The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-02-02
THE SAINT.

!
| oody TO waste their sympathy on me.
don't deserve il. 1 don't need it. L have
had people tell me that l have led life
Of great sacrifice I haven't done any
such thing. I have simply tried to do
| what was my plain duty-Ito mora than
| hundreds OF other people would do and
! have done. l have made mistakes enCr Oh.
heaven knows. but l have always cried ID
do what it seemed 10 me I ought 10 do.
have lived UP &c my lights. except when
was weak enough TO yield TO tempta-
ton.
I was born on a little farm cut in
eastern Kansas, though l can't see why
! that should interest anyone Yes. il was
before the war-a long time before /
had three brothers-Jonathan, Shadrach,
and Ebeneezer. John was the oldest and
! snartest- I was the only sister and the
! youngest child. Father and mother had
decided that John Should be a preacher.
| We all went to the district school-a little
white schoolhoGse that stood out by its
self in the country. on the edge OF big
walnut grove.
When I was II John wert to College.
! The other boys were big enough 20 help
! then on the farm. Two years afte- thai
Shadrach got a chance 70 clerk in a store
in town and took II. I had TO help scrne-
| times after that IL the work around the
farm, but I was strong and didn't mind
it bit. 1 remember one spring did a
1 lot of spring blowing but that only did
me good. l felt better after il
Yes. :. sent the money to Jonathan
| afterwards, but he never asked me for
t. 1 sent it because I wanted TO. Then
John mace up his mind that he wanted 10
| be q doctor Instead of a preacher. He
| had to go to a medical school two years
more-he would have had TO go TO the
divinity school the same length of time.
| We're sorry, of course, but we turned
| in just the same to help him out. He's
! paid il back hundred times over. He's
| the best brother body ever had.
| Ebeneezer was killed at Gettysburg and
! Shadrach came back in 1870 with only
| one arm He wasn't worth much after
| that. BY this time John had gone to
| New York to practice. L was Just about
| this time or a little before that, William
| Ellswortk-he vas tie son of the man
who lived or the next farm to us-had vol
unteered for the war. He asked me to
marry him. I couldn't even make prom
| Use. As it turned out it was a good thing
that ] didn't too. When the boys turned
up killed and crippled-all except Jchn-
and he was working hard there In New
| York; couldn't have kept my promise,
and I've always been glad that l didn't
make it. Oh, yes, l liked him well enough.
l would have broken my word. and of
course, I should have had TO do it.
The year after the war mother died.
| Th1t left father 80 much alone that I
couldn't leave him, though William Ellis
worth came back once or twice and even
offered TO provide a home for rs ali if
would marry him. That was good of him,
but I couldn't think of letting anybody
come between me and father, while he
lived.
a little bit later Tohn bought a little
place out at Long Island and wrote TO
me asking that father and I come Gown
and live there. 1t was a long trip. bur
John was all We had left and we went
Shadrach had married and had moved
way out. west.
1T was a pretty little place. There was
Il little house and ten or fifteen acres.
I had my chickens to look after and \
couple of cows and. for while.
John used to come down and
get into his office early the next morning,
and in those DAYS he didn't have I1any
calls at night. Then John got married
She was 2 nice girI-one of the New York
kind. She knew all about pink teas
and that sort Of thing. l was moro than
forty, even then, and l couldn't expect
her 70 understand why l liked 70 feed
the chickens and milk the COW. And I
didn't know u thing about setting about
a big room and talking to a lot of women
1 had never seen before. We never had
the least bit OF .. quarrel-she AMI /.
used 20 take fresh milk and cream and
eggs over to Johns house and she ran
over to see me every few days. We both
did the best We just knew how.
Il belonged to the Free Methodist
church and she to the Episcopal. ! re-
member once we had a revival oyer TO
our church and / asked her TO come over
and help us She said she didn't believe
in REVEALS, and so let her go / couldn't
blame her. Finally father died hey
were all as good 10 rae as could be then.
Perhaps it was two months later that
some Of the people who went 10 the
church were taken with the smallpox.
Before | thought about how dangerous
it was I had gone UP 70 see them. OF
course, after that, ] couldn't so over TO
see johns folks. There were two little
babies ut their house then and I wouldn't
have exposed then TO the disease for any
thing in the world.
Finally I took the smallpox. But got
over it all right. Yes, I was at the hos
pital for north or two, but l couldn't
have been any better place. Then / went
back to live on the little old place on
Long Island. II was about this time 1
got long letter from William Els
worth / hadn't heard from him FOR
thirty wears or more. He had been mar
ried in the meantime and had moved out
TO North Dakota, where re had Il big
wheat farm. His wife lied back in the
SOS and IS soon as Ia heard that father
was gone he wrote TO ne and asked ne
to marry him. He had three little chill
dren that needed looking after. and / al
ways said that 1 was fonder of William
than any other man I ever saw. Bur
there was q lot of folks up st the church
that I was looking out for at the time
aud ! didn't see how they would get along
without me.
Besides brother John made me an al
lowance Of one thousand dollars 4 year
and brother Shadrach needed it much
more than I did. I sent him at least $50
a year. and most OF the time more, ard II
I had married and moved away, Of course
I couldn't have that money 10 send 10
him. Brother shadrach has moved away
out west and raised s. big family VI chill
dren, and as he Had only ore arm Il was
nard for him 10 support them. So / wrote
back TO William Ellsworth THAI I thought
lust as much rs I ever did. but circum-
stances were such that l couldn't marry
him just then
-Four or five years ago I gave VI the
little place and moved into the city. I live
with John ana his fauily ncw. If ] WAS
rot fer the children I don't think that
could stand il They have a soYegness
and an chat 5 5rt Of thing. but Just tho
same. they think more Of their old aunr
Soohv than Of anybody else but their
mother. and sanetin,es-this * 4 secret
II believe they Ike nc the best - al
Il IS the only thing that have ever been
.rr ~. =