Honoré Willsie

“ Webster, "you will have to go after the doctor!"
Mary Jane cowered as she knelt by the couch. "Mother." she whispered, "it's an awful night,—dark and cold, and I'd have to pass old Williams' house and the cemetery. I'll sit up all night with baby. Don't make me go out in the dark, mother!"
Mrs. Webster, sat rigid, her face white, her eyes terrible. "Mary Jane. God must be punishing me for some sin I don't know of, in giving me a coward for a daughter. Put your things on and go!"
But Mary Jane's nerves had not yet recovered from Brother Jim's dare. ”

“ Webster's voice was sharp with anxiety. Mary Jane laid the baby in her carriage. "Mother," she said. "if Baby Rose has to wait until I get into town and find the doctor and bring him back, she'll choke to death. We can't waste a minute. Don't be afraid. I'll take care of her."
Mrs. Webster made a motion as if to rise, then sank back, half fainting. "Yes! Yes! Mary Jane, you are right. Hurry! Take the fur robe. Tell the doctor——"
But the front door hall slammed on Mary Jane and her charge.
The Webster house was a mile from the village. The only house on the way was the deserted Williams place. ”

“ Webster and Brother Jim left for Indianapolis. On Monday, Mrs. Webster fell down the cellar steps and sprained her ankle. Mary Jane shouldered her burdens like a man. To be sure, she shut the chickens in the coop long before sundown and harried young Charlie until he finished milking an hour In-fore time. But she locked the house carefully and took good care of her mother and Baby Rose. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 82 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”