Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-05-11
PAYING THEIR DEBTS.
How a Life Devoted to Duty Be-
came Pleasant

How a Life Devoted to Duty Be-
came Pleasant.
John Ramsay was working on his
farm, his careless, loose dress display
Ing to advantage his tall, muscular flo-
ure, and a broad straw hat shaded a
handsome face, with large dark eyes
set beneath forehead whose breadth
and height indicated 9 powerful brain.
The hands that guided the plow
were strong hands, but whittier and
moro delicate than such pursuits usu,
ally allow.
Daisy Hale sat Watching him. Her
dress was print, but made with hounces
on the skirt, and ruf1es on the waist.
Her short golden hair was curled into
q fringe carefully over her forehead,
and gathered In longer curls into q
comb behind, above which was jaunty
hat, covered with puffs of white mus.
lin and bows of blue ribbon to match
the spots upon her dresR
The face under Daisy's hat was
gloomy, not to say cross. A very pref
ty face, but not pleasant, having a
petted, spoiled-child frown, and brood
ing discomfort in the large blue eyes.
Presently the farmer drew near her,
and, taking off his hat famed himself
with it, stopping his horses while he
leaned indolently against the plow.
''You look deliciously cool under this
great tree" he said "And-hemi-
very much dressed for nine o'clock in
the morning."
I'm five-penny calicoi" she said, con-
temptuously. when arc you coming
in9'F
"At noon. to dinner"
at Is too absurd" she broke ont.
angry tears in her eyes, 'tfor you to be
blowing and hoeing and milking co WIS
uJ doing the work Of laboring mani
thonEShh t When When : T6H-csme homo from
college you would do something 5sssides
work on farm"
"And let the farm go to ruinp That
would be poor way to pay my debts. "
"Your debtsP she said, looking
Astonished do you owe debtsP"
Certainly You and are both very
heavily in debt, Daisy. / think, when
Aunt Mary took Us in, poor little
orphans-I her nephew, you her Sec
ond cousin"
Third cousin" she interrupted,
''since you are so particular. I know
what you mean, but 1 am very sure
that Aunt Mary never intended us to
drudge on the horrid old farm"
'Do you know that all tho money
She saved in life of hard work was
spent upon our education3 Do you
know that she has nothing now but
tho farm, and that to take her away
from IL would probably Ahorten her
lifeP"
"6he always has taken care OF 1t her
self"
"Are you blind that you cannot SEQ
how the four years she has been alone
hero have aged her, how feeble she is9
While we were living at ease at college
and school, she has toiled for us until
she Is wearied out"
"But you could send her money If
you were in the city in some gentle
manly occupation"
perhaps so, ten or twelve years
from now. To-day 1 propose to work
this farm, and see how many bushels
of corn can raise on it."
He took hold Of the plow handles as
he spoke, started the horses, and left
her, her eyes full Of angry tears
"He might rs we'll have said what he
meant" she thought, springing down
and starting for the house. "He thinks
I ought to cook, wash, mako butter
and work like q servant girl, when l
have studied 50 hard and tried to make
myself a lady, that he might not be
ashamed of me-"
Yet, in her heart, she knew that he
- ID kA.A II. \
served It. Ashamed that abe could sit
In her room, selfishly engrossed in
making pretty articles OF dress or
reading, while her cousin, or, as she,
too, called her, Aunt Mary, worked in
the kitchen, the dairy, the poultry yard,
from days dawn till night
She was not all selfishneSs and heart
lessness, though there had grown
thick crust of both over her better ma
ture. Her ideas OF ladies and gentle
men depended largely upon clothing
and pursuit, and she had not yet quite
realized how much more nearly Johns
standard reached the desired point
than her own.
As she drew near the house the sting
of Johns words penetrated more ana
more through the crust she had drawn
over her heart, until a fresh stab met
her at the door. hooking in at the
open door, she saw a white head bowed
In weeping. a slight figure shaken by
sobR
Quickly. through all the selhshness,
TO swim the dogs through the water,
first throwing away all the ivory
which we could not hope to save. The
sledge, relieved of the weight of the
ivory, would easily float, and we could
cling to II, and thus have something to
support us
eve threw OF the ivory from the
the sledges, and Just as we were get
ting ready to take to the water I OBJ
served that the course of our foes
had changed and they were drifting
the way we wanted to GO The
wind had chopped round to the
north and was acting in our favor, and,
what was also noticeable, It was less
violent than before, though considera-
bly, colder.
while was shouting to my friends
and telling them what to do the ice
gave way beneath me and was thrown
into the water. A fragment was
broken away from my foe in some way
that could not understand, and Il was
9p this fragment that was Stspding