The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-05-28
The Tragedy of Three Babes in . Trunk

1t was late Decoration day. Out In
Kankakee, I'LL, the last stragglers from
The parade were coming leisurely home
ward through the dusk. empty-handed,
heartful of he strangely mingled sem
tlrnent of the day-sorrow for the dead;
pride n happiness in their achieve
ments.
One of the very last to leave was lit
tie Ida Van Slette. Until the shadows
deepened in the old cemetery and the
wreaths and bouquets faded in the first
chill Of the night air she had fingered
and looked backward, the mystery and
marvel of it all holding her almost
against her will.
When she reached home supper was
over. The two younger children, Ro-
sella. and Pearl, had Deer undressed
and sent upstairs to bed. But there
were seven brothers. and they had all
gone outdoors to play.
Can't we play, too, Ida
asked at the foot of the stairs after she
had eaten supper. Just a little bit
And Mrs. Van Slette, mother of lever
Inc wise In the ways of children,
glanced from her Homework with a
smile of understanding and sympathy.
OF course, they could play until she
came upstairs If they wanted to. They
could do no harm.
And overhead, as she went on with
her work, she could catch the patter of
light-running feet in the bedroom. Now
it was hide and seek. She could hear
h merry little squeals of dismay when
a hiding place was discovered. Then it
must be a pillow fight, Rosetta was
laughing so. And at last there was 81
lence, and the mother, tired with the
extra work that comes with a holiday,
Cy,i yO ln rrnJ or II 500 %l~ 1trLA
in the kitchen low and went upstairs
to her babies.
1t was after 9 o'clock. There was
no light in the upstairs room, and she
went cautiously, half expecting a little
Whitehead form to jump out at her
from a shadowy corner. That was the
favorite game. to scare mother. But
tonight there was no sudden jump. no
peal of laughter, no clinging arms
around her neck and she went into the
little bedroom where the girls slept, and
lit a lamp.
Still everything was silent. The bed
was tossed and tumbled the pillows
gone, the quilt left over the footrail,
where 1t had been used as a tent. On
the chairs We're piled the little gar
ments, each in its place, as she had
taught must be done On the bureau
lay a bunch of half-withered wild
flowers that Ida had gathered on her
way NOME, DulI6TCupS ana udl5leS anu
q few last violets. On her pile Of
clothes rested the little scent flag she
had carried so bravely in the parade.
But that was all-nothing but still
ness, a strange, unnatural stiffness that
in spite of herself seemed to steal upon
the mother like an icy chill of appre-
hension. She set the lamp down and
tried to call to keep the tremor from
her voice. OF course it vas one of their
games, only some crazy little childish
prank. She would inc them. They
were hiding from her; under the bed,
In the closet. in the next room. some
where they were hiding, and laughing
at her for being frightened.
Ida" she called, Ida. dear. 1t is
time to go to bed. Rosetta, come now;
you've played long enough. Come.
Pearl; come to mother; tired baby
grille, come and be rocked to sleep"
No answer, nothing but silence and
the rustic of the wind in the maple
leaves against the windowpane. Catch
ing her breath, Mrs. Van Slette went
into the other bedrooms and searched.
That was part Of the make-believe.
part of the bedtime game, to max
mother hun for them. She threw
open closet doors and called, knelt to
look under beds, lifted the curtains
AVA from the window recesses, and
even glanced behind the dressers, but
there were no babies to laugh at her.