River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-06-21
AUNT CALISTA'S WAY.
How She Brought Happiness to a
Needy Sister.

Needy Sister.
This was the letter Aunt Calista
Jones stopped washing her dishes TO
write one May morning:
JONES STATION, s. H. Isoa
DEAR jim AND JAMS. have a trick OF asking
favors % folks aud il is righ. and .roper that
your turn Shout come 10 do something for me.
want you to SAP down here and keep house
for me spell You ysrfte Jim that you have
been sick. ] take IL that by this time yoa are
Just well enough 20 come down and COX after
the farm. and see that Q . hired man doesn't
loaf away more than half % each day And
there are the Jerseys 70 look after and the cur
rent bushes 70 spray. and fancy II viii seem
gJNd and old fashioned 70 you, Jane, to be o.
the farm 0nCe more To have chickens and
pigs about you and make butter and sell eggs
and things. and take care Of the gard, you
used 70 before you married that Jim .urs.
who insisted upon being a carpenter FMS, d Of
farmer and live n the city and have bad luck
ana never get on IN the world. as We both
know be deserved %. And speaking Of being
earpenter-I will mention this for fear shall
forget Il when you come. for come you must
as I shall not take no FOR an answer-I wish.
Jane. you would remind Jim TO build
new grape GrbOr and flower stand for
ms geraniums- You will ind paint 10
smsrte them up In the Toulouse over
the door. You see right away that I intend
you shall be kept busy while I am gone. and
which. laws a me haven't said a ord about
yet But there IS time enough 1OS. The
truth is I banker for a change and a resting
spell ] and I am getting worldly and rheu-
matlc ami must declare halt before II IS too
late. have enough money and 20 spare and
yearn % squsnder IL Nv James might be liv-
ing now and this very minute smoking his pipe
on the front porch had he taken the world
bit easier and treated himself 10 a picnic now
and then There Is a lonesome. hOlnesick
feeling ereeps into my heart when I reflect
what lonely old woman / am. jim dead and
the children scattered. you must come ami
give ne chance 70 pick mp and throw OF this
melancholy There is no telling where shall
go when once get started may develop into
great traveller yet IL Is possible may even
visit your city and stop a. a hotel ard put
o. ore airs than a few There Is guessing
what capers an OLD woman may cut up when
once she gets fairly on her mettIe. InCloSed
ind railway fare. and enough besides % buy
whatever you think you may need And
wish you would bring me Jariinier for my
Anna Maria pellargonium. such as I want
will cost dollar Your loving sister,
CALIsTA JONES
The world had been very kind To
Aunt Calista and it was highly proper
that il should be. She deserved fair
share of the good that was going. She
was a seventh daughter Of a seventh
Siaughter-if this genealogical coinci-
dence counts for anything and in the
light of circumstances il is reasonable
20 believe that it did, for she was SO
agreeably different from all of her sis
tiers, except AHnt Jane. They were
an average lot and very like the aver
age Of mankind. or wOmankind- They
were ambitious and thrifty and married
well one after another; grew more
thrifty and money making ana money
saving and all were comfortably set
tied in comfortable homes. which they
very gingerly enjoyed. which was as
much as their narrow, selfish natures
would permit them To do. All mar
ried goOd, substantial farmers. pos
sessed of fair amount of intelligence.
but whose highest ambition was 10
make money. Their summers Were
one long day of toll and their winters
a school and season of scheming To ad-
vance their thrifty projects.
But poor Aunt Jane, Poor Jennie
was the one black sheep of this gener-
GUS fold. ''She lacked hard horse
sense. her sisters said tAll said 50
but Aunt CaliSta-l She had married
badly, Just as might have been ex-
pected, they all agreed. with but
one dissenting voice, Aunt Calista's.1
She had taken her chickens to a poor
market and was now enjoying the dis
comfort Of a bad bargain. All were
unanimous in this conclusion, with
Aunt Calista counted out.
She had in a mann 8efied Provi-
dence, had Jane. when She recklessly
married Jim IIanly, vita his hand
some face. his warm, true heart and
his kit of carpenter tools which he had
Just learned 10 use. Jane might have
married old man Brewster. with his
eighty acres of land and nearly years
enough on his stubborn head to match
every one of them: his bank, barn. and
his windmill and club foot, and a tenn
per not conspicuous for its milJness.
But she wantonly declined this rise in
life. brilliant and ornate as IL was,
married Jim Hanly and moved away to
the city. with not much To begin life
with except their love aud courage
and Jim's tool chest. But they had
not prospered as the world recSons
prospecting. There was never a day
when their courage failed or their
AnNE III EDr uuN lAAAN Il NiAlAC EAAAAG
when Jim and Jennie sat hand in hand
wondering what misfortune would be-
fall them next. Children were born
u them and each last one was the most
welcome. each bringing them added
love and care But sickness came and
swept the city; neither rich nor poor
were spared II was cruel monster.
that red-breathed fever. but il showed
no favor, and in Jim's and Jennie's
home in .he pleasant suburb of the
city. il claimed all. Not one was left.
The sad old story OF the vacant chairs
and the empty hands and desolate
hearts was repeated in all its SORROW
full details. The little half-wOrn
clothes on the nails behind the door.
and the little worn shoes in the corner.
told their silent and wordlcss story To
their bereaved and stricken hearts.
And when sickness and trouble had
once foand its ,-ay into their home. il
Kept coming and coming as II il liked
the pathway that led up To the neat
little cottage Now u was Jennie now
IL was Jim, and with this came loss and
distress. and poverty stood gaunt and
grinning just outside the door with
almost courage 10 raise the latch The
little home in which their children
were born had long since ceased To be
theirs. and yet they held tn it a. some
thing too sacred for strangers to pass
over its threshold.
But never in their direst need had
there been a complaint or had they
asked for aid OF betrayed their want.
and il was t~ly by chance that the
sisters discovered their condition, and
they each said as with one voice laIl
except Aunt Calistal: Jane has made
her bed and now she must sleep in il.
and they closed their hearts as they
had ever closed their doors and
thanked tod they were not as She. and
had been wise aud wary in their day
and generation. But rent day had
never come 70 Jim and Jennie for
many a year without a letter from
Aunt Calista. and 50 they lived on in
their little cottage. POOR but unmo-
Tested. Aunt Calista was their anchor
emo hope. the one glimmer of sunshine
in their cloudy. rainy sky. and when
her letters came there was no thought
of doing otherwise than as she wished
There was not much 10 get ready
for the journey. 4 new pair Of shoes
for Jennie and hat for Jim; the TAX
ing down of the children's photographs
4 eel