The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-06-14
t'ELlzA."
BY HELEN FOREST GRAVES.

coils of hair waving blue-black in the
intense light! 1t is like a dream Of
Italy?"
EYES," said Mrs. Leeds, "she is very
pretty, but that don't signify SO much.
She's a 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, ca~relessly 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
soul). "She came along"
"Came along?" with a slight accent
of surprise).
"Yes-lookingf for work"
Mr.. Villars lifted his eyebrows.
"'Then howdoyou know who she ISL"
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 u kitten, and as smart
as q cricket; does twice the work Of
anyone e!*e that / ever had; and il
she's ever tired, she don'tsay So"
Mrs. Leeds hustled off to interview
Farmer Parks for more Attorney
cream for the summer boarders, now
the house was beginning to fill up.
Mr.. Villars improvised a pillow out
of his coat, folding it cylinderwise and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in q 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
vas something of the atmosphere O.
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 a subtle, gliding motion
q languor of gracefulness in her gait
which was foreign to all her sur.
roundings.
The girls of the vicinage did not fra
ternize with Eliza when, at are 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 "odd;" they look
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,
az long as Mrs. Leeds was pleased with
her?
But the village 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
a partisan feellngi in Mr.. Villars' breast;
but they did SO, unconsciously to
themselves.
"'Why do they neglect that girl SOP"
the young clergyman asked himself.
"Can they not see how Infinitely SUI
perior she is to them? It's q shame!"
And so Abby Jane Clark, and Deb
orah Smart, and Keziah Hayes seal
ed their own doom, so far as Mr.. Viii
lars vas concerned.
There vas not one of them but
would have been delighted to win a
smile, a glance, a pleasant word from
the young man who was summering at
the Leeds farm house.
But, alas! 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, az
she eyed the pair shrewdly from he1
milkroom window. "Well, why
shouldn't he? It'struehe's a 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 girl wanted to be a par
sons VIE, ABBY Jane does!"
Thus things were progressing, when
one day a smart young tradesman
from an adjoining town camel to board
out his fortnight's vacation at Dea.
con Clark's.
The Clarks were q well-to.do family;
but the deacon was q little closein his
financial administration, and Mrs.
Clark and Abby Jane were not averse
to earning a new dress now: and then
outof the rent Of their big spare-room.
And Mr.. Trudkins brought alstter. OF
recommendation from g. friend in
Packerton, and hedressed ia thelatest
fashion, and had abigblack mustache
that overshadowed his upper lip like
a penthouse.