The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-11
The
story
Teller.
The Mission of the
HOUerS.

N the little garden back of weather.
l beaten cottage that faced the sea, sat
Nina, the fsherman's daughter. Around
her the flowers raised their radiant heads,
forming mass Of rainbow tinted glory.
There were oldlfashioned scarlet poppies
and daisies, blue forget-me-nots and pan
saes, larkspur and cinnamon roses.
"Oh,'' sighed Nina dsconsolately, 'if-
u could only give my flowers to the poor
little city children and do some good with
them, like the boys and girls in the story
did,
She had been reading of how some chill
dren outside great city had sent flowers
to those within; of the good they had
wrought and the cheer they had given.
She became very enthusiastic, after the
manner of childhood, and longed to do
the same.
body round here is ever sick,'' she thought
as she looked at the bloom around her.
Down by the great bare rocks outlining
The shore, sat another little girl, gazing
lut upon the blue undulating sea. But
though her eyes were bent, seemingly, on
the water, she was looking far away
toward the horizon, where her own bonny
England lay. The tears welled up unbid-
den in her eyes, as in fancy she saw
the outlined shores of her native land.
She was SO very, very tired of this bleak
wild coast, and of the lonely, cheer
less house, where not even a flower
bloomed. Aunt Jane had no use for fow-
efs; they were useless things she said.
w TO ar wh
amount tor
If she only had flower bed, like those
In her own far-away English home, she
believed she would not be half so lonely.
Aunt Jane never allowed her to search
for the wild flowers.
cit certainly does not become young
lady of 10 to be scrambling over rocks
and through thickets after the manner of
boy said that staid lady, when Doro-
thy, or Dorothea, as her aunt called her,
first mentioned it. And Aunt James word
was law.
Dorothy begged to go to the little cot
tage, and make the acquaintance of Nina,
= but Aunt Jane looked so shocked at the
bare idea of Dorothy visiting chose ig-
norant fisher folk that the subject was
dropped. And to tell the truth, the fisher
mans child was rather afraid of the little
girl with the white frocks and pretty
sashes who appeared so dignifed. But
once "the young lady of 10" did not come
as usual down to the beach. She was
lying in bed in one of the gloomy cham
bers of the big house, very pale and very
ill. Before night she was wildly delirious,
crying for England, for her mother and
for her flowers. "Oh, do take me home,'
she walled. "Give me just one daisy.
Where is mama? Won't you call herr"
And when, after week, she regained
consciousness, and saw on the stand be-
side her beautiful bouquet, gorgeous in
the ray of sunlight that slipped in through
a gap in the curtains, she simply said
''Oh-h-h!' and fell back with glad look
in her eyes.
All that week Nina had been debating
within her mind over that bouquet. Should
she take it? Perhaps the little English
girl did not care for flowers; perhaps she
would be offended, for she was far above
Nina in station. But, surely, most folks
liked flowers when they were sick By
the last of the week she summoned suffi-
cient courage to go. She went to back
door (she never could have faced Aunt
Jane), and gave the flowers to a servant,
and then ran all the way home.
She did not know of the pleasure they
brought to homesick little Dorothy; Of
how they made her more patient and Of
the sorrow that was felt when they with.
cred, for Aunt Jane was not yet reconciled
to the idea of calling on Nina.
After time Dorothy's parents returned
from their tour, and Dorothy sailed away
to England, and Nina ceased to think of
the nosegay.
The flowers in the garden dropped and
withered, and winter set in, and Nina
missed her gay companions of the sum-
mer One day her father brought her a
letter and box. Nina has never for
gotten that day. Such letter and such
box. The letter contained many thanks
for the beautiful flowers and told how
glad the writer was to get them; how
she had wished for them and then how
she hoped Nina would accept her gift.
1t was signed Dorothy st. Claire oh,
that wonderful box. When it was opened
what do you suppose Nina found? An
elegant doll, such as she had never seen
before. In the bottom of the box was
photograph Of the donor, just as Nina had
seen her, with her long, yellow curls,
white dress and pretty sash. The letter
and the picture were the topic of weeks
conversation in the family and Nina was
supremely happy.
And who Of you will say that Mina's
flowers did not have their mission, though
perhaps not in as great way as some
have shown? Certainly the little act Of
kindness had its reward.
Gertrude Hanson,
Eighth Grade. Gebo, Mont.