Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1890-11-13
BROTHER And SISTER.
BY C. C. SCOTT.

BY C. C. SCOTT.
Two children were playing in the yart
under the grand old oak. They hat
built little houses of bits Of moss tina
grew in the damp recesses of th.
gnarled roots that jutted out of The
ground, and with broken twigs hac
fenced in the yards and gardens arounG
the little messy homes.
Scattered here and there were pieces
OF broken cups and dishes, some plain
others painted in bright colors, and 8
great variety of broken glass-which
they had arranged as toilet sets and
mirrors to adorn the homes they had
built.
Several rag dolls of serious counter.
ances and extreme age sat around, while
chickens made of paper and pigs and
cattle manufactured of potatoes were
scattered around.
The children had spent some hours
in this amusement, but at last had
grown tired and looked at each other in
weary kind OF way, each wondering
what they should do next.
The elder of the two was a pale-faced
boy about eight years old,
A pair of bed-ticking suspenders, or
"galluses," as he called them, held up
his blue cotton pants, through which q
pair of little brown legs, grimy with
dust and rough with briar scratches,
protruded; q dingy, homespun shirt and
straw hat on q second summers duty,
completed his costume.
The other child--a little girl of six,
with brown eyes and wealth of sun
Drowned hair-wore pink calico dress,
fashioned so short.waisted that her
dumpy little figure looked as broad as
she was tall.
Suddenly the boys eyes frightened
and he said:
Il tell you, little sister, les 20 to the
woods and find two little trees and bring
them here and plant them, and they
will be our trees, and when we get
grown we can tell that we planted those
big trees"
Yes" chimed in the little girl" and
we can name them our names, too.
Won't it be funny?"
Down into tangle of shrubs and wild
flowers they scampered, drinking in, as
only children and lovers of nature can.
the beauty of the sloping fields in their
springtime holiday dress, each poem
of living green.
10 these little ones, whose brown ewes
and vivid fancies saw clearly and deeply.
the odor of the flowers came as q
heavenly incense, aud the rustling of
the leaves and grasses were whispered
messages from the fairy land.
Down by the little stream which ran
through the wood lot they found their
namesakes.-two tiny hawthorn sprouts
growing side by side.
The boy, after much Juggling, aided
by digging about the roots, succeeded
in uprooting the little twigs which were
to be transplanted.
Delighted with the browning of their
effort, each took plant and laughingly
ran back to the play house. With an
old skillet-handle the boy dug hole
for each little tree, while his busy COM
panion brought, in leaky tin coffee-pot,
water from tub which stood at the
we'll.
Placing the trees in the holes pre-
pared for them, the boy packed in the
dirt while the little sister poured in the
water she had brought.
And so they planted their namesakes,
and for days watched and watered them
and wondered if they would live. For
q few days the leaves looked wilted and
almost dead, but soon they began to
take on fresh look as the little roots
began to take hold in their new home.
And so the little hawthorn trees
fourished. and the children were COR
respondingly happy.
But the years went on, and there
came time after while that the play
house was forgotten, for the children
grew as did the trees, until the dark
haired, pale-faced boy became man
and the brown-eyed girl had blossomed /
into fair, beautiful woman.
A stranger from far-away New Eng
land saw her, loved her, and she placed
her hand in his and gave her heart into
his keeping.
A few years they lived near the old
home, and these years were full of hap
piness, but there came time at last
whom dark clouds began to gather all
over the land. Muttering thunder was
heard along the lakes and around the
Atlantic coast, and sullen answers came
growing up from along the Gulf and
the valley of the Great River. Soon a
loud flash leaped out from Fort Sump-
ter and the storm began.
The husband turned to his own peo-
Pile, and she, bravely walking in the
path OF duty, went with him.
The parting was sad one. With |
aching heart and streaming eyes the
brother watched his "ittle sister" pass
out of his sight.
She shed no tear, uttered no word;
put the pallor of death held her face.
md her figure trembled like storm
shaken leaf as she turned her back on
her brother and childhood's home with
he little play house under the hawthorn
rees.
The war came on. Like a gigantic
;yclone it swept over the land: before
is terrible breath the whole land 4
rembled. Reaching out with it's long |
rms. 1t gathered everything into its in
atitate NAV; the wealth Of years melted
before its tongue of fire like frostwork.
md the shrieks of the dying victims
we're drowned in the fearful bowling Of /
he storm as it crashed and reared. L
Backward and forward over the child
lood home il swept. until at last its
ury was spent, and the bright sunlight
anne again to paint with rosy fingers
he ruin that was left. Then messages
4 love were sent out, at first vainly as
he ravens mission, bnt after d while