Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-02-11

Sand. mamma mine. we are going
out TO those claims Mr.. Shredder IL
ever 80 nice. II he Is bashful, and
know that Mr.. Barry can get us some
kind of u conveyance, and do so want
to see that little Primrose get her val
cntines, and see her swing her copper
toes and hear her whistler
And before Mrs. EstabroolSe could
reply the girl had futtered away and
into the store and had laid the valcn-
tines before the astonished Shredder,
who was almost specchless for time,
and then pronounced them ''gorSis!"
Little Prim'll be mighty pleased"
he said, slowly. 'An'-an'-God bless
you"
And then he looked heartily ashamed
of himself at having shown so much
feeling.
OF course Mrs. Estabr coke yielded
to Nell; it almost always happened so,
and then, too. there had sprung up
within her q sudden interest in this
waif of the prairies.
Presently they were swinging away
in a blackboard that Barry had bor-
rowed Of I'm accommodating friend, and
behind u pair of ponies borrowed from
another friend.
Mr.. Strodder's horse was tied behind,
aud Mr. Shredder himself drove, and
felt constrained, till so drawn out and
into conversation that he forgot his nm
accustomed position and talked freely.
Mrs. Estabrooke's questions were
more to the point than Nell's had been,
and, after awhile, she learned facts in
regard to the discovery Of little Prim
that had escaped Nell.
THAR was little gold loclSet tied to
her neck" Dave said, with a picture
in it that Simps an me reckoned was the
mother, only it looked younger and a
heap weller. We've kept it put away
in box in the cupboard. an I'll show
it to you, if you like, bein's you seem
to take such an interest in little Prim."
Mr.. Simpson Hicks was almost striclS.
en- dumb, when, ut the sound of wheels,
he went to the door to see his partner
drive up in company with two strange
ladies.
Little Primrose came flying out.
ANY valentines for me, Daddy
Dave?" she chirped.
"You bet!" replied Dave, snatching
her up. "An' they're just gorgis"
At the sight OF them, the child
screamed with Joy, and ran to Hicks.
"oh, look, Daddy Simps! Look! look"
"They air gorgis, Primmy-surely,"
lie said, gravely.
Mrs. Estabroolie looked after the
child as she ran.
81 wonder" she murmured. Poor
Roses eyes
"What, ma ann" quericd Dave, po-
!itely.
please show me the locl.et," was
her only answer.
Her stateliness had nearly deserted
her when she looked at the picture.
"She is my poor dead sisters child"
she said. II am your aunt, little Prim-
rose"
"And am your wild, tom-boy Cousin
Nell" said that young person, hugging
the little figure.
Hicks and Shredder looked solemnly
at each other.
i've been lookin', yet fearin', for
this time to come for three years" said
the latter. Its for the best, o course;
but Wal, we'll miss you heap, little
Prim."
What Mrs. Estabrooke knew of the
story that had brought Primrose to the
claims was soon told. 1t was of will
ful, headstrong girl-another Nell, al
most-who had disreGarded the advice
of relatives and married a hayward,
worthless man.
He had taken her from her home Of
luxury to life of wandering-a search
for the FL Dorado of prosperity, that
to such searchers is always just ahead,
but never realized.
Too proud to ask aid of the home
folks she had sighted, the misguided
woman had taken herself out of their
lives and out of their knowledge, in
spite of their efforts to keep track OF
her.
The rest of the story, till she appeared
at Strodder's and Hicks, they could
only surmise.
The mother and father had died, they
believed, and the wife and mother set
out, perhaps, on her way back to the
old home.
Whittier they had wandered, it could
not be told; but now they knew it was
she who lay at rest on the slope lit
tie way from the weather-beaten house.
And so little Primrose got her valen-
tines.
She is 4 schoolgirl in an eastern city
now, and rapidly growing up. and Nell
has grown almost sober and sedate,