The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-04-22
And now, my dear children. / IN sure | have
told
All the queer rhymes that nutshell can
Pearl Rivers, in ST. Nicholas.
HAT" !"

HAT"
"Hat! Yo' lazy, shirkin' thing!
What d'yeh mean b layin' abcd like a
drunken shote t this hyar time O. day9
Git up! dye heah me?"
AS Orrin Halpine's voice might have
done duty as a fog-horn, and as. by
climbing couple of steps of the
rickety ladder leading to the attic, he
could have shouted his morning greet
ing into his step-daughter's very ear.
it is needless to state that his last
query was entirely supcrtluous. Per-
haps he thought SO, too, for he did
not'wait for any reply, but turned and
clumped out to the forlorn little lean
to- out by the big rocks, which he
dignitied by the name STABLE" whence
the sounds which presently issued in
formed the occupants of the house
that ho was venting some of his bad
temper on his two unfortunate horses.
Up In the little, stutfy attic girl
knelt, staring stonily out of the tiny
window, through which the morning
sun, rising over Rcdtop, had shot a
blistering ray and wakened her, long
before Orrin Halpine had called her.
From the room below came the cross.
whining voices of two or three of the
possession Of a lille scr.wnv w h,ear s
eyed kitten one of then, had fonnd NJ
Gray,s boardino-comn tho dav hefora
Several big blne flies bnzzcd drnwsilv
on the nane. From the stable cauo
the sound of kicks and cnrscs and the
plunpinp of frightened horses. Ont
by the hen-house, old Podge. ono Of
Orrin Halpine's starycd-lonIinc. mis-
cradle dogs. Law aslceu. Two-yc,r-oId
Bud toddIed Nm and Kicked Rim as be
had seen his father do. and thc dog
ran away terrified. but without \ veIn9
The Halpine docs pnt l,;ctaI for ;.nip.
ing, as Podpe knew only foo vol,
The airl at the window in the attic
drooped her head and oroanea
"Oh. dear, / s,pose all ov ,em,ll he
like him. Pore mam,ny--porc broke.
down. tired NANNY, las +, th;nl Of
they all grows nm brntes, like Their
pop! An, how kin If be ever bolnod
when they all sees and hears him hi
th' time drunk. an, swearin'. an cuss-
in, an busin, NANNY. an them an,
til pore. dumb critters? Icynn't stan,
this no morem
Above the wranc)inp Of the children
and the clatter OF breakfast dishes rose
tired, cracked female voice: Hattie!
Hat-tee! Air yo' up?'
The girl at the window rose slowly
to her feet, wiped her eyes. and
clambered down the little ladder, near
the foot OF which stood the family
wash-stand, consisting of a rude bench,
on which stood a pail of water, with a
gourd in it, and a tin basin.
Hattie washed herself, wiped on the
long roller-towel near by, deftly fasten-
ed up her long, thick, wavy hair, and
began to assist her mother in getting
breakfast, without word.
They did not look like mother and
daughter, these two women. Mrs. Hal
pine, at II, had been an uncommonly
pretty girl. AT 36 she was old, thin,
faded, with weak, tremulous mouth
and unkempt, half-bleached hair-an
old woman before her time, worn with
rheumatism and toll and child-bearing.
She had never known anything better
only for a brief year, and that was
so long ago that the memory was all
indistinct one. Fred Barnett came to
the mountains. from Nashville, to
fish and hunt, and sketch and pass
a quiet summer. He came to Wood
sons Gap, and met Tillie Parsons and
his six weeks outing became twelve,
and the twelve weeks became q year,
for he and Tillie were married, and he
stayed and worked The little mountain
farms stayed because his people had
written to him that he need not come
home, except alone.
1t was not the life for handsome.
scholarly. luxury-loving Fred Barnett,
and one cool October night, after a day
of restless wandering in the woods. he
wrote n few letters. kissed his wife
tenderly, and went to slecp never to
waken.
Tillie cried good deal, but her
heart did not break: and when the
baby came, three months later, her
sorrow only expressed itself in the wish
that Fred might have been there to
see the little one.
/ Then, when big Orrin Halpine, who
had been SO attentive to her sister
Susie, suddenly asked her to marry
him-principally because Susie had
refused him, but Tillie did not know
it--she consented, and for while
was just as happy as though Fred
Barnett had never come to Woodson's
Gap,
Babies came, and more babies, and
Hattie grew into girlhood and woman
hood almost before her mother noticed
10. Ihen--only year gone oy-a
letter had come from Fred Barnett's
mother-.a carefully worded epistle,
t;ea ner aha ana leave Leave everything in the old