The citizen., 1908-12-11
HOW LINDA HELPED.
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BY NJ. e. CHILD.

linda sat on a fallen log at the
oa of a piece of woodland and
ored meditatively before her. There
ss not much to look at; behind her
.c fne woodland, at the left the
nttage. in which her sick mother
: asleep; and before her, on the
Fher side of the road, an enclosed
asture for cows. The prospect was
II cheering, for everything in it,
oodland, COWS and cottage, was 9TH
peoples property; and when one
experiencing close rub with pow
rty. it is no fun to look at another's
ossessions.
Mrs. Lany, Linda's mother, had
,pported herself and child by taking
4 washing, until she caught cold 60
he from the hot, steaming room into
Ihe clustering March wind to hang
eut the clothes. The cold had re-
*ulted in fever, and she had been
Eery sick. Now she was better, but
weak. and work was out of the cues
lion.
4 The little store of savings had
brown less and less, and the sick
mother, her twelve-year-old Linda.
Ind warm-hearted Mrs. Dubbs, never
&orgot that soon it would be all gone.
Mrs. Dubbs was their only neighbor:
$he lived on the other side of the
Woodland, around a bend in the road.
She had her hands full, poor thing!
With a troop of little children and
lazy husband who drank up what he
Gould of her earnings.
ITO think av We layin' here sick.
an them women We washed fer never
'helpin We a mite!" Mrs. Dubbs some
hines exclaimed, kindling in right
|eous wrath.
Il suppose they think I've hus-
band living" murmured Mrs. Lany.
weakly. Some of them know scarce
by more than my name. They would
help if asked them. But l can't!-
it seems like begging. If only my
husband"
There, there!" cried her neigh
Dor, soothingly. "Things amt so bad
es they might be. Don't worry, dar-
lint. An ye're none the worse off,
I'm thinkin,' fer not havin' a man
a-comin' home wild liquor in him,
a-swearin' at the childers;" and Mrs.
Dubbs shook her head, thinking of
the usual condition of her shiftless
spouse.
Things might, indeed, be worse, but
they might also be better; and Linda,
sitting dejectedly in the May sun
shine, wished with all her heart she
knew how to make them so.
"If we only had a cow" she
sighed, gazing wistfully at the great
creatures moving lazily about in the
ot opposite. "We wouldn't have to
ouy much besides flour, and we could
sell milk, and the COW could keep
herself in the pasture all summer.
But as there was no chance of ever
this self-sustaining and
noney-earning animal, she was
obliged to dismiss the delightful
lream of the profits which might
lccrue therefrom.
If | was bigger I'd go on with the
she continued, thrusting
tut her feet from under her faded,
'utgrown frock, and surveying her
tout arms. Enchanting visions
lanced before her eyes of herself
Mounted on starch-box, vigorously
rinsing, bluing and ironing
7hole basketfuls of clothes, her moth
r meanwhile reclining at her ease,
md no one worried over questions of
ent and bread and butter. But alas!
hose tanned and freckled little hands
ould not do all that the stout heart
Clearly, something else
must be thought of.
81 don't see what I can do. Oh,
lear!" and sob sounded plainly in
he country stiffness, and tears shone
n the round blue eyes. "There's no
me but me to sport my mother, and
must do something! There's only
cents left" And then
he tears slipped down the freckled
heeks. But Linda wiped them away.
81 amt going to cry" she resolved,
such weakness beneath
he dignity of the support of the
amily.
Il wish there were real brownies
Ind elves and fairy godmothers and
hings!" and Linda looked up into
he cloudless blue sky, and down at
he green earth again, half expectant-
y, as if one of those personages
night be in sight. But there were
lc fairies nor brownies winging their
way in the sunshine, nor swaying on
he blades of grass, nor-Eh, what!
Was that an elf under the violet plant
1t her feet? And Linda's idle gaze
developed into one of feverish inter-
EST as she slipped from the log to her
Knees, and lifted one by one the green
caves. But alas! the change in posi-
ion changed also the appearance of
l certain group of leaves and flow-
srs which had looked exactly like an
slf clad in green and violet.
Linda was disappointed. She had
meant to ask the elf to help her; and
now, instead of good-natured fairy
lnclining listening ear to her trou-
Dies, there was only violet-plant!-
and what could it do? But the violet
'eally did something; it suggested the
of ideas. Linda broke
into laugh and clasped her hands.
"Oh If only could!" she cried joy
fully. But doubts followed fast.
They're only violets," she said, re-