Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-03-13

you talked to me awful kind for more
than an hour tryin' to keep me to stay
at the school, and it wasn't till got
down on my knees and weeped that you
agreed to take me to my kind father
All right says /, 4 might as we'll take
you along, but we'll have to go back by
the railroad and foot it at least two
miles to the station, and / don't know
about walkin' across the country with
little girl dressed as fine as you are. l
might get myself suspicioned.' That's
So says she; we might meet somebody
that'd know me- and then she wriggled
up her little forehead and began to
think. 1 never did see such a
little gal as sharp as that one
was; needles was nothing to her. In about
minute she says: Where's that bag
of yourn@ Here it is,' says /, and then
she took it and looked at it up and down,
with her head cooked on one side. If
I'd somethin' to cut that bag with says
she, 4 could fix myself up so that no
body'd know me, don't care who it was
4 don't want that bag cut says 1; it's
IN extry good bag; it was made for
particular purpose and cost money
Pop will pay expenses says she, how
much did it cost?' 1t was four dollars,
cash. said ]. They cheated you like
every thing says she; you could get
bag like that any day for a dollar and
seventy five cents. VIII yOulet it go at
that? All right says 1, for 1 was
tickled to see how sharp that little jew
| gal was, and ten to one I'd thIowed
away the bag before we got TO town; so
she pulls a little book out of her
pocket, with a pencil stuck in it,
/ and turnin' over to a blank page
she put down bag, one dollar
and seventy-fve; then she borrows
my big knife, and holdin' the top of the
bag up agin her belt, she made me stick
| a pin in it about hands breadth from
the floor; then she took the knife and
cut the bag clean across, me a-holdin'
one side of it; then she took the top end
of that bag and slipped it on her, over
her head and shoulders, and tied the
| drawin' strings in it round her waist,
and it hung around her just like skirt,
nearly touchin' the ground; then she
split open the rest of the bag and made
kind of shawl out of it, putin it into
shape with lot O. pins, and pinnin' it
on herself real clever. She had lots of
pins in her belt and she told me that
she never passed a pin in that school
without pickin' it up, and that she had
four hundred and fifty-nine of them
now in her room, which she was mighty
sorry to leave behind, and that these
she had now was this days pickin' up.
"When she got done workin' at her
self you couldn't see not ribbon nor a
hem of her fine clothes; it was all black
skirt and shawl, and she'd put up her
sleeve, so that when her arm stuck out
it was bare. Then. she took all the rib
bons and flowers off her hat and
crumpled it up, and when she tied it on
what guy she was. Now says she, 4
can go barefoot which you won't,
says 1, for you'll get your feet all cut,
but you can muddy your shoes, which
she did, pumpin' on 'em, so that the
dust in the back yard would stick. Then
we starts off across the country, and
upon my word 1 was pretty nigh
/ ashamed to be seen walkin' with such
a little scarecrow. When l bought the
tickets at the station she asked me how
much they was, and put it down in her
book When we got into the cars the
people all looked hard at her, and l
reckon they thought some kind of a
home had been burnt down, and
this was one of the orphans that had
been saved. But they didn't say moth
| in, and she fixed herself as comfortable
as you please; and before long boy
come through the car with fruit in a
basket, and then says she to me: 4 want
two apples Tho boy had gone past us,
but 1 got up and followed him and
bought her two apples. How much did
you give for them? says she when l
come back. They was two for five
cents says 1. Well says she, they do
stick you dreadful. Two for three cents
is all papa or 1 pays for apples like
Them and she took out her little book
and put down: Apples, three cents
Very well, miss, says 1, but if you
want any more refreshments you buy
'em YOURSELF 4 think I'd BETTER says
she, and went to work eatin' them two
apples. She hadn't more than got
through with 'em when the boy came
around agin. 4 want a banana,
says she; lend me five cents which
I did, and she put down, cash,
five cents. Then the boy come up
and says she: How much are your
bananas?' Five cents said he. For
two?' says she. No. says he, for one.
What do you take me for? says she.
I've bought bananas before. I'll give
you three cents for that one,' pointin' to
the biggest in the lot. 4 can't do that,
said the boy; the price is five cents.
I'd like banana, says she, but don't
pay more'n three cents; take it or leave
it, and with that the boy went on.
Now says 1, you've gouged yourself
out of banana Not bit of it, says