Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-08-24
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Sz7 SMALL woman With rather bent
IN shoulders and thin, gray locks
~~ stood on the kitchen porch. Be-
low her, on the steps. was a young
whose shoulders were straight md
broad, aud whose locks were not gray.
But his eyes were brown like the wo-
mans and the line of his lips was mod
eled from the older feminine ones.
"Come, mother, 1 must look about the
old place and you must 60 with me. 1t
seems only yesterday, l l~eft-things
look so natural. Here's the corn a foot
high-just as twas when l went away
the cherries tempting the robins just
the same. and the clover smelling like
honey. Come along, mother, do!
! want to see the spring house and the
hen coops. Like as Lot they need some
carpentering, though twas only yes
terday, it seems like. they We're good
enough"
Yielding to her sons persuasion, and
the delight Of his return after many
years absence, the old. woman descend
ed the steps and walked by his side out
through the barnyard into q lane lead
ing to the pasture
Seems like l ought to stay in and
fix the fire for supper. David. Now l
got you home again, I feel as though
I'd kinder like to get q meal. You al
! ways made it worth my while to cook,
David. Are you still partial to fried
chicken and corn breadT'
"Am I? Do I look as though I'd pass
by on the other side?'
The pair laughed with the harmless
happy appreciation of a horhely Joke.
Now here's the old board between
the tulip poplars, by jung! Let's sit
here, mother, and smell the hay. I
want to hear all about your life while
I a gone"
:. Slanting shadows fell over the
meadow. The hay was piled in mon
ster mounds in q corner, and through
the June air came the fresh, clean
scent Of blooming elder. The old wo-
man began:
after you went west to seek your
fortune, l was the forlornest woman in
these parts. Father, he just moped,
too, and how those first lonely days
dragged I can't say. Everything SEEM
ed to nope, too. The hay was spoiled,
the rust got into the wheat, and that
year father had to put the first mort
gage on the farm. Along about Christ
mas time l was as near discouraged as
could be; l just pinned for you, David.
That's the time Ellie Martins parents
died, and the child had to be sent to
the poorhouse. Neverln I forget the
morning that little girl came a-running
into my kitchen:
"tOh, Mis- Allen she said. let me
stay here with you. Don't let 'em take
me to the poorhouse!
"And the tears were running down
her cheeks. She took hold Of my
apron and wiped her eyes with it, and
looked at me SO pitiful like l Just
couldn't keep from crying myself.
"'IM be just as, useful she said. I
can skim milk, and feed the chickens,
and, oh, lots Of things
II stood stock still there a minute,
thinking how hard times were, and
now the cows were s%ickening, and the
chickens, too, for that matter. Then
I looked at that orphan, and, thinks 1,
What II that was my David?' Father
sat by the stove, and says he, .Mothery
We looked at each other and then l
took Ellie by the hand and says: Stay
right here, Ellie; l guess we can man.
age.' The little thing was that happy
she Just hung ON to me the rest Of the
| day, and we hadn't any more tears
| from her till she went to Kansas last
year."
"Did you miss her much?" asked
David.
Miss hes2 Well. since she left,
seems like father and me had grown
old. I guess you couldn't understand
what kind Of q girl Ellie grew up to
be. Why, she was the busiest, hap
piest child I ever saw. We ave had
cause to be sorry for keeping her out
OF the poor house. Father and l got
to feel she was our own, and it went
a long ways toward filling up that gap
you left. And pretty! How that plain,
little hlack-haired thing did blossom!
Pity you never saw her, David"
Him." said David. "I've seen some
mighty pretty girls out west"
But not as pretty al! Ellie, sure.
She promised to come back some day.
You know how she came to go"
Tell me that" said David. He
leaned lazily back against the poplar
and surveyed his mother.
swell. you know her fathers broth.
er, who disappeared 80 many years
ago: Well. he turned up and took the