Kate laid no claim to "ability," herself; but she knew she was as
strong as most men, had an ordinary brain that could be trained,
and while she was far from beautiful she was equally as far from
being ugly, for her skin was smooth and pink, her eyes large and
blue-gray, her teeth even and white. She missed beauty because
her cheekbones were high, her mouth large, her nose barely
escaping a pug; but she had a real "crown of glory" in her hair,
which was silken fine, long and heavy, of sunshine-gold in colour,
curling naturally around her face and neck. Given pure blood to
paint such a skin with varying emotions, enough wind to ravel out
a few locks of such hair, the proportions of a Venus and perfect
health, any girl could rest very well assured of being looked at
twice, if not oftener.
Kate sat on a log, a most unusual occurrence for her, for she was
familiar only with bare, hot houses, furnished with meagre
necessities; reeking stables, barnyards and vegetable gardens.
She knew less of the woods than the average city girl; but there
was a soothing wind, a sweet perfume, a calming silence that
quieted her tense mood and enabled her to think clearly; so the
review went on over years of work and petty economies, amounting
to one grand aggregate that gave to each of seven sons house,
stock, and land at twenty-one; and to each of nine daughters a
bolt of muslin and a fairly decent dress when she married, as the
seven older ones did speedily, for they were fine, large,
upstanding girls, some having real beauty, all exceptionally
well-trained economists and workers. Because her mother had the
younger daughters to help in the absence of the elder, each girl
had been allowed the time and money to prepare herself to teach a
country school; all of them had taught until they married. Nancy
Ellen, the beauty of the family, the girl next older than Kate,
had taken the home school for the second winter. Going to school
to Nancy Ellen had been the greatest trial of Kate's life, until
the possibility of not going to Normal had confronted her.
Nancy Ellen was almost as large as Kate, quite as pink, her
features assembled in a manner that made all the difference, her
jet-black hair as curly as Kate's, her eyes big and dark, her lips
red. As for looking at Kate twice, no one ever looked at her at
all if Nancy Ellen happened to be walking beside her. Kate bore
that without protest; it would have wounded her pride to rebel
openly; she did Nancy Ellen's share of the work to allow her to
study and have her Normal course; she remained at home plainly
clothed to loan Nancy Ellen her best dress when she attended
Normal; but when she found that she was doomed to finish her last
year at school under Nancy Ellen, to work double so that her
sister might go to school early and remain late, coming home tired
and with lessons to prepare for the morrow, some of the
spontaneity left Kate's efforts.