The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-29

lively Ia lltha, Dorcas and Abigali.
What their ages were was matter OF
conjecture to everybody but them
selves. Indeed. they looked older than
they really were; which arose
partly from the fact that they wore
caps as was the fashion in those days.
spotless white. and the kerchiefs
which they wore. pinned behind and
before. were immaculate purity itself.
Their dwelling was = log cabin and
though very unprepossessing without,
within it was as tidy and clearly as
any house could possibly be. If in
summer you had occupied one Of their
ponderons feather beds. you would
have slept the sleep of peace: which
cannot trnthfully be said Of many far
more costly and pretentious homes on
the Hundred -and-Two.
The farm that these three old maids
owned occupied the valley from hill tc
hill. Though to be sure il was not
very wide. yet it was ample enough to
support them by it's rent. they, as Is
the custom in the west. getting one
third the crop In the bushel. delivered
in the crib and granary. Nor will we
deny but that they laid up dollar or
two now and then. for they always
kept three or four COWS and flock OF
poultry, selling more or less butter and
eggs the year round.
They were kindly trio. these three
old maids: fact that Ben Miller. a
poor. half-witted man who lived at the
foot Of the hin little further down
the valley. but on their land. would
frequently aver. Many were the times
in winter when they filed his ba>ke,
with good things for his wife. who was
consumptive, and for John. his little
boy, too small as yet to he Of any serv.
ice in making living. Poor Ben, he
had once been as bright as the best,
till one day telling a tree, a bough few
back. striking him on the temple. and
he was never himself again afterwards.
1T was Gods mercy" the neighbors
said, that it hadn't killed him out
right"
Throughout the months during which
Ben was bedridden, the old maids, one
or the other OF them. visited him every
day, and they never went empty hand
ed. I'VE should have gone to the poor.
house had II not been for them" said
Ben's wife many = time after that
1--WE can't ever pay them, but too
will" she would continue: "for has He
not said: Blessed is he that consider
eth the poor" And the thin. con
sumptive body had no doubt but tina,
the Father would bless the three ole
maids.
Time slipped away. Summer ant
autumn and winter came and went
and when May made the hillside lovely
with flowers and the corn was all
planted. and the trees were shooting
their leaves. Johns mother slept the
last peaceful sleep. The three ole
maids were there and laid out the
corpse. and sent the man who rented
their farm for the coffin and when the
mother was laid in it. dressed in one o.
the very best gowns in the WARDROBE,
of the three old maids, she looked posi-
lively beautiful. There was that smil'
of ineffsble peace upon her face whicl
the dead generally wear and tina
seems SO full Of contentment and re
pose.
After the funeral Ben returned to hi
cabin, nor would anything induce hin
either to change his abode or his wa,
of living. He continued to do od
chores for neighbors. and with his fish
ing. made out to get along. The trutl
is the old maids saw that he was pro
vided for and suffered for nothing
Ben regarded them as his protector
and upon John and them he lavishe
all his affection.
fishing In the little stream that wan
dered in tortuous and stony ways
through the narrow valley. In the day