Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1919-07-02
SUES MONU ENT
BY AGNES c. BRoeAN.

| With what sacrificing each penny
had been put aside, only she knew !;
Susan Trent's youth had been spent
caring for an invalid parent, and when
| at last she was left alone in the world,
it was to find herself apparently for
gotten by neighbors and friends whose
| lives were filed with their own new.
| err interests or cares.
Sitting upon the porch on sum-
| mer's evening with laughter and mer-
| rymaking coming to her distantly she
wondered what one might do to be
| appreciated-tO be remembered or
missed when one was gone.
| 1t was part of her faithfulness to
go each week to the hill cemetery to
| put flowers upon her family graves
marked with their modest stones. And
| this was Sues plan. When she was
gone forever, she would leave mon
| ument to mark her resting place.
| noble stone with her name standing
| boldly out upon it, so when strangers
must pass, they would stop to read
a record of her own unappreciated
life. "She hath done what she could"
| they would read and thus she would
not die wholly unrecognized and I'M
known.
The money from the selling of her
| tiny home would not more than pay
| debts and expenses; the saving for the
monument must be separate thing,
| and Sue began at once. AS time
passed, adding to this store was her
greatest pleasure, and in her strange,
absorbing endeavor Sue became each
| day more brusque and forbidding. She
wondered caustically why neighbOrs
who smiled freely at each other passed
her with a nod.
"Susan Trent has always been
queer" they said, but it was well Miss
Sue did not hear.
Upon this certain evening as she
returned the money to the sandal
wood box the front door of Miss Sues
house burst suddenly open and child
stood III it's frame.
81 want to come in" the little girl
announced She Rugged a kitten in
her arms and raindrops glistened on
her own curly hair. '"Traddles and 1
are wet, we want to sit by your fire."
Land sakes!" calculated Miss Sue,
"where'd you come from? Why don't
you go and sit by your own fre?"
Haven't got any own home any
MORE" the child said reproachtully.
"1'm staying round the neighbors while
mothers in the hospital. | ran
up this way after Traddles, he
was on your porch. Traddles always
runs away now; he doesn't like stay
ing with neighbors. My name is JOY"
the child further confided.
She Invested herself of cap and cloak
as she talked.
Land sakes!" murmured Miss Sue.
The wet kitten had been carefully
deposited in a chair. Then as she
waited uncertainty, Joy, with sigh
of great content, climbed into Miss
Sues arms and rested her curly head
against her unbending shoulder.
cts nice here" she said happily.
you're a new neighbor, too, aren't
you? I'm going to stop this night
with YOU
whats your father thinkin' about"
Susan Indignantly exclaimed, 'lettin
child run around this way, when her
mothers in the hospital?"
'Daddy's in a hospital, too," Joy
said, cover in France-where he was
slot. He's been gone so long, he
doesn't even know about mothers
Sickness"
Mother fell down the high stairs
from the room where we went to live
after Daddy went away. An she's
been hurt SO long that every bit of
our money is gone. SO that's why
she had to go to the hospital, an the
neighbors are looking after me. Moth
err will never walk straight again; it's
her hip, you know-upless she has an
operation"
'Why don't they do it then?" Miss
Sue burst out She had been listen
ing breathlessly.
Joy shook her head. "Only one doc
tor knows how" she answered,
shrewdly, 'an' folks without money
can't send away for big doctors"
81 want to stay with you," Joy
murmured drowsily. 81 love YOU"
AS Miss Sue tucked the child into
her own white bed, her hands trem-
bIed and later that night she sat, her
sharp eyes softened still with their
tender mist, when the draggled kitten
confidently cuddled to her side, Miss
Sua smiled and the smile erased the
tired lines of years.
"That brave wounded man over
there" she whispered. San his brave
wife keepin her suffering a secret
that homeless lamb wanderin' around
In the rain, an me, Sue Trent, savin'
for monument after I'm dead!"
1t was several days afterward when
Joy ran down to meet her friend.
you've been gone so long," she greet