The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-05-23
AMANDA TODD.
~ HAaS z. WILKINS.

Amanda Todd's orbit of existence is
restricted, of a necessity, since she was
born, brought up and will die in this vii
lage, but there is no doubt that it is
eccentric. She moves apart on her OWL
little course quite separate FROM the
rest of us.
Had Amanda's lines of life been cast
elsewhere, where circumstances had
pushed her, instead of hemminC her ia.
she might have become the feminine
apostle of a new creed, have founded
a sect or Instituted 4 new system OF lie
male dress. As it is, she does not 60 to
meeting, h never wears a bonnet and
h keeps cats.
Amanda Todd is co, and she never WAS
married. Had she been. the close fric-
ton with another nature might haze
worn away some of the peculiarities of
ners. She might have gone to meeting.
she might V worn a bonnet. she
might even have eschewed cats, but II
is not probable. When peculiarities
are in the grain of a persons nature. as
they probably are in hers. such friction
only brings them out moro plainly,
and it is the other person who suffers.
The village men are pot. as a rule very
subtle, but they nave seemed to feel
this instinctively. Amanda was. they
say. a very pretty girl in her youth, but
no young man ever dared make love to
her and marry her. She had always the
reputation of being IAN odd stick"
even in tho lic+rinX enh,oI CLo II
ways keptby herself at recess, she never
seemed to have anything in common
with the other girls and she always
went home alone from singing schooi.
Probably never in her whole life has
Amanda Todd known what it is tc
be protected by some devoted person of
the other sex through the mighty perils
of our village street
There is a tradition in the village that
n C in her life, when she was about %
years old. Amanda Todd had Il beau
tiful bonnet and went to meeting.
Old Mrs. Nathan Morse vouches for
The reliability of it, and, moreover, she
hints at a reason. when Mandy, she
was bout % years DID," she says.
George Henry French. he come TO
town. and taught the district school.
and he see Mandy. an told Almira Ben
ton that he thought she was about the
prettiest girl he eVer laid eyes on, and
Almiry, she told Mandy. That was all
there ever was to it, he never waited on
her, never spoke to her, fur's l know,
but right after that. Mandy, she had a
bunnit. and she went regular to meetir'.
Fore that her mother could scarcely
get her to keep n thing on her head
out of doorS-ailers carried her sunbun-
nit a~-dan@lin' by the strings, wonder
she wasn't sunstruck a million times
and rs for goin' to meetin', her mother.
she talked and talked, but it didn't do
a mite of good. Is'posc her father kind
of upheld her in it. He was most as
odd as Mandy. lie wouldn't go to meet
in unless he was driv. and he want a
member. 'Nough sight ruther 60 out
prowlin' round in the woods like 4 wild
animal, Sabbath days, than go to meet
in. Once he ketched a wildcat, an
tried to tame it, but he couldn't 1t bit
and chewed so he had to let it go. l
guess Mandy gets her liking for cats
from him fast enough. Well, Mandy.
she had that handsome bunnit, and she
went to meetin' regular most a year,
and she looked as pretty as a picture
sittin' in the pew. The bunnit was
trimmed with green gauze ribbon and
had a wreath of fine pink flowers inside.
Her mother was real tickled, thought
Mandy had met with n change. But
land, it didn't last no time. George
Henry French, he quit town the next
year and went to Somerset to teach.
and pretty soon we heard he he'd mar
ried a girl over theSe. Then Mandy,
she didn't come to meetin' any more.
l dunno what she did with the bunnit
stamped on it, most likely, she a. !
ways had considerable temper-anyway, |
! never see her wear it afterwards"
Thus old Mrs. Nathan Morse tells the
story. and somehow to 4 reflective mind
the picture of Amanda Todd in her
youth deCked in her pink-wreathed
bonnet, selfishly bat innocently attend /
ing in the sanctuary of divine love in
order to lay hands on her own little
share of earthly affection, is insepara-
bic from her, as she goes now, old and
h~are-headed, defiaRtly past the meet
ing house, when the Sabbath bells are
ringing. Il
However, if Amanda Todd had elected
t o 60 bareheaded through the village
street from feminine vanity, rather
than ecccntricity, it would have beel
no wonder. Not a young girl il the vii
lage has Such 4 head of hair as Amanda.
1t is of @ beautiful chestnut color. AID
there is not a gray thread in it. 1t is
full of wonderful natural ripples, too
not one of the village girls can equal
them with her papers and crimpinS
,pins-and Amanda arranges it in two
superb braids wound twice around her
head. Seen from behind, Amanda's
head is that of a young beauty; when
it turns a little, and her harsh old pro-
file becomes visible, there is 4 shock to
the stranger.
.AmanGa's father had Il great shock
of chestnut hair, which was seldom cut,
and she inheritS this adornmcnt from
him. He lived to be an old man. but
that rudy crown of his never turned
gray.
Amanda's mother died long ago;