Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-17

at once. A large number of workmen
Were employed. and everybody who
was directly interested turned out and
worked with will, rain or shine. A
tunnel was driven into the side of the
hlil, and whole kegs OF powder ex-
ploded therein, rending the earth and
aiding greatly in the work of excava.
ton, and at last the work was so far
completed that portion of the water
and floating debris was turned aside
into the new channel.
The rains, too. had now ceased, and
as the waters subsidized the extent of the
damage done could be positively de-
termined.
In places, banks of sand and gravel
many feet deep extended across fields
regarded by their owners as the most
valuable in their possession. In other
places the channel of the little stream
had been entirely choked up, and a new
one cut by the waters through pastures
and grain lands, and in vet others.
where little of the coarser debris had
been deposited, the long standing OF
the water had greatly injured vine
yards and orchards, the vines and tree
trunks being thickly coated with the
tine clay which the water had held in
solution.
On the whole the damage was less
than many had feared, and with the ex-
pectation of preventing any further in
jury by the erection of the dam, hope
revived in the breasts of all, and they
began repairing as fast as possible the
injury already done. and the cultiva-
ton of their vineyards and fields for the
coming crop.
The Parsons ranch had suffered with
the rest, but not more than many
others. A hundred grape vines stand
ing upon ground near the creek We're
killed or badly injured. Several banks
of gravel, mingled with larger stones,
extended across some of the most fer
tile fields, the total injury amounting to
thousand dollars or more. in pros
pective, but not seriously affecting the
immediate income of the family occu-
pying the white cottage under the bluff,
around whose open porch still clam
bered rose bushes heavy with their
weight of yellow, and red, and crimson
blooms.
As soon as possible after Johnny had
been brought home from the shanty in
the hills where he lay so many weeks,
Jennie and Lucy had returned to school
in San Francisco, Mrs. Parsons being now
more than ever determined that they
should not fail to obtain an education.
IF we leave them nothing else,
John, let us at least give them an edll-
cation" she had said to her husband,
and he had made no objections, though
the house seemed doubly lonely with
out them.
To help Mrs. Parsons with the lighter
work they secured the assistance of a
young girl whose parents had moved
into the neighborhood but the year be-
fore, and who. having but little 10 begin
on, were not unwilling that their daugh-
ter should find a home where she would
be kindly treated and paid for washing
the dishes and such other chores as her
age and experience fitted her for.
As they had missed a portion of one
term the girls did not 90 home for the
short spring vacation, but remained in
the city and studied, in order to keep
up with their classes; and when they
did return in midsummer Lucy was en-
gagged to be married to James Annel-
sey.
1.-The wedding was not to take place
for at least year yet" she told her
mother in announcing the engagement
Mr.. Annelsey had desired an imme-
date union, but to this she had inter-
posed a decided negative, and he had at
last consented that she should remain
at school year longer. when they were
to be married and he would take her to
New York to reside.
This was not wholly unexpected by
the family. They knew that Mr.. An
nelsey had followed the young ladies to
San Francisco, and that he had been a
frequent caller upon them while there.
Jennie had even intimated in one of her
letters to her mother that she thought
Lucy and he would be married some
day.
She said less of Ensign, who was
almost as frequent visitor as Annel-
sey.
In fact the two young men had made
up their slight differences and frequent
" called upon the girls in company, or
together arranged with them for attend
ing upon places of amusement; and if
Jennie had chosen she could have in
formed her mother of the probabilities
of another marriage, almost as certain
of taking place as that of Lucy to Eir.
Annelsey.
Jennie, however, was not formally
engaged to Mr.. Ensign.
He had his own way to make in the
world, and had passed the age when
men are apt to act hastily in such af-
fairs. He meant Jennie to understand
that he preferred her to all others, yet
he did not think it well to bind her by
formal engagement until he had some
thing more ahead upon which they
could begin life together.
Times for laboring men. and especial
" for skilled mechanics like Ensign.
were good just then, but the standard
ofliving for ali classes was also high,
and the art of saving large fortunes out
of salaries of thirty or forty dollars a
week in private life is even yet not well
understood except by few railroad Of
ficials and presidents of savings banks.
Mr.. Annelsey, infatuated with Lucy,
and having no necessity for delay on
account of pecuniary matters, had pro-
posed the moment he found his courage
sufficient for the ordeal; and she, al
though knowing in her heart that she
loved Erastus better, yet thinking he
cared nothing for her, and that her par
ents desired her union with MIR. An
nelsey. accepted him. But when he
urged an immediate marriage, her
heart failed her, and she begged for
time, giving as her reason a desire to
remain at school another year, and so
fit herself the better to fill the position
which she should occupy as the wife of
one who had the entrance of polite So
ciety in the first city of the country.
In this Lucy was partially sincere.
She did not greatly love the man to