The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1888-08-24
miscellaneous.
How Mary Took Care of the Baby.
BY SOPHIE SWEET

"Your sister Eunice wants you 10 keeI
house for her and take care of the baby
while she goes TO 1t to buy the baby
winter cloak" sad Mary Emmas mother
And, accordingly, Mary Emma combet
her tow-colored hair tightly back from hel
round, freckled face, and tied it with blue
ribbon and put on her brand-new blue anG
and white checked Bingham dress, and BEL
out for the Pillsbury Settlement, off on the
edge of the prairie, where her sister Eunict
lived.
"Do take good care of the house, and don't
let anything happen to the baby, and keer
your wits about you !" her mother called after
her.
"And if the house gets fire, don't run fol
the oil can to put it out" said her brother
Noah, facetiously.
Noah wouldn't forget the time when he
cut his finger, and Mary Emma brought the
mustard to dress it with, nor the time when
little Shadrach fell off the hay NOW and
bumped his forehead, and Mary Emma got
the varnish instead of the arnica, and warm
shed him 80 that he was sticky for days.
And her mother was continually sayin @
that she didn't suppose Mary Emma ever
would learn to keep her wits about her."
These little reminders which her mother
and Noah gave her made Mary Emma feel
for time as if her gingham dress might Just
as well have been old as new, and as if she
didn't care whether Eunice had saved any
of the thigh top sweetngs" for her or not
But before she reached the farm her spirits
had risen again.
The farm was a delightful place TO 20 to
on pleasant autumn day There was a lit
tie house, as bright and shining as new paint
could make it, and big barn, and a garden
and orchard that Hiram, her sisters husband
was very proud of; and great fields of grain
that stretched away to the pralrie-the broad
prairie that rolled and rolled like a vast
green and misty.blue sea, and at last seemed
to roll itself into the sky.
And besides all this, and much more than
this, there was the baby. She was the
smallest baby in the town-a mere crumb Of
q baby-but she had two pearly teeth and a
golden curl on her neck, and her name was
Alice Maud Grace EvaHgeline, because her
mother didn't see why her baby shouldn't
have as many names as the Queen of Eng.
| land.
And one couldn't stay in the house ten
minutes without discovering that she was
considered the most remarkable baby that
ever lived, and that nothing in the world was
of much Importance except SO far as il
affected her.
1t was q great responsibility to be the aunt
ofsuch baby, especially when one was only
eleven. Although it made one very proud
it was quite fearful responsibility to be left
to take care of it all alone.
The high buggy in which Eunice was to
drive herself TO L. was already waiting at
the door, and with more cautions and charges
about the baby than any one could possibly
remember, Eunice drove off, and Hiram went
away TO the distant field, where he was
gathering the last of the harvest
Baby Alice wasn't sleepy, but she was very
good natured, and graciousy permitted her
self to be amused by "patty cakes" and rides
to Banbury Cross" and when these diver
sons were exhausted, Mary Emma took her
out on the broad doorstep and let her try to
catch the yellow leaves that floated down
from the maple tree, and made Towser Jump
over the well-sweep, only few feet from the
ground, for Towser was lazy dog, for her
edification.
What beautiful, bright afternoon it was
and how still The breeze that had been
flGttering the leaves had died away. Mary
Emma suddenly became conscious of a
breathless hush that made her look up at the
sky.
All clear and blue; but what was that
black speck away off where the prairie was
lost In the sky?
Only speck, but it came rushing on al
most'wth the speed ola cannon ball, increas.
ing In size with every instant.
Mary Emma knew what it might be--twice
had the town been almost destroyed by a
cyclone.
What, oh, what should she do with the
babyl The wits which Mary Emma had
been enjoined to keep about her quite for.
sock her, as was no wonder.
She never could quite remember what hap.
pened in the next two or three minutes, only
that a rushing, roaring noise deafened her,
that the earth and the sky seemed TO come
together with great shock.
When she came to herself she was prone
on her face under pile of shingles and
hay-the lighter ruins of the barn-but she
could move and help to extricate herself; she
was almost unhurt.
"Where is the baby ?" said Hiram's voice,
hoarse and unnatural.
Mary Emma looked toward the house {;
it was still standing. The cyclone, which
had swept the great barn away like feather,
had only brushed the house in passing,
and unroofed the little well.
Then Mary Emma looked toward the well
The woodwork was gone completely; even
the great sweep, that Hiram's grandfather
|
thing 10 remind her of her New England
| home.
Mary Emma shuddered as she looked to.
ward the well.
Il put her somewhere l can't tell, !
hadn't time to think 1t came just like q
flash !" she said, trembling and sobbing.
Hiram rushed into the house and ransack-
ed every corner, and came out again, with
his face more dreadful than ever in its gray.
ish paleness.
A throng of men and woman had gather.
cd. All had their own trouble. ruined home.
steads and harvest, the cyclone had devastat-
! ed the Pillsbury Settlement, leaving the rest
of the town untouched, but there had been
no lives lost; no one was missing except
Hiram Plllsbury's baby. What were all
other troubles compared to this?
They searched under great pile of the
heavy timbers of the barn. Poor Towser's
body lay there, stark and stiff, but not thu
baby's.
Jonas Farley said there were timbers o
that barn over in Burnt River, and the roo
of the ell, to and it wasproposed to drag thu
river.
Mary Emma felt little thrill of hope
Some things dropped into river Nigh