Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-10-29
RUFE'S %LOVEMAKING.

1t was the year 1 built my store and
got the Corners Postotticc, which, by
the good will of Providence and my
friends. I've held ever since, no matter
who was lin at Washington, that l
first took notice of Shiftless Rufe Dun
ming. lie lived with his father and
mother just across the flats mt the foot
OF West Hill. in the edge of the big
woods. You know, all this region was
pioneered late, and although nearly
everything was cleared up on this side
Of the valley and the pine timber had
long been cut off the flats. there WAS
n heavy growth of mixed hardwood and
hemlock to the west that stretched
away back l don't know how many
miles. Here and there in the little
Openings on the side of the West
Hill log houses We're still to be seen,
and the folks living in them We're some
times pretty primitive.
The Cummings were probably the
most n%o-account of the lot. They lived
n a little shan,y old Rufe had knocked
together out of slabs given him by the
sawmill boss. They had only Il little
patch of ground, and they lived on
what 'hey raised, the fish they caught,
and what they trapped and shot. They
didn't steal, as l know of. but they were
all mortal shiftless. and young Rufe
was worse than either his father OF his
mother. In fact. he was so ALFRED lazy.
If 1 must put it that way, that eve the
DID man felt discouraged about him.
Young Rufe was o. before anybody
suspected that he could possibly have
any ambition at all. But one day lie
says Kitty Sylvester. But was the
daughter of the first manager of the big
Barley estate. Old man ~Barklcy-the
grandfather of the present Barley,
who never comes near the estate-had
just put the place in n managers hands
and moved away with his family. Now.
Kitty a a real sensible, go-ahead girl.
She knew the Sylvcsters were as good
as anybody around the Corners, if not
n le-etlc better, and she tried to live up
to the family reputation in all ways.
When n girl, her mother had been ia
nous for the work she could do, and
Kitty was not n bit behind. Every
morning in the winter she was up early
and got breakfast by candlelight. All.
day long She wove carpet, or quilted
comforters, or spun stockings yarn, OR
did something else that counted. Ev-
cry morning in the summer she was up
with the SUM-, and every day when it
went down She had churned and work
ed more butter or made nor cheese,
or in some other way done more work
than any anywhere round could
do. And she was the savingest girl in
the county. Everybody said she was
the smartest young woman going, and,
naturally, she was considered a highly
desirable catch. But she held herself
mighty shy of them all for awhile, and
1t was regularly given out that no
young man need ever think of keeping
company with kitty Sylvester who
wasn't fully her match, both at work
about that young Rufc, of all the world,
had got him IL pair of fine boots, Il
rutllcd shirt, docskin pantalOons. and n
%brOadcloth coat. and had begun to shine
up to Kitty, there was Il general up.
roar. Folks couldn't believe it at first,
but it wasn't anywheu near as hard to
swallow as what came aftcrward.
You sec the outgiving that had been
made about the kind of chap Kitty's
husband would have to be had shifted
the young fellows ont a whole lot. Most
of them We're willing to work and will
ing to save. and they all admired Kitty
for she Was as good looking as she was
industrious and frugal, but her stand
ard was SO high it scared the boys, and
bcaux got TO be mighty seldom on the
estate.