St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-03
LIsPETH OF THE MISSION.
An Unconventional Tale of Love
in the Kotgarh Hills.

An Unconventional Tale of Love
in the Kotgarh Hills.
Kiplings Tales From the Hills.
She was the daughter of Sonoo, a
hillman, and Jadeh, his wife. One
year their maize failed, and later their
only poppy field: so next season they
turned Christian, and brought their
baby to the mission to be baptized. The
Kotgarh chaplain christened her Eliza
beth. and ''Lispeth' is the hill pronun-
citation. Later. cholera came into the
Kotgarh valley and carried off Sonoo
servant, half-companion to the wife
of the then chaplain of Kotgarh. She
grew very lovely. When a hill girl
grows lovely she is worth travelling
fifty miles over bad ground to look
upon. Lispeth had Greek faee-one
of those faces people paint so often and
see so seldom. She was of pale ivory
color, and for her race extremely tall.
Also she possessed wonderful eyes.
Lispeth's own people hated her because
she had. they said, become a memSahlD
and washed herself daily; and the chap
lain's wife did not know what to do
with her. Somehow one cannot ask
stately goddess, five foot ten in her
she played with the chaplain's children
and took classes in the Sunday-School,
and read all the books in the house and
grew more and more beautiful.
One day. few months after she was
seventeen years old, Lispeth went out
for walk. She covered between fif-
teen and twenty miles in her little con-
stitutionals. This time she came back
at full dusk, stepping down the break
neck descent into Kotgarh with some
thing heavy in her arms. The chap
lain's wife was doing in the drawing
room when Lispeth came in, breathing
hard and very exhausted with her bur-
den. Lispeth put it down on the sofa,
/ found him on the Bagi road. He has
hurt himself. We will nurse him, and
when he is well your husband shall
marry him to me-" This was the
first mention Lispeth had ever
made of her matrimonial views. and
the chaplain's wife shrieked with
horror. However, the man on
the sofa needed attention first. He
was young Englishman, and his head
had been cut to the bone by something
| jagged. He was put to bed and tended
by the chaplain. who knew something OF
medicine. Lispeth explained to the
| chaplain that this was the man she
me ant to marry; and the chaplain and
his wife lectured her severely. LiSpeth
| listened quietly, and repeated her propo-
sition. Having found the man she
worshiped she was going to nurse him
until he was we'll enough to marry her.
| That was her programme.
| After fortnight of fever the English
man recovered Conference and thanked
| the chaplain and his wife and LiSpeth-
especially Lispeth-for their kindness.
He was traveller in the East, he said,
and had come from Dehra Dun to hunt
for butterflies among the Simbla hills.
| He fancied he fell over the cliff
while stalking fern. He made small
haste to go away. and recovered his
strength slowly. Lispeth objected to
his wife; SO the latter spoke to the Eng
lishman and told him how matters stood
in Lispeth's heart. He laughed good
deal, and said it was very pretty and
romantic, perfect idyl of the Hima-
layas; but. as he was engaged to a girl
at home, he fancied that nothing would
happen. Certainly he would behave
with discretion. He did that. Still he
found it very pleasant to talk to Lis
peth, and walk with Lispeth, say nice
things to her and call her pet
names. 1t meant nothing at all to
him and everything in the world to
Lispeth. Being savage by birth, she
took no trouble to hide her feelingS,and
the Englishman was amused. When he
went away Lispeth walked with him up
the hill as far as Narkunda, very
troubled and very miserable. The chap
lain's wife being a good Christian, dis
liking anythink like fuss or scandal,
had told the EngliShman to tell Lispeth
that he was coming back to marry her.
So all the twelve miles up the hill the
Englishman, with his arms around Lis
peth's waist. assured her he would
come back and marry her. She Wept on
the ridge till he had passed out of
sight. Then she dried her tears and
went in to Kotgarh again and said to
the chaplain's wife: HE will come
back and marry me. He has gone
to his people to tell them So" And the
chaplain's wife soothed Lispeth and
said: "He will come back" At the end
of two months Lispeth grew impatient
and was told that he had gone over the
seas to England. There was an old
puzzle-map of the world in the house.
She put it together of evenings, and
cried to herself, and tried to imagine
where her Englishman was. AS she
had no ideas of distance or steamboats,,
her notions were somewhat erroneous
This. however, made no difference. The
Englishman had no intention of coming
back to marry hill girl. He forgot all
about her by the time he was butterfly
hunting in Assam. He wrote a book or
the East. Lispeth's name did not ap
pear.
At the end of three months Lispett
made daily pilgrimages to Narkunda tt
see If her Englishman was coming
along the road. 1t gave her comfort
and the chaplain's wife, finding hel
happier, thought that she was getting
: over her folly" A little later the
!, walks ceased to help Lispeth and he1
! temper grew very bad. The chaplain's
wife thought this profitable time tt
let her know the real state of affairs
that the Englishman had only promised
: his love to keep her quiet he bat
never meant to marry her. Lispetl
said that all this was impossible, be
cause he had said that he loved her
"How can what he and you said b'
untrue?' "We said it as an eX
cuse to keep you quiet, child
"Then you lied to me-" sait