Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-03-16

uhs oueIcO Le u pace III his WHOLE
sale house In the city. He's the old
gentleman I bought our dry goods from.
He lives In Burlington in the summer.
1t will be only $40 a week M the
hours are long, but there's a chance for
promotion"
"Oh, good" cried Ethel. Now we
can begin to pay grandpa
o course we cam" Billy declared.
Lets count up"
Ten dollars each week would do 80
much!
One dollar and a half for rent-their
little cottage cost them but six dollars
a ~month-two dollars for Billy's car
fares in and out Of town each weel-,
four dollars for living, one dollar and
a half for clothes and incidental ex-
penses. Billy would have to carry his
lunches. That left one dollar every
week for grandpa.
But washing and ironing" said
Billy.
I'll do those said Ethel, gayly.
Billy demurred, but at last gave in,
and to clinch the matter Ethel sat
down that night and wrote a short note
to Grandpa Harding. inclosing the first
dollar.
Leeville Is on the edge Of the sub
urban circle OF the city. Train service
Is poor. To get to the store in time
Billy must so to the North Leeville sta
ton, a mile and a half away, and catch
the six o'clock train there. 1t meant
rising at five o'clock and getting his
W breakfast-for he would not allow
Ethel to do it-and returning home
long after dark every night, with the
wood to cut and outside chores to do
before he went to bed. But he was a
determined young man,, and, having at
tackled the work, he felt certain Of
keeping 1t up.
Many were the offers Of help when
came from his family md hers. with
kindly insistence, but they were as in
sistently refused. Young people can
stand considerable hardship when they
make up their minds to do it. Billy
and Ethel liked baked beans so well
on Saturdays that they ate them on
other days. They cut down the break
fast menu to plain oatmeal. Paying
Grandpa Harding's LOAF became a sort
Of game with them, and they delighted
in adding extra quarters and halves to
the weekly dollar.
The other side to all his saving and
scrimping was not quite SO pleasant to
look upon. They stayed away from ia
son Prindle's wedding because they had
only the clothes they wore and could
not afford new ones. They could not
even afford the usual tickets to the win
ter lyceum course and Ethel found her.
self more or less cut of from her old
friends because she could not keep I'D
with them in the expenses of gayety.
There waS a week a severe cold
kept Billy at home three days, and the
cashier 'docked" him five dollars. How
ever, they persisted. -
And in all this time what Of Grand
pa Harding? Grandma Harding had
correctly recorded his annoyance. The
old man, grown fretful and petulant
over his losses. had tried hard to treas
ure in his heart bitterness toward Ethel
and her husband. Somehow he could
not keep 1t there long. So perhaps Out
Of sheer desperation he talked worse
than he felt about 1T.
The first dollar from Ethel came
right in the midst of one Of these out
bursts, and he felt called upon - use 1t
as an Illustration.
There, now" he said to grandma.
displaying it, they're trying tie effect
Of a dollar on me. l warrant you they
think that when they have paid a dol
lar or two they can borrow another
hundred. But they can't"
He growled and grumbled over 1t,
and took himself away to his office.
stopping at the bank to enter the one
dollar upon his account there. That
much is safe, anyhow" he asserted,
almost vindictively.
He added another dollar the next
| week, and then another. BY that time.
as no request for more came, he be-
gan to feel a little ashamed of him
| self. A letter from Leeville by no
meal added to his satisfaction.
Ethel n Billy are having a hard
time," wrote her mother, but they are
making out They are very proud, and
won't let anyone help them. Billy gets
ten dollars a week In the city, and goes
In before daylight. They are doing
their own work" -
Grandpa Harding went down to the
bank that day and drew out the five
dollars he had accumulated, and, put
ting them in an envelope. sent them
back to Ethel.
You ought to know better than ~
do a trick like this !" he clustered in
his letter. You use the money for
yourself, and don't let me hear another
word more about paying 1t back. 1
guess I can stand n loss Of $500"
Needless to say, 1t was returned to
him promptly, with a letter which fair.
~ bristled with Indignation. Grandpa
Harding grew quite red-faced with an.
ger when he read 1t, and pufed and
grunted about it.
"Ungrateful" he muttered--whsch
he did not mean at all. He put the
money in an envelope again. md wrote
'Ethei's" or 1T, and put it in a special
drawer of the table. There was only
half Z dollar the next week. Ind he
looked long at the stamps which
brought 1t. 1t seemed 30 pitiful. He
was just beginning to appreciate tbs