Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-04-15

GREAT
By K. f. Francilon.

BY K. f. FranciIlon.

would be easier for n good bottle fuil.
which the last you sen weren't half
nasty. to my thinkin'. Hannah Fields
last was just twice as bad to swallow,
and ! don't thinis my physic ought TO
he behind bern. And p'r'aps when you
comes 10 see hat Grace Lucas. bless
her face, you'll mention how my old
man in his tea do like a pinch o. green.
and how we h'a'nt got no more. And
If the childer could get but n drop o.
milk to their porridge-but tits no good
to think o'that. Only i do hope when
Miss Hillyard's had up for venting
machinery and starving me and my
childer and my mani do hope I'll be
called up To give witness and watch
her burn. And so / says 10 that Grace
Lucas. bless her
"Ah. Grace Lucas interrupted Ba-
sill. II want To know something about
her, Does nobody remember her in
Lockmead-nobodoy at allg'
Maybe she belonged TO the tine
when bread was cheap and we'd money
TO buy un wi. And one do remem
Der what belonged TO that time"
But how does she help You, and. 7
suppose, others Is she n seamstress
in search of W ,rk, richer than any
hereY"
Il don't know about her helping 9TH
ers. Ii she do it's a shameful waste:
for a gTeedier lot l never heard TO
speak anywhere. But she's been up
and down good TO us; and If you1l only
mention about that pinch % green. and
the drop o. milk, and she might throw
in a nub o. coal
But this visit turned out an excep-
tional specime7. No doubt Betty HON
beam had obtained more than her
share from an inexperienced Siver. 1t
was indeed not long before Basil fo.nd
his worst fears confirmed. wolisi
eyes, hollow cheeks, emaciated bodies.
and feeble coughs soon showed him
how little resistance could be made
against the fever, the daughter OF
starvation, which had already laid its
grasp upon the miserable and hopeless
town. In a couple of hours he noted
seven eases of that hideous and des-
perate disease. which depends almost
rs much on moral as on physical
causes-on despair hardly less than on
starvation. nakedness, foul air. and n
state OF things in which cleanliness
and deccncy have ceased to be. There
were soJne rooms which Basil could
scarcely enter. so hideously repulsive
Were they. a fever he exclaimed 10
himself as ne reeled, half fainting. into
the open air; lit will be a plague,
And | As weak as a rat. and as poor:
and none 10 help me but a girl-though
she is stronger than t.
On his e days visit TO the Basil
was more fortunate. Squire Aforwen
WAS returned.
Upon my soul. Hillyard I'm hanged
il | know what's 10 le done. You
must see for yourself. a. an educated
man. that the people have brought all
this on themselves. Help yourself 10
port-you loo6 rs IL you want Ii. by
George, And now put yourself in my
my place. My dury's 10 Lockmead.
I'm trying 10 do 1t. and III do it, too.
| find the town all at skies and sevens.
sticking In the old mud while there
are places in the North springing up
j k mushrooms. And why? Because
mp In the North they 70 with the
times. What they can do 1 can do.
I've had these machines set UP TO turn
L0ckrmead into another Leeds and an
other Nottingham in one: and am 4
to be beat by "a pack of dolts who
won't eat their bread because they
can't see on which side its butteredY
No
"But the machines don't want
bread" argued Basil. land the people
do"
let the blockheads earn Ii, then.
I've shown them how. Can't you see
this Is a matter of ~principle:"
You will do nothing. then?"
Morwen shrugged his shoulders
again. BE just before you are gener-
Gus. said he.
Then" said Basil, turning away in
despair. God help us ALL
When he returned u his solitary
lodging in the cottage Of a weaver's
widow he was sick at heart and
wearied out In brain md limb. His
dinner of porridge was ready for him.
but he was well-nigh too spent 10 eat.
So he took up n small paper parcel
that lay beside his wooden bowl and
regarded II yacantly.
What is this, Mrs. Jordan he
called out to his iandlady who came
at his first word; for the weaver.s
widow w~orshipped her lodyer as If he
were the only son who had gone years
SAV ~ III ut DtCu hiiPu
by the Frenchmen in Spain.
Twas left for you. sir, by the writ
ing" said Mrs. Jordan. II found IL on
the dresser; but who brought Ii. sir.
| don't know. I'm sure. But Lord.
Doctor Hillyard, do eat the Cruel:
twill I've nj cold as a stone. Oh. dear!
! wish there was but half another doe
tor nigh the place, for you want one
yourself more than they ALL"
Nonsense, Mrs. Jordan, l am as
strong ms n horse ana as hungry as n
hunter" said Basil, attacking the
mess, and wondering IL Grace Lucas
was faring rs wall. At the same time
he opened the parcel, which was plain
" sealed and fastened with a string.
Good God. he cried the next mo-
ment, ''am Inad or dreamlngg"
For here, before his eyes. lay notes
Of the leading bank In Nottingham 10
the amount of one thousand pounds.
And on the top OF the heap lay a slip
OF paper, on which was written, in up
right letters:
For the poor of Lockmead-to he
spent by Doctor Hillyard as he best
knows how"
Despite Mrs. Jordan's circumstances
and lamentations Basil, the inipulsIye.
crushed the notes I'm his pocket, dashed