Read "Dominie Dean" by Ellis Parker Butler online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
IN spite of all his efforts David could not shake off his pitiful little burden of debt. After little Alice 'Thusia bore him two more children; they died before the month, and the last left 'Thusia an invalid, and even Doctor Benedict lacked the skill to aid her. A maid -- hired girl, we called them in Riverbank -- became a necessity. The church did what it thought it could, gave David a few more dollars yearly, and sympathized with him.
To David the misfortune of 'Thusia's invalidism came so gradually that he felt the weight of it bit by bit and not as a single great catastrophe. She was "not herself" and then "not quite well" and then, before he was fully aware, he was happy when she had a "good" day.