Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-10-04

4.
The Fatal Number.

Nil tht ~ vas -
"a a. that every one loved her-thlt be-
Nde her Genna looked so plain, and
coarse and common
She was so beautiful, so bright, so
eaucy Of tongue and keen OF wit. She
md the straignt brows and lustrous
eyes, and dusky, flower-like beauty or
Che a from which she spfnng--the
Tuscan race, who lived the free, hon
est. laborious life of sens and dargn-
tiers of the sell, and were devoted to
their birthplace, and loved their simple
homes on the wind-blown hills, and
sheir fields of figs and olives, and vines
ard grain, as though they were hfe's
fairsst and noblest poSSeSSions-aS In
deed they were to them.
They were sisters, Nita and Genna,
but they were thoroughly unltke-fhe
one so beautiful, and the other so plain.
Nita was the younger, there being
twelve years between them, and at
6rst the elder sister had felt half teai-
u of the little brown-eyed babe, with
its blossom OF a mouth, and It's fossy
silken curls, and the love and tender
rfss 1t won from the mother. who never
geemel the same after it had come.
That feeling, however, passed off.
Each year Genna grew fonder OF the
Nttle daughter(dc los qp0ytuq m nm
little, laughing, toddling child, with her
face Ike the bud Of the rose-laarel, and
her graceful, supple form, and her
feet that seemed always restless n
t~ireless. fitting about from place to
place Ike the bright-w1nged butter
fies on the Conversions without. True,
she had all the care and caresses, the
devotion ard labor Of the house. True,
that each gear widened the difference
Between them, for as she grew to maid
enhood and loneliness, the other grew
older and coarser and commoner, as
so many of the Tusccn women do
grow when the first flush Of youth is
bast. And then her mother died n
left Nita to her sisters care, and with
her last breath besought her tenderest
guardianship for her pretty, spoilt, viii
full darling.
An uncle came to tend the farm, and
take charge Of them, Mia being then
sixteen. He was a rolgh, fierce, moody
man, though Of generous temper, n
honest to the core. But Nita disliked
him always, and he was forever grum-
bling at her for her idicness, her
snuce-rebellious tongue, her aversion TO
housekeeping, and her love OF dancing
and pleasure. He would have had her
like the generality of the maidens
around, content with household carA,
with the work of the fields, the hoeing,
planting, and spinning, water-dlawing,
and other homely occupations, which
cent them to bed with uaed limbs aud
contented minds, looking for M better
reward than q Fcast-day holiday, or a
new linen kirtle for some grand church
festival.
The women around were all strong,
useful, hard working, simple, and
chaste, hut Nita, ", insolent, saucy
Eita, who laughed at her numerous
lovers, and delighted In nothing so
much as the furious jealousy she raised
she was unlike all these, and offend-
Cd him in every way, and with little
compunction or penitence for h of
Tense. So Ii came about that her sister
had often hard work to keep peace be-
tween them. and vas hard reset some
times to screen Nita's offenses from
old Maso's eyes,, and do her sisters
share of household labor as well as her
own.
Their cottage was a large, low build
ing, set high OH the hills, with groups
OF expresses and walnut trees around
Il and a great slope Of fields and vine
yard on either si'la; othor cottages ana
iields owned by different contadini lay
here and there, the nearest being a
mile from their dwelling; and far be-
low lay the town, where fairs some
times took place, and where wander
ing players set up their booths, and the
young men and maidens met for the
dancing and merry-making that were
the delight of Nita'S heart.
Few strangers ever came to them.
Nov and then a wandering artist, tray
cling on foot, would stray from the
Savoy country on old Tuscany, and
wander up the steep, bold hillsides,
where the thyme, and wild roses, and
myrtle grew in the sandstone soil, and
the sweet-voiced nightingale sang
through the long hot summer nights.
Sometimes, too, they would paint a pict-
ure OF the fields, either in the clear
pale dawn or when the brilliant moor
shone overhead, and the sea Of maize
was aglow with the whirling fretlies.
Once a painter made a picture Of Mia,
as he saw her standing in the sunlight
with her arch brown eyes shining under
her great straw hat, and the beautiful,
L pie, girlish form set against the
glow Of peoples and gold Of corn and
cleaning amber sky.
Genna begged him so earnestly for
q copy of 1t that he gave her one, and
at the next fair she secured a frame
for 1t, and hung 1t up in the little bare,
w~hite-walled kitchen, as the faireSt and
most exquisite OF all their possessions.
Nita liked to see it there. 1t vas
a living memento of the flower-like
beauty Of which she was so vain; and,
indeed. who could blame her that she
was, for all the countryside were ever
praising and extolling her loneliness,
and the country men luarreled about
her from day to day? To win woman's
envy and arouse mems Jealousy Is the
surest acknowledgment Of n woman's
beauty that she can ever hope to win.
Mia had won 1t, and the triumph graft
fled her far too well for Genna's liking
far too well for her own peace.
One summers day the whole village
was keeping the feast Of Corpus-C christi;
all the country people from far and
NEAR were coming In holiday dress,
and bells were ringing over the hills
from every village chapel, while the
long procession wound its way with
Glken banners waving, and priestly