Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-28
and prophesy in way that was as earneS

and DrOpheSy IN way THAT was do cal Hos
as it was absurd.
remember but one of these letters en-
tirely--tne tamest and shortest one. But
that one, no doubt, is quite enough. IL
had no date or postmark, and was signed
Merinda only, with small initial leltef.
The name was followed by many stars,
the significance of which is too well
known to repeat:
mi deer love want to see you so bad ! was in
the bay lofte Yesterday when you druv the COWS
mast our hons on yore spotid horse and sede you
thru the crack and think he Is so mise only ne hods
his he'd out tn mulch and steps tn ionge you must
lern him to lift his legs quker and not step so long
nor silk his he'd out killed rattle snaik to Ga and
aboute an our befour down will go out to
drive in the shepe from of the rocky butte and it
will be very Ion some with mi SILVER tae pony
think mi silver tale pony and your new spothd pony
will both drive shepe altogether furst rate mi one
dere lov"
There was hollow tree that stood at
the edge of grove that lay partly be-
tween the parental ranches, which was
fitted up for a post-office. These were inn
aginative young lovers, it seemed to me,
with disposition to make the most of
their limited resources for innocent amuse-
ment. There was an old bushy-tailed
squirrel in the branches, adorned with
ide-whiskers like an English military
gentleman, and always civil and very talk
alive when they walked together in the
grove, and him they named their postmas-
ter general.
A hundred little things like this were
told and related Sunday after Sunday on
the hillside when the sun split through
the leaves in the majestic calm of a noun
tain Sabbath That boy had not the
shadow of doubt. 1t was his first love.
How royal how earnest and unselfish!
She was the older of the two and his
overthrow was, of course, only a question
of time. Who does not know that much
now?
How the news came to him at last, how
it sifted and drifted a little at time,
vaguely at first, to this boy in the forest,
with his great faith; how he refused to
listen or to believe, the agony Of the first
doubt that struck and lodged like poi
soned arrow up to the feathers in his heart,
would be long to tell and very sad.
But it came to him at last. The great
big, ugly tact lay like a bowlder in the
trail before him, that he could not get
around, yet could not muster courage to
mount: and so he sat down on the
leaves and hid his face in his hands, and
wept like child that he was. She had
married a man with beard-a great, six
foot, raw boned, muscular monster, with a
rancho and herds of his own, and hands
like slabs Of pine.
This young mans name was Ginger; Or
at least that is the name, and the only
name, by which he was known in the
mines.
In this forlorn state of mind somehow
he and the man with the leather nose
came in contact and they became sure
friends.
| have observed that in the mines,
where men mate together much as man
and wife in civilization, you rarely see
the strong mated to the strong, or the old
to the old. The weak are attached TO the
strong, and the strong sympathize with
the weak. Here is something to think
about Joaqujn NtNer, IN tie Indepen-
dent