Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-10-05
THE TRAGEDY OF ROZ|LLAH..


Just look at her now, Molly! Isn't she
the sweetest thing you ever SAW"
Molly, that is myself, sitting on the
doorstep, elbows on knees and shoulders
punched sullenly up to my ears, did not
bulge or speak.
Before my gloomy eyes was the kitchen
yard, a gray and gritty expanse, with new
er q tree or bush to shade it except the
lilac hedge bounding it on the garden side
and one sickly peach tree growing at the
corner of the house." Three hens and
one rooster were scratching about the fiat
stone at the kitchen door.
On the other three sides of ''the house.
were r%ustling boughs and cool grass and
flower beds. 1t suited my humor to sit in
the scanty strip of shadow cast by the
caves. my feet upon the step that had
soaked in the noon day heat, and to be as
wretched as a 5-year-old could make her
self, with Il sharp sense of injury boring
like a bit Of steel into her small sou The
room behind me was my mOther's-the
chamber" of the Southern home. A big
four-poster, hung with dimity curtains,
stood in the further corner The dimity
valance, trimmed, like the curtains, with
ball fringe, hid the trundle bed that was
pulled out at night for Mary Liza and me
to sleep in. AT the foot of the bed was
my baby brothers cradle. AS Nam
Chloe was walking with him in the gar
den. it should have been empty. Where
as Mary Liza was putting her baby to
sleep in it. We said doll baby in those
days. There was MusidOra, my rag baby,
who was a beauty when she was new.
She was not old, now, but fate had
been unkind to her. Twice | had left her
out of doors at night. The first time was
when [ laid her at the foot of a paTticu-
IarIy tall cornstalk, telling her that l
would return presently, but could not find
her at all when | e back. L was up
and out early next morning and found
her indeed. but it made my heart bleed"
for q field mouse-with six acres of roast
ing ears to choose from-had made his
supper on the bran that served poor Mu-
sidora for brains, nibbling at a hole in the
exact region of the meduiia UblOngata.
My mother plugged the Uranium with
raw cotton and stitched up the wound,
and the dear patient was doing better
than could be expected, when there was
q thunderstorm and MusidOra was on 4
bench in the summerhOuSe. The rain
lasted all night and [ could not go out
again.
One immediate and obvious conse-
Quence OF this adventure was that there
was nothing lett Of MusidOra's features
except her eyebrows, which were laid on
with indelibie ink instead of water colors.
She hung, head downward, in front of
the kitchen FIRE for twelve hours before
she was thoroughly dry. My mother Gin
dicated' eyes, nose and mouth with pen
and ink. but the effect was fiat and
mournful.
While l sat in the door that evening,
putting on Musidora's nightgown, [ over
heard Nam Chloe say to mother:
Il declar' to gracious, Miss May Anna,
you ought to buy that chile a sure-'nough
breaks my heart to see how much store
she sets by that po' Wrack Of a rag thing
she's got thar"
My mothers reply was so low that I
did not catch it, but her tone was not I'M
promising. l said nothing to her, or to
anybody of what [ had heard. Only, of
course, Musidora and [ talked it all over.
l assured her that she was going to have
a beautiful sister who would love her and
play with her and tell her stories of the
wonderful city, and of how happy we
three should be together.
My father and mother went away to
Richmond. They took the baby with
them, and Mary Liza and | were sent to
my Aunt Eliza Carriers to stay until they
returned, when Cousin Molly Belle took
us back home and told my mother before
gold.'
Il am very glad to hear it." said my
mother, giving me a squeeze and kiss. 81
was afraid she might be troublesome.
She is not as steady as Mary Liza, you
KNOW. i nave S0meJ0lnS nice in my
trunk for each of my daughters"
She always spoke of US in that way.
although Mary Liza was her niece, and
an orphan. She was Z now, and the pat
tern child of the county. Pretty, ton,
with a fair kin and shiny braids Of gold
en- hair, and innocent blue eyes, and dim
pied arms, and fluffy, kittenish ways,
while | was as lean as a snake, as brown
as a chinQuapin, and as wild as a hawk.
| was used to hearing myself compared
to all three. Mary Liza could read in the
New Testament, without stopping to spell
a word, at 3, and write in a copy hook at
D, and do sums on the slate at .. and at {
was as much company to my mother rs
if she had been II. In Il word, my cousin
was "a comfort" [ was often called 81
plague"
Yet as I can honestly affirm, I had
never known until this black day when
Cousin Molly Belle took me home. what
it was to be e~nvious. l was not exactly
fond of my cousin, yet we seldom dis
agreed openly. She wore clean fr0cks
and liked to stay in doors and piece bed
quilts and knit stockings and read aloud
to my mother. l never willingly spent an
hour in the house when | could get cut.
and had odd plays of my own which /
kent secret from her because / was sure
she would be shocked CT laugh at them.
| fully recognized the claims of orphan
hood to the buttered side of life, and that
Il girl who had no father or mother de-
served to be cared for by everybody else.
My parents had arrived late at night.
and the trunk was unpacked with much
ceremony the next morning. Under my
mothers best new dresses was q long
pasteboard box, which she opened, smii-
ing at our eXpectant faces. From If she
drew the biggest, prettiest doll baby we
had ever seen. in a blue silk frock With 4
sash to match. She had real hair. curly
and black as coal, and round black eyes
and a cherry ripe mouth. l reached out
both hands, and a cry of rapture 1ushed
gurgle of ineffable happiness.
Nv mother did not see nv gesture. I