The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-12-20
when he gets her

when he gets here.
"Oh. stop your nonsense, Caleb, -
returned his wife, with some asperity,
in which, however, trace of anxiety
was discernible. "Sslly's no fool ;
she's been caught out in bad weather
before this and knows enough to make
herself and the youngsters comfortable
if the worst comes to the worst. One
I'D think the schoolhouse was fifty
miles across the prairie stead of on'y
five. Do be sensible.
Sally Jackson, their nineteen-year-
old daughter, taught district school
in Lyons township, for which the COM
missioners of Minnehaha county al
lowed her the sum of thirty dollar q
month. Her father cultivated $40
acres of Dakota prairie land, and it
was his success in raising corn that
had earned for him the sobriquet Of
Corn Jackson among his neighbors.
Both he and his wife we're pioneer set
tiers in the county where they were
highly respected, the popularity of
their home with the young men being
greatly enhanced by the presence OF
their vivacious daughter, whose charms
few could resist.
But Joe Chalmers, a sturdy young
settler living at the farther end of the
county, was generally understood to
be the most favored of Sally's admir-
ers, his good looks, abundance OF
mother wit and genial disposition al
ways insuring him a pleasant recep-
tion. Perhaps the fact that he held a
patent from Uncle Sam for half sec
ton of good land, on which a neat
frame house had given place to the
original log shack, may have added to
his popularity with the old folks,
whose warm welcome when he called
and cordial invitation to drop in
often" when he rode away were never
theless quite sincere.
There was to be real old fashioned
New England dinner at Corn Jack
sons homestead Christmas day, and as
Joe's claim lay thirty miles away,
across the prairie trail, he had ar
ranged with Sally's parents to drive
over Christmas eve and occupy their
| guest chamber.
Joe had been mentally laying great
plans for the proper spending Of that
Christmas eve ever since he received
his invitation. He wisely figured that
Sally would be kept busy Christmas
day, first in helping her mother and
later in entertaining the company, of
whom there were to be several aunts
and uncles, together with sundry
nephews and nieces, who were sure to
appropriate all Aunt Sally's atten-
| tlOns.
As they would not arrive until
Christmas morning Joe had deter
mined to do his share of monopoliz-
ing the night previous, and to, ask
Sally to be his wife was the central
pivot of his plans. He was fully sat-
isfed that she was the only girl that
could make him truly happy for life,
and now that he had thoroughly set
tied this proposition in his own mind
he was feverishly anxious to receive
oIsNSi. {. LII Liz NuS iIob III
| different to her he felt sure, but
whether she liked him well enough to
be his wife was another matter. Joe
was not selt-satisfied young lnGp, and
realized that women are complex crea-
tures, often loving where none sus-
pect and disliking where the exact re-
verse might reasonably be counted
upon. Hence his perturbed feelings.
| He was aware that the Christmas ex-
ercises at Sally's school were 10 beheld
the Friday afternoon preceding Christ
mas, and by starting early he hoped
to reach the schoolhouse in time to
take Sally home in his sleigh, a
heavy snowfall the day previous hav-
ing spread thick white mantle over
the frozen ground. Like his prospec-
tive tather-in-law, he, too, had taken