The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-07-21

Teen very slight, but confess tha' ner
condition impresses me unfavorably.
She seems to be in very low spirits
about herself. T"
"Heaven help her, we'll she may beP'
groaned Rebeoca.
"And yet she does not seem alarmed,
as some do. F"
ALARMED? What has she TO be afraid
of? 1t is others, like me, who have to
be afraid. She has done no wrong. III
there is heaven above. she must needs
so there.
"Well, that, after all, is the great
thing and should give you comfort for
you will meet again.
Twas young man mt the time, with
such platitudes at the tip of my tongue.
That they are well meant is the best
that can be said of them. When child
is going TO school for the first time, we
say, "The months will soon pass"
when "a friend is emigrating for his
health, "In few years we shall see
you again strong and well, and since,
under these circumstances, this vacant
chaff we'll meant for grain" is found to
be inefficacious, how can it be otherwise
when the separation is complete, the
bourne whittier our dear one is bound
one from which there is no return and
our meeting with him without date and
doubtful? n clergyman may say these
things. From his mouth they may have
their effect, but though "never' is IA
hard word we have most OF us TO bear
it. From the doctor, at all events,
glance of the eye and a touch of the
hand in token of human sympathy are.
it is my experience, more welcome to
the mother that is about 10 be childless,
to the wife that is about TO be widow,
than this vague consolation.
"Comfort and meet again, she
echoed, with sort Ct contemptuous
despair, and, shaking her head, like one
with the palsy, re-cntered the sickroom.
The whole situation amazed and per-
picked me. On all other topics the wo-
man was what one would have expected
her to be- Save for somewhat eXcep-
tional honesty, cleanliness and diligence
Rebecca Bent was like other charw omen,
but in all that pertained to her sister
she was tender and emotional to an eX
traordinary degree. | made inquiries
about them without eliciting much in
formation. They had lived in Star court
for nearly three years, but Rebecca
alone was known to their fellow dodgers.
Her sister had been always recluse if
not an invalid. She had never left her
room. 1t was understood that she took
in needlework when she could obtain
employment, which was not often, but
Rebecca was the breadwinner. She
toiled early and late, bat no one had
heard "a word of complaint from her.
AS a general rule, it is not the hard
workers who complain. 1t is not that
they are resigned to their harsh fate,
whatever cant may have to say about it
it is not in human nature to be that
but there is often a certain grim reti-
cence about them, not unjustifiable
resentment. This was not the case with
Rebecca, however She had her reasons,
as | afterward discovered, of liking
work for its own sake. Work preserves
( us from thinking. She was quiet in her
ways and kept herself to herself, but
| she had a temper Of her own.
a neighbor once condoled with her
ON having a sick sister to keep. "She
didn't seem to help much. Couldn't she
put her own shoulders to the wheel a
little more? There didn't seem so very
| much the matter with her, ," and SO on.
Then Rebecca broke out and exhibited
quite an unexpected command Of lam
guage. She impressed upon that neigh
Dor the desirability of minding her own
! business in such convincing terms that
nobody ever ventured to sympathize
with her upon the labor question again.
But she had not been popular before,
and this ebullition set society against
( her. She was for the future very Sc.
verely let alone.
Gaunt and grim though she was now,
for my part strange to say, Rebecca in
! terested me at least as much as my pa
tient, Notwithstanding her many advan-
tages. Her beauty was of the kind that
is heightened rather than otherwise by
delicacy of constitutions even disease
only rendered it more exquisite. 1t re-
minded me of the lily of the vale,
"whom youth makes so fair and pas
sion so frail that the light of its trem-
ulous bells is seen through their pavil-
ions of tender green" so transparent
was its splendor. That she was dying
had now no doubt, nor could the end
be far distant. The spectacle was very
touching, even to a professional eye, but
what, confess, lessened my sympathy
for her was her conduct toward Rebec-
ca. She seemed to take everything she
did for her as a matter of course. II
was quite true that she gave one the
impression of belonging to quite anoth-
er and higher sphere of being, but to
see her so self conscious of it was de-
plorable. If she had been a princess,
she could hardly have been served not
only with more devotion, but with
more respectful reverence. noticed in
particular that, though Rebecca lavished
every term of endearment upon her sis
ter, she never addressed her by her
Christian name, and l only discovered
it to be Lucy by direct inquiry.
With tho cal6ch auOticrn of tho ba