The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-11-27
0be Home Coming of Jess;ca
BY MARY E. WILKINS.


woman's Home Companion: 1t Is diff
..,,,t 10 Tell what led Jessica to forsake
.,a old farm and her parents In the
sat Mace. She must have had q
srool1ering ambition, or perhaps not
- mich ambition as restlessness, al
.hn,eh she looked staid, even stolid.
1assiea was "a pretty girl, with a placid
stvls of prettiness, an OVERLAPPING of
s,,noth mink and white curves. and
waves of fair hair on Il CULVER of nerves,
&c Is the ease with many daughters of
Nav England. All her life long she had
lived In tE.at farm house, a century old,
oct Kept up 10 the level of the present
Nv the effort of the living; she had
,nnked out on the same prospect. fair
enough-an tndulating sweep Of hills,
beyond a silver ribbon of river, with
green meadows in the foreground. She
had seen the same Towering bushes in
the front yard put forth every spring,
fhe same trees leaf and blossom; h
Ind seen the same faces in church
every Sunday, the same people pass
the house-men with the peaceful
slouch of uRquestioning toll, oin
moving with that awkward hitch of
advance which comes to a woman from
entire acquiesence with hard circum-
stance. and she had become wearied to
the pitch Of savage irritation. h had
even wearied of her own father and
mother. OF her father, who had
seen a days vacation, and looked upon
one as q transgression OF the COM
mandlnent OF the gods; of her mother,
who would not yield to advancing age
and weakness. but who persisted in her
old ways With a sort of fierce obstinacy.
There's no use in me trying to help
mother. she won't be helped" Jes-
sica often said to herself. Then she
would go upstairs to her own room, sit
down by the window, and gaze out at
that same old prospect which came
gradually to I'll her with utter loath-
ing, a sort OF spiritual nausea which
she could not understand. If shI only
could have seen one different curve of
the hills; II the silver river would nave
taken another bend; If some morning
she could have discovered q maple in
stead Of an old cherry tree In the front
yard. She arrived at that point where
the wonted rasped her; she had the
antitnesis Of Inconsistencies. She looked
around her room, and fairly hated
everything which she saw. There was
the old pineapple bedstead in which she
had slept ever since she could renem-
Der; there WAS the old mahogany bu-
Teau, those old china vases which had
belonged to her grandmother on the
mantei shelf, the old sweeps OF tas-
seled dinitY ut the windows, the braid
ed rugs which would outlast her
Neither father nor mother had any on
ceptioa OF her state Of mind: the horror
OF sameness which overcome her like
the sting from a burn every time she
entered a room or looked out OF a win
dow was beyond their comprehension.
lhere had been for them during their
whole lives no taking OF their knotted
taHds from the plow, and yet they
were not uninteihgent people. They
We're simply unquestloning, with no
spirit OF rebellion. They could not i'm
aslne 1T In their daughter. When she
FeNoited at last they We're aghast. as
much at a loss as IL they had suddenly
discovered a changeling in their home
cradle.
one evening when spring was upon
lhem, and the restless ferment of it
SURFING Jesslca's blood to Its utmost
action, she spoke. 1T was a very warm
evening in early May. The father and
Motner were seated after tea in the
great living room. one preparing po-
.atoes Tor planting, the other mend
ing, neither ever thought of sitting out
OF doors on the porch in the. delicious
zoo. They had not been used to that
It would have seemed to them like
WORKING with their feet out Of the ruts
81 labor. Her fathers clumsy clothes
auhg loosely V his old sinews and
muscles; so did her mothers. The
FACES of both had a wintry glow of
heaith, Ike winter apples. They were
VI long lived sturdy races, both of
slei1. There was O a gray hair in her
.l9lneTs abundant locks. which she
Nv, ,Mls'sa ancompromisingly every morn
az, her father was bald, with q stout
Mnlte stubble of beard under a straight
1lrm line of a mouth. Jessica stood be
soIe them, and spoke. Look at here,
aatler and MOTHER she said-her
speech was provincial, although she had
neen through the high school-'I don't
e,oW what you are going to say, but
sne ;hesitated a second, and both stared
her. Look at here" she began
asaih. Then she redeemed. and trem-
pred. Little pulses beat evidently In
sler ilrm white throat and her clear
forehead.
Haven't you fed the hens and tur-
Keys asked the mother.
nat was Jessica's work. She liked
II she liked anything There was
~ about the eve present greed
y me scurrying feathered things which
her a sense OF n break in the
tnoiotony which SO irritated her: she
nuuia not have told why. Possibly 1t
because they had no sense OF mo-
tlotony, and the desire for food and It's
5~latiilcation was as new as the first
corn.
1T amt that" she replied. Then she
hmunsed at once into her subject. i've
neen talkin' with Addie Rose she said,
ahd she's goin' to the Oaks at Silver
1oeacil next week for table girl, and I've
81 a chance to &c with her, and-I'm
~ was characteristic of Jessica's
,nolher that she did not use the one ar
su1hent In opposition which would
have occurred to her at once.
sne said not a word about her need of
daughters assistance on the farm,
artlongh summer was at hand and she
,,au no woman help. and presently there
Mould be- two hired men to cook for
Instead of one. 1t was also character
is.lc of Jessica that she did not give
ner true reason for going.
In goin' to get 81 a week besides
BOARD she said, simply, as If that
was al! she had thought of.
Her father looked at her, and his face
vas more nervous than his wife's; It
betrayed a character more like that OF
vac girls. There amt no need OF your