Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-02-17
Lore and Frost.

1Hclc Was bcaulY enough " DC lOuId
in Mataska valley, what with the river
and the lake and the forest crowned hills,
at least in summer time; and even the dry,
cold 1igor Of a Minnesota winter could
not take it all away. Nevertheless, there
was nothing else there half SO beautiful
as Norma Ericsson.
Her withered, old Norwegian father
had settled himself on a good enough
piece Of land, away up above the head Of
the lake, miles away from Mataska village,
and no one could say he had so much rs one
friend more, at the end of a tive-years res
idencc, than the day the first timber was
cut for his house.
A thoroughgoing miser was old Jar, and
his crusty seltishncss included not only
his earthly goods, and the gift or use there
OF, and his own not very desirable COM
pany, but also his own Jewel OF a daugh-
ter.
Rarely was Norma seen in the village;
almost never at all at any merry-making
Of the neighborly country folk; and old
Jan seemed to take an ogresh sort of
tanning vlsitors-young men especially
at his own house.
And so. the more Norna's beauty grew
and became known among them, the more
unpopular was old Jan Ericsson among the
free hearted settlers of the Mastaska val
ley.
And yet there were those who had sue
ceeded in breaking through or climbing
over the odd old miser's wall of reserve.
John Primer had done it, by his IA
theirs advice; for Judge Primer was Jan
Ericson's lawyer, and he had more than
once limited to his son and heir that Nor
ma had other and more solid attractions
than her beauty.
1t, therefore, any fair occasion offered
to send message to the Ericsson farm,
John Primer had been generally quite
ready to oblige his father by carrying it.
and more than once he had even ventured
on a brief call without any special Grand.
AS for Paul Wood, on the other hand,
either he had not sufficient cunning to in
vent errands, or his pride forbade any
subterfuge, forh had positively and open
ly braved, more than once even the harsh
discourtesy of old Jan, in his unlimited,
unabashed intrusiens.
It Paul did not pretend to vie with
John Primer in dress, wealth or apparent
prospects, he was certainly a fine, manly
specimen Of a young Western farmer, and
his dark cu:ls and almost swarthy fea-
lures wore a pleasant contrast to even the
ripe blonde Morse loneliness Of Norma
herself.
One bit Of strategy it seemed that Paul
had stopped to, for more then once
ho1 no I,l
been "out a-hunting in that neighbor-
mood ION the very days which old Jan
had chosen for a bit of teaming on the
furthest edge Of his possessions, or a trip
to thu store at the village.
Nobody ever knows how such things
come to be common property; but, some
how or other, Judge Primer and his son
were made aware that they had reasons
for distrusting Paul Wood, and he had
been made to feel the fact very SEN
sibly, more then once.
There had been an added bitterness
the past autumn, in the fact that John
Primers nomination to tho State legis.
lature had only resulted in showing the
folly Of the Mataska valley people, for
the stupid fellows had known no more
than to choose Paul Wood instead; and
even Norma Ericsson had said she was
glad of it.
There came day, however, in the
early winter, when Paul would have Civ
en- his political honors and his best horse,
perhaps even his farm to boot, to have
known why it was Norma suddenly be-
came as distant and repelling as old Jan
himself
Not word would she vouchsafe him,
though he met her full half mile from
the house, and walked to the very door
by her side.
He did not give the matter up, even
then, half so much for the volly of bitter
abuse with which the old miser greeted
him, as for the icy look OF indifference
with which Norma marched straight into
the house, and closed the door.
There was really very little 'sgive up'
IN Paul's composition; but he met John
Primer, before he had left the farm a
mile behind him. and there was a look
on Johns face that suggested a good
many ugly thoughts to the sore heart of
the discounted youth.
The next day and the nexc, and, in fact
agood many days after that, were decid-
edly unfavorable to counting of any sort.
TWAS wheather to have "bred cool