Page:Six months in Kansas.djvu/74

70 liminary, I went through with his head, face, and arms; then took the spoon and fed him, as you would a child. He did not need much, and was too sick to take it if he had desired it. But after he was through, and I turned to go out, he threw his arms over his head, turned his face to the wall, and I heard him say: "I ain't been so happy this thirteen months; 'pears like my mother has come."

I crept out, down stairs, to the room below, where David was sick. He had his share of attention, and begged of me to come again—to which I replied, he should have his share of my spare time. I then went into the house to ask what provision had been made for the night. Phebe said John would lie down on a couch by David, and take care of him. David seemed almost too sick to be put off with anything less than a wide-awake watcher; but I did not like to interfere. Besides, John was sitting upon the sill of the "wen" door, close by me; the night was coming in damp, and it seemed to me that he did not look well. Phebe said, in answer to my question, that he was not; but John did not speak to me. I thought his manner very strange. I still