The Winslow mail., 1899-03-11
! Farewell to the EvbS0ns. ;
! BY MAY ROBERTS CLARK. !
q ~s>4~e-e~s-s~s~ :;
TN EVERY community. 10 matter how

IN EVERY community. 10 matter how
democratic, one family, at least, is
, 3nsidcred beneath the social level.
heir lower rank does not come from
any difference cf wealth, intellect CT
morality, but is due, almost entirely. to
re general shiftlss-sness OF the neglect
d family. Often the judgment Of the
neighborhood is just, but it is not al
ways so.
Mrs. Dcbscn once said, bitterly:
How Go they know? We never had
any chance here in Nebraska. We were
as good as the best where we come
from, ard I'm sure I've worked hard
enough to be somebody; but what can
woman DO with seven children, and a
man as lazy as the Platte river?"
Mr.. Dobson locked up with a good
natured grin, but said nothing. Ap-
parently he tcok 10 more notice Of his
wife, who went eff to spread her meager
washing On the gum weeds. lie Tilted
his rude chair back against the trunk
Of giant cottonwood, ard looked ever
the landscape with lazy enjoyment
From his position he could see down
long vistas Of dark, shining, blue-green
corn stalks and beyond them the Platte.
"Abner," called his wife, plaintvely,
"just look at me. / reckon Mrs. Bar
rard hasn't got any such sand burs as
we have. She don't get pricked to
pieces when she goes to spread her
washing. 1 Go wish you'd" but she
stopped hopelessly.
"Mis' Barnard don't have to spread
her washing" corrected Abner, dog
gedly; "she's got yards and yards Of
clothesline and pins and baskets and a
machine
Melvina Dobson glanced at her hus-
J band aGxiously. Never before had he
seemed uneasy or envious. 81 reckon
Mis- Barnard has her drawbacks" she
admitted, generously.
eyes," answered her husband, mood
lily, ''and Barnard amt no more willing
than I'd be if 1 was him, His PAW left
him money, and mine didn't. I know
one thing, though. if l was Barnard,
| Mis- Barnard wouldn't wash, if she did
have a machine. I'd sell the pigs FIRST"
Melvina looked at him gratefully. 81
know it, Abner," she answered, sooth-
ingly, "you always have heen good to
me. If there amt money enough for
both, you always want nc to have it.
l reckon 'tain't your fault that we ere
SO poor; don't care for myself, but the
children"
She broke eff suddenly, and went in
to get the scanty dinner Abrer took
down his rusty hoe and passed reluc-
tantly into the neglected potato patch.
He was working with great delibera-
tion when his half-erown daughter
passed, without speaking
''Sallie!" he called
The girl seemed not to hear him. She
held her head with an air Of offended
dignity, ard looked neither to the right
nor to the left. A second call frcm her
father brought her to defiant pause
II say" he called lazily, what ails
you? Eave I done anything?"
Reckon not" she answered, sullcnly
"A2d your NAV don't seem natural.
Is she ailirg?'
The girl looked him full in the face,
and her eyes were not pleasant. "Ch,
maw," size answered, sharply, why
nav is kind Of worn out with church
socials and things, nav is. lis most
made her sick, sewing on her new silk
dress, AID doing up her hair. And now
there's the party at Sansen's."
"Sansen's?"
Yes, when they mere into the new
house. Everybody has been asked, even
Mis- jenkins, 'cepting nav. Nav has
such fine clothes and is so stuck up, that
she wasn't bid"
Abner turned the hoe in his hands,
and watched potato bug travel calmly
from one hill to another. Something in
his attitude touched the child. Sudden
ly she lest her look ef defiance, and
said. brokenIy:
Nav couldn't SO, anyway, she's got
nothin' to wear. Her cid gray dress
turned yellow in the sun years ago.
Mrs. Barnard gave me some dye fer
Easter eggs, and when l heard about
Saaeen's party, l thought I'd color
maw's dress aud have II ready"
A tragic silence followed Abner
looked up quoetioringly.
''She can't wear ii no mere" an
swered the girl, unsteadily; at turned
brown and green, and went all spotted
and speckled."
For minute the silence was heavy;
then Ahner said, gently: "Ne0er mind,
Sallie; I'm real proud Of you for tryiG g.
Nov ycu run along and help your nav.
You're coed girl. Sallie."
The child went back TO the shabby
sod house with smiling eyes, and left
her father TO his own devices. From
the force of long habit be sat down to
cultivate his thoughts, while the bugs
and the weeds waved strong among the
potatoes. What he thought to-day was
something new and strange, and not
agreeable. Often his mind reverted to
the coming party.
When the company finally assembled
at the Sansens' they repaid Abner Deb
son for his speculations by freely and
frankly discussing him and his.
''Oh, folks like the Dobsons don't
care" insisted Mrs. Sansen; "they could
get ahead il they wanted to. Sansen
md me didn'i have anything but a merit
gage when we started, and now look at
the farm and its improvements"
The rest CT Us ain't far behind"
laughed Mrs. Early. Only il years ago
we drove into the state with span OF
!