The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-08-26
BY the 81 ListAder z

BY the Listelier."
The sListener" in thelN Nindom Rep.
porter has this to say Of the Worth.
iington peoples: Mrs. g. q. Smith and
and Miss Grace arein tie city. They
"kinder" look natural, but Mrs. Smith
has grown. somewhat older, And
Grace, law me, what line looking
girl she is! Ihave hardly seen hel
in dozen years. She u half . head
taller than her mother, ahd a. arm Of
strength and consolation TO The moth
or in her widowhood and loneliness.
You boys remember C. II. He hit
Window about the twentieth of Mar
ch, 1872, when Grace was a wee little
kid, and rode over from 81. 3 James
with the Listener in a sleigh because
the railroad couldn't run, and, the COM
pany hadn't money enough tosshovel
out the snow. ''Crit" stayed with us till
he was appointed receiver Of the land
Office at Worthington, and then fam
lily moved over to that town, since
which time I have only seen the lad
les occasionally. often ran across
c. H. at conventions, &C., and wanted
to see him nominated for congress,
but John Lind held too many aces
in that empty coat sleeve and we
couldn't work the Smith racket.
Dollars to nutcakes that if G. H., had
got into congress he would never have
been free silver man. g. III. was
countytreasurer here fora a number Of
years. When he left the land Office
at Worthington, he was appointed
insurance commissioner, and held
the Office until he died.
Mrs. Smith and Oracle will always
have warm spot in the hearts Of old
Windomites because they we're T.
mong the first to endure the early
hardships. They know how good it
is to be hard up, and how good it is
to be in comfortable circumstances,
which G. Fl. reached before he died.
But Bessie; what about her3 She
is now about nineteen years old and
is over in Germany waiting for lot
of rich relations to become angels SO
she can drop into a comfortable for
tune. The relatives looked her up
and found that Mrs. Smith had made
a sweet little lady out Of poor or.
phan?child, who came, as sos many
others did, to this part of Minnesota
in colony of children from the New
York home to find home among
strangers, Little Bessie was lfortu-
nate. Atabout tlkse anda hall years
she fell into ths hands of the Smiths
and twas not until q short time Be
fore G. X. died that she knew any
thing of her ancestry, and then but
little. Realizing that he could live
but short time, Mr.. Smith revealed
the whole story to Bessie, who was
then about eighteen years old. A
short time after his death an agent
came from the old country to find
the girl and tell her of the fortune
that awaited her. She soon left for
Europe, and Mrs. Smith now tells me
that she has a private teacher and
mastered the German languaue su&-
ciently to feel at home with her kim
folks. Mr.. and Mrs. Smith gave her
a splendid English education. She
will come back sometime. Past
eighty years old, may have to die first;
for to inherit the property that will
eventually fall to her, is the cause of
her sudden departure for Europe.
Over there she is known as Schneck,
but she likes the name of her foster
parents, and will assume it when she
comes home. I like the girl for that,
for Mr.. and Mrs. Smith gave her a
home in her poverty and wretched-
ness. cared for her in childhood and
loved her as they did their own. Less
than this would be ungrateful, and
l am glad the girl will continue to
bear the name that gave her shelter.