The Iola register., 1884-05-30

Just as acknowledged promised lovers do.
Ny cheeks are burning and my heart is beat
L ought to feel displeased. of course. 70
1t must have been his fault-yet can't blam
only wonder--what he thinks of mol
HANNAH.
One day great colony of water
fowl sailed over the hamlet The,
few in a straight line in orderly time
honored fashion. well marshaled BY
their captain. They were glad t.
breathe again the resinous-scented ali
of their northern pine woods. Fol
they had travelled hundreds of miles
from Floridian groves of wild orange
trees, and low-lying reedy marshes by
the warm blue sea. They Were so neal
their summer home as thev flew over
Mishawamee that they began to con-
gratulate themselves upon their safe ar
rival.
Hannah put down. for a moment,
the heavy pail of water she was carry
ing to the house and looked up to
watch their graceful flight and listen
to their shril1 voices. Then she said,
with little sigh: eyes. the wild
geese are back again. Spring will
soon be here now. and l am glad
enough. it has been such long, hard
winter"
From the scattered houses blue
smoke rose in the clear, still air. The
forest, vast, dark and mysterious,
stretched its huge srms around the set
tiement, and the cold sky OF the north,
with its oppressive melancholy like a
haunting, monotonous song, whose
minor tones suggested loss and desoia-
,fion, brooded over all. -=---
Soon the big logs would come float
ing down the brown, swift current OF
Wolf River, and the wild songs of the
adventurous raftsmen would waken the
echoes in those sleeping forest aisles.
A daredevil set were these lumbermen
of the north. A reckless, red-shirted,
picturesque band of crusaders, whose
arms were turned against sturdy trees.
With much of the lawlessness and
ignorance. though very little of the
piety, of those mail-clad hordes of the
middle ages, who went out to fight the
Moslem, these men fought against un-
relenting enemies, too-against the
bitter cold of the long winters, when
feet and hands were frozen bv ex-
posure to the cruel air, against the
inconsistencies and desfondency, natur-
al to a lot so isolated, so full of hard
ship in var Gus forms. What wonder
that they drank sometimes until look
Nor word provoked tho fierce quarrel
which ended. perhaps, in bloodshed,
possibly crimeP"
Mishawamee were contented enough.
1t was aS cheerful and refined as anv
life they had ever known. Not so was
1t with Hannah Barry. The two years
she had spent there seemed an eternity.
She was of finer mold than the heavy
Norwegian or Swedish wives who large
1y composed the female portion of the
settlement. She could not speak to
them of sorrows or aspirations that to
them were wholly incomprehensible
so her heart was tull of great hunger
for some slight measure of sympathy,
of confidence from one of her own sex.
Day by day her great. patent black
eyes carried the pathetic shadow of her
longing in their depths and her we'll
cut, rather refined fea lures, grew more
sharp and her cheek thinner.
She was slender. nervous. ambitious
little American woman. who had drifted
away from a comfortable home in
State farther south. And the privations
she had borne. the struggles against
poverty aud despondency had never
even been limited at by her to any of
her former friends. For she had mar
ried Dick sorely against her fathers
will. and was far too proud and inde-
pendent TO admit to those who blamed
or pIticd her for her choice that her lie
with him 80 far had been a constant
struggle TO keep up his courage as well
as her own. For poor Dick, though al
ways kind and brave. did indeed seem
TO be dogged by some malicious SD r;t
OF lll-luck. Hannah had not undergone
quite such marvellous misfortunes. It is
true, as that mariner in .'Billee Tailor"
who was "bitten by a crocod lie" and
swallowed by whale" ..all on &C
count of Eliza" but she had been
scorched by throes of fever brought on
by over work and exposure to CO d, to
say nothing of mental troubles. care
and sorrow of various kinds, all on &C
CO ant of Dick. But If you imagine for
moment that she wayered, or loved
him less. you know little of a true
woman's heart. Undoubtedly. Hannah
was illogical enough to cling all the
more tenderly to him with each misfor-
tune. Her old fashioned uneulightened
mind argued that when the world bat
tered the poor fellow most heartlessiy
then he had most need of the devotion
of his wife. and the best right to it.
Only q farmer S daughter. and rought
up n the agricultural districts, She
knew iittlc of that selfish philosophy
which would have advised Fer to take
Aie child and leave Lick to b S fate.
thus causing herself to be included IN
the prosperous ma ority Hannah had
always from a child mended the broken
legs of forlorn BIRDS. and nursed the
weax lambkins back to Ii e and yipor:
as ally TO have the latter taken fro !. !
he and sold as soon as they grew frolic-
some and had attained cond tion under
her shelter ug care.
And thus 1t was that she stood in