Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-04-20

those enjoyed by certain other women
Unwilling TO be too familiar with any ON
baser than Ruggles, she usually dined
she lived, alone with her noble son.
On certain summer evening she stirret
her tea a long time in silence. She stirret
il vigorously, creating maeistrom inside
her cup, where, very like whale in TIT
story books, little crust of bread disap
peared and reappeared, and sailed rount
and round as if very much perpleXed
Then she unconsciously reversed the cur
rent of the maelstrom, sending the baket
and buttered whale 10 the bottom.
II never see that air Miller, no odds
how well be-" she remarked, mechani
cally, to the tea pot, "hut what feel weak
creepin's come over me. He puts dye STUFF
on his baird. An when a mans whisker;
is gray an his head keeps black, it's sign
he uses his jaw more'n he does his brains
An that yailer headed ollbaby o his'n--
the peert thing Il II lay fifty cents sac
never washed dish. To think o hel
ssyin' a think like that about Markisdee !
an there's more O. the Peables in him to-
day. But s'pose she don't know no bet
ter" And Mrs. Ruggles rose from the
table, while the corner of her apron made
a sudden journey to the corner Of her eye
1t was evident her moral nature had re
ceivcd wound that ranked.
A year before this time the Marquis ano
his playmates had watched several vigOr
Gus fellows plant theodolite on the bank
of Craviish Creek, very much as inc ma
tives must have watched the SpaDiards
plant their first cross on San Salvador.
The contract for grading the new railway
bed was in the hands of a stranger named
Miller, who was said TO have known better
days, and in the time Of his prosperity,
had been thought proper person TO be
called Colonel. He was bluf man OF %
years, who appeared TO have known the
ups and downs of life, and whose deter
mination to wear black beard was equaled
only by its determination to be gray.
Rumor said that Inc had been railroad
president, that he had made and spent vast
sums Of money and that his home was
somewhere in the East.
His only child Alice, ten or twelve
years old, bright, fair, full ofanimal spirits
who was INDUCED to the last degree by
the roughly generous Colonel, sometimes
accompaniment him about the half develop
ed country, searching for strange birds
and blossoms in the woods, or watching
demurely the laborers ply their picks and
shovels while he inspected their work.
The two rode almost daily between
Thompson City and the line of excava.
ton, passing the house of Mrs. Ruggles,
and cool spring near it, whence that
lady had obtained the water which made
the tea which was stirred into the mael-
strom which has been described. While
obtaining it, clad in her working garb, the
patter Of hoofs and clear, girlish laugh
sweet as the carol Of meadow lark-came
ringing along the lane. AS the Colonel
and Alice halted to let her high-mettled
pony, and his heavier Morgan, drink, Mrs.
Rugglcs, who could not otherwise escape
observation, with becoming pride and
modesty stepped behind the thick willows,
leaving the Marquis with pail of water
between his legs and bunch of mottled
feathers in his hand.
He stood dumb before the lovely girl,
with her face sparkling from exercise and
enjoyment, and her golden hair escaping
from its prison of blue ribbons. While
the horses drank, she espicd a cluster of
cool violets Frightening the damp grass
near the spring. The Marquis had pres
ence of mind enough left to step forward
and pluck them. Her "Thank you" adj
ded greatly to his embarrassment which
he expressed by vigorously twisting the
notified feathers.
"What bird are those fromg" asked
Alice.
The question so increased his embarrass-
ment that now the Marquis could express
1t only by chewing his cap and she smil'
ingly waited moment for the compOsure
Of the young naturalist's feelings.
"She was low, chunky hen" said he,
at length" she was low, chunky hen,
an she laid 107 eggs, an then she had
spazzums an whirled roun' till she died"
A burst of irrepressible laughter es
capped Alice, with the exclamation, did
anybody ever see such boy?" as she and
her father rode away. And those were
the exceptionable words concerning her
son which SO ranked that evening in the
heart of Mrs. Ruggles.
The Marquis gazed with hungry eyes
after the airy little figure as it dashed down
the unlovely, worm fenced road. The
golden hair, overlooking its boundaries Of
blue ribbon, was more glorious to him than
the golden sunshine OVERLOOKING the blue
sky. They met no more at the spring, but
several times week, from a respectful dis
lance, he watched her riding by. From
Thompson City to the little log bridge
over Crawfish Creek, the road lay for four
miles through heavy woods. Then came
cleared fields, and soon the house Of Mrs.
Ruggles.
So the summer days went by. The sea.
son was waning, the garden was almost
done, and soon the contractor would be
elsewhere. Then came one particular
warm and sultry day. The screams of 10.
Gusts everywhere suggested that they were
flying. The Colonel, riding once more
slowly out toward the workmen with his
daughter, was near the middle of the for
est. The trees on either hand were tall,
and the road was so straight and narrow
that the sunlight scarcely touched it. The
Marquis, in the top of tall chestnut that
overhung the road near the edge of the
wood, was overhauling q nest Of flying
squirrels perhaps In the hope of finding
mottled feathers on their wings. From
his elevation he could see for great dis
lance down the level, dusty road between
the trees, and far across the surrounding
country.
The sun did not shine bright, yet no
cloud was in the sky. The atmosphere,
thick, oppressive, opaque. yelled the hori-
zon with strange gloom. Not leaf could
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