The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-04-09
ANA'S DOLL.

| WuIh VI NY INCARCERATION, SQOuiQ neSI
tate to write it. 1t would seem too i'm
probable with its mixture of tragic ant
ludicrous, but can assure you that, a
far as the facts relating to Ana's doll 60
it is entirely true.
Ana was once in the service of a frient
of mine, and her present position, he
house and husband, are as l represen
them. If have failed to do justice tx
any one, it is to the doll, whose beauty
great Judges declare to have been indie
scrlbable. But Ana had no doll wheI
this story begins. She was rosy checked
girl with faxen braids wound about he1
head, and big blue eyes that still seemed
staring at the world with infantile aston
ishment. She was but seventeen, but
even then betrothed to certain young
Hans who had placed himself with a
grocer-a youth as red checked, round
! eyed and baby faced as Ana herself.
They were very fond Of each other and
very true to each other, but they had
| prudent souls, and had set before them
selves the fact that a certain sum must
be saved before they married. 1t was a
comfortable sum, too, not to be made by
| a maid servant and grocer's clerk in a
| hurry; but, as Ana confided to her mis-
tress, even some peoples gets married
| tOgeder, right away comes dose children,
| and cos dem much money. 1t is better
dot dose peoples wait until dey got dot
money once already"
| No one ever contradicted Ana or strove
| to dissuade her from her purpose. If
Hans ever said anything to anybody
which seemed unlikely, for he would sit
long hours without speaking, even to
Ana on Sunday evenings, when he al
ways went to see her-he was probably
encouraged in his economical intentions.
At all events this honest pair of German
lovers never swerved from their object.
Every month they made a deposit in
savings bank, and slowly the dimes
turned to dollars, and the dollars to
eagles, and the eagles became the sum
total OF the marriage portion-very
slowly, some sweethearts would have
fancied, but Hans and Ana possessed
their souls with patience.
For years each Sunday afternoon saw
him arrive at the kitchen door of Ana's
service place dressed in his best clothes
and wearing red geranium blossom in
his buttonhole. Sometimes they went to
church together hand in hand-were
they not Northumberland if any one
grinned neither Hans nor Ana was Of
Tended. He bought her papers of pep
permint drops and sticky slabs Of taffv.
She knitted him red worsted comforters,
and blue mittens, and yellow wristlets,
and sometimes they read their hymn
books and sometimes their bankbooks.
rejoicing when the money gathered in
terest, until at last there came a dav
when Ana revealed TO her mistress that
the money had been accumulated and
that the wedding was at hand.
Meanwhile Anas cheeks had faded
and Ana's eyes were not so blue. and
little Fuckers were to be seen at the cor
ners Of her mouth, and certain pencil
lines crossed her forehead, which had
been as smooth as ivory on her betrothal
day.
Hans, too, had changed from a round,
curly headed boy to stocky man. with
bald spot on the top of his head. and
both of them had lost sundry teeth.
which they were far too economical to
seek to have replaced by dentist.
Still they were as fond of each other
as ever, and very happy in the little
frame house, with a small garden about
1t, which they bought and furnished
from their savings. Hans was also prom
lSed partnership in the grocery, and it |
seemed as though their good angels had
looked favorably upon these humble and |
honest lovers. Their house shone with /
cleanliness. In their little parlor were
the brightest carpet, the whitest cur
talns and the most highly colored re- /
llgIous pictures to be bought. A clock /.
set in Swiss cottage of carved wood /
licked away between a German china
shepherd and shepherdeSs. There was an
escritoire in which the bank books were
locked up, and the usual number of
chairs and table. also an enlarged photo
graph of Hans and Ana, hand in hand.
taken IN their early counting days Sa-
'red indeed was this apartment, but the
other rooms were just as tidy, and for
while Ana seemed perfectly happy.
There came time, however, when she
seemed TO her late mistress TO have
grown graver-to be anxious about solnel
hing. She sighed, and when questioned
answered:
Yes, have some droubles.'
Pressed to say what they were, she
shortly added:
Il Wait now a good vile for de good
Lord 10 send dose leetle childrens. and
lose leetle childrens did not come. And
Hans, he waits too.
But children did not come to them.
One day Hans, having been. as in duty
'ound, to the church fair with his wife
n his arm and his money in his pocket.
lad bought several pretty and useful !
hingS, and taken chances in something
n the toy tabee-he hardly knew what
because that worthy lady. the pastors
lster, had requested him TO do so. Hans
7ss economical, but 10 spend money at
church fair was a religious duty in his
yes and Ana'S. It was the last dav of
le fair, and just as he was about 70
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