Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-09-11


her own irreproachahle white caps, and
had an instructive shrinking from any one
who sought to interfere. even on the plea
of giving help When she sickened in
her last illness she was SO or s.. She re-
fused to send for doctor, SAYING: IF
ANYBODY thinks am going to make my
stomach an apothecary shop he will find
ont his mistake" | saw her as she was
dying: she had lain in a sort of coma.
from which it was not thought she would
revive But when came in she reused
herself, because. perhaps, she had been
fond of me ever since was child; and
when we were alone she poured into my
ears, in the most collected way, her griev-
ances against the woman hired in these
last days to attend her, who, she was sure.
was upsetting everything in the house,
and whom she suspected of extracting
dole of tea Il pray the Lord to take me
out of this troublesome world, she wound
up. and next day she was taken out of it.
The good manners Of the old English
poor are forever to be admired. The old
woman who dearly longs to see the girl.
now come back as q married woman,
whom she had always known and cared for.
will yet not be guilty of the fashionable
vice of staring in order to CRAFTY her wish.
Il did so want to see her, and | knew she
was in church,, said this sef-respecting
old lady of over 50 years; but | did not
like to look as passed her"
What good English they talk, most Of
theml There are few mistakes, few
VS. for VS. but on the whole, how pure.
how expressive their speech How plain
ly has 1t profted by that English book
which has been their sole literature these
three centuries.
1t almost startles one to hear some such
perfectly cultivated phrase as: ''She kept
her intellectual faculties to the last, said
by a poor old bel-ringer of his wife. Or,
again, one hears some curiously luminous
idea like that enunciated by poor widow
who worked at 5tone picking and other
callings to support a lot of orphans, when
she said to me: my children are back
ward in writing and reading, but they
get on better in their sums; they seem TO
find more poetry in that" Here was the
exact contrary of what one would have ex-
pected an uneducated person to say;
should have thought it had needed Prof
Clifford to see e,oJryo poetry in the
multiplication table!
Speaking of sums, a very old man, Joe
Edes by name, was discovered one day
calmly working out sum IN long division
for his amusement. What a gontemanly,
had almost said scholarly diversion!
am afraid the school exercises now in
use, with their long French and Latin
words, will not improve the English of the
rising generation, who, for the rest, have
their hands full of all sorts of printed rub
bish to take the place of the unique Book
penny dreadfuls by the cart load, and
theillustrated Police News, which furnishes
murderers for the four walls for many a
cottage parlor. Now that all can read,
and all are hungry to devour whichever is
offered to them, what is needed Is to have
the country not only stocked, but flooded
with good cheap literature. Some people
may say in despair that the people don t
like good literature; but that remains to
be proved What is unquestionable is
that certain things are adapted to their
stage of mental growth, and certain things
are not. Offer them all that is good, fresh
and clean, and let them choose. Their
choice, perhaps, will surprise us. Bertha,
who was my nurse maid. liked of all things
in literature, those brief TRANSACTIONS by
Longfelow from Dantes description of
Beatrice, which were published among his
shorter poems, before the issue of the COM
plete version of the 'Devina Commedia. v
The poor like the objective, the Direct
they like man to be sure of what he
thinks and believes, and not to be sus
pended in nebulous luster of half per-
eeptions. They are outspoken themselves
"a little too much So 1t pains one to
speak before their invalids. A poor per-
son is never so happy as when he can say
-"0h! you don't look bad. ''She makes
me think of her poor sister; she's going
just the same, and my husbands family
went that way too; there are six of them
lie in your church-yard, ali along of the
decline This speech is delivered in
presence of the daughter of IA, who per-
haps has only red patch on her cheek
to give ground for this ruthless condemna-
ton.
have wondered the effect such speeches
have on those to whom this relates. 1t
may be that, generally, they produce no
effect at all. Sometimes the sick con-
template their end with a prosaic stoicism
which take away ones breath. A car
penter Che rose to be master builder, and
had passion for old violins) went 70 see
Quaker friend of his on his death-bed
Now you re here, William, said the sick
man, lust measure me for my coffin; !
shall be gone in day or two, and it will
save no end of trouble" William said he
had never done such thing, and in fact
declined. The man died in two days
Occasionally, however, have noticed ex
treme sensitiveness. At the cottage hos
pital young girl dying of consumption
cried for two days because one of the
patients began talking about an out house
used as mortuary by the name of dead
house" Il do not want to be put in the
dead housed" she said weeping. Dear,
tender hearted little Nellie Well | re-
member her bright, eager face. Hers is
one of the many lives | have seen cut off
by the same fatal illness,-lives pnre and
sweet of the flower of village girlhood,
which, when they draw near their close,
seem not to enter into gloom, but rather
to receive the effulgence of a spiritualized
glory. as of calm sunset.
If gipsies are particular about water, the
laboring man is particular about bread.
1t is fine thing for the English laborer
that he alone among workers eats the best
bread. There is good bread for the rich