel he isl,'
said Abby Jane, all in fiutter of adj
miration.
"A very nice young man, indeed u
responded the deacon's wife.
And the very next week Abby Jane
came down to the Leeds farm house.
Have you heard this news about
your Eliza?" she asked OF the farmers
wife in a mysterious whisper.
"Eh?' said Mrs. Leeds.
"She's nothing but play actressp,
said Abbey Jane, nodding her head
until the stuffed blue bird on her hat
quivered as If it were alive. aMr All.
phonso Trudkins saw her himself in
the Great New York Combination
troupe. She was acting a woman
who was married to a Cuban, and lost
her pockethandkerchief, and was af.
terward choked with the pillows of
the best bed. Desdemonia her name
was, think"
well, and suppose she WASP said
Mrs. Leeds, who was too good a Gen.
eral to let the enemy see what havoc
had been carried into her camp.
what Them,
What thenl" echoed Abby Jane.
Wen, | do declare, Mrs. Leeds, am
surprised" :
~ don't believe a word of itl'' said
Mrs. Leeds, defantly.
Rr- ~