Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-04

give been thinkin', Marshy," re-
sumed the old man, after minute
silence, five been thinkin that you re
the one to decide about this. IwOuldnt
ha fair for me to do it. I'm gittin' old
now. an SOS Cousin Nancy, an the
weight OF every thingH be comm
more an more on you. You're the
one to have the say about this; an II
Won think its too much-I amt de-
nvin' ,twould be a betty care, with
clothes, schoolin' an every thing
whv, then all we've got to do Is not to
claim it, as that lawyer says. Joel, ne
has money enough. that's true"
So the matter dropped into Marcia's
hands, and, though she had been quite
sure, only 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 I'M
welcome legacy was al imposition, the
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
q girl-Marcia shuddered as she re-
membered 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. It 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 back win
dow instead of from his spelling-book,
shot up his hand like a signal-rocket,
and announced:
please m, there's goin' to be a
storm! All cloud n up in the west!'
The black bank along the western
horizon was sufficiently threatening to
offer lawful excuse for dismissing her
school, but the young teacher quite for
got it, when the last ringing step and
chattering voice had died away in the
distance, and she was left alone.
"One more wouldn't make much
difference in many families in Joel's."
she said, her elbows resting on the
desk before her, and her chin between
her palms. But for us it means
pinching and contriving, and all the
old story over again.
"Care and hard work for Uncle Seth
and Nancy, and for me-the giving up
what l had planned to do, and going
without things hoped to have. I've
done without them all my life, and it
is hard!'
1t was hard. She was only girl,
and this new burden was crowding out
all the brightness and beauty for which
she had worked, and waited SO patient
ly. Under its shadow life seemed to
stretch away before her, as sOmber and
monotonous as the sweep of prairie
visible from her window. How dull
cloudy sky! The wind was rising rap
idly, and swept in strong gusts around
the building, swaying the few trees
that grew near it, moaning through
their tops, and then rushing away on
its unimpeded course across the open
country, leaving behind it a moment S
breathless stiffness.
Suddenly the sky changed to a pecu-
liar greenish hue, there was rushing,
rumbiing sound. less like thunder, than
like swiftly approaching train.
Marcia started to her feet, but she had
scarcely time to think what it was be-
fore a fierce blast came crashing
through the trees, twisting and snap-
ing them, and making the little build
ing shake and culver, as if it We're
trembling in an agony of fear before
this mighty, invisible power. Marcia
sprang to the window, and looked
helplessly toward home.
81 ought to have gone''-she began.
but the sentence was left unfinished.
Her head suddenly bumped against the
sash, then she was swiftly thrown
backward upon the fioo-. with a con-
fused vision of flying desks, books and
benches, and a feeling that the build
ing was being violently lifted and
borne forward. There was a moment
of fearful uproar, in which the
rafting of furniture. the crashing OF
glass, her own shrek. and the roar OF
the wind were blended; then the din
and frightful motion ceased. and all
was still. She slowly freed herself
from the chairs and maps piled around
her, and regained her feet.
Beyond a few slight bruises she was
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