Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-06-25
An EVENTFUL DAY.

Janie tied the laSt puce-coifTeu lump
4. IA stake and Strengthened herself
up.
aye must have the roof mended,"
said she.
aWbo is to do it," sighed Mrs. Barr.
and If Mrs. Lepell goes away what
hall we do about the interest ON your
fathers old note =
usbe won't go away, mother, never
,sar." said jamie, brightly. Don't
,,st You'll see that things will come
right" ..
aBut the shingles must be fixed right
svsy," said Mrs Barr.
aTbey shall be fixed, mother" said
jamie.
awho will do it?" impatiently re-
peated the widow.
~ will" said jamie.
oTbat's all nonsense groaned Mrs.
Barr.
But jamie had never been more seri.
;ously in earnest in all her life.
Mrs. Barr went to the parish sewing
society that afternoon.
Colonel Addison, IRON the Valley
hotel. who was paving his addresses TO
1 Mrs. Lepell, the bOarder, came with a
sprited horse and buggy to take her
10 the sea beach.
|, aNow is my time" said jamie exult-
sntlv, TO herself.
Bnt Mrs. Lepell came back before
she had got twenty-five yards away from
Z the house.
Jamie" she said, II forgot 10 tell
You that / left my three diamond rings
IN the little left hand drawer of the
bureau. might lose them in the
water. / thought would tell you in
case Of fire, you know, OF any other ac-
cdeut,"
\ "Yes," said jamie; but there won't be
4 an accident"
Mrs. Lepell laughed, and ran back
!, 10 the carriage and the impatient col
!, onel.
And not until then did jamie perceive
that tall half-grown lad, lurking be-
n hind the porch rails, was waiting to
|, speak with her.
"Who are you?" said jamie, briskly
what do you want? No we haven't
4 any old clothes. IL you really want
4 work you had better go on to the new
Is buildings, about mile up the road
]. Idare say they can find something for
You to do there"
: W The lad mumbled out something,
4 whether thanks Or otherwise, jamie
! could not discriminate, and shufiied
"a An.Ia ol.
/ her hat and boiling the front door, ran
i across the back meadows to Ralph Par
1 sons carpenter shop, some quarter of a
\ mile by the wood path.
4 II want few shingles" said she,
"and pound of single nails"
what for?" said Ralph.
), "No matter" calmly retorted jamie.
She nodded good-by and hurried
away under the canopy Of pink apple
blossoms
Ralph looked admiringly after her.
She's regular clipper Of girl,
that jamie Barr" said he. eff ever I'm
. able TO support q wife that will be the
one Id choose"
Light as a thistledown, jamie hurried
back with her precious bundle OF shin
giles, and the pound Of nails il her peck
. at.
! Nov TIL show him whether / can
mend the roof or not" said she, as
, with hammer added to her stock in
! trade, assembled TO the garnet and climb
ed an old little ladder that led out
through rusty trap door to the steep
roof
The slant was abrupt, the old shin
War ~ x,,,th
slippery with green moss incrustations,
bnt jamie Barr was not one lightly to
Dc dlscouraged, and presently she found
herself neatly balanced, with her feet
eraced against the broad gutter, one ell
DOW leaning on the roof, and the other
hand busily tearing away the old shin
giles and replacing them deftly with
overlapping rows of new, fragrant
wood.
The click Of the hammer, the ring
Oh The nails was like music in her ears.
suddenly, however, as she sat perched
nke squirrel on the slanting roof, the
sound OF voices struck on her ear. She
paused to listen.
Three diamond rings / heard her
50 herself. In the left hand draw
" OF some bureau" said the same &C
cents which half an hour ago had asked
ner Tor charity 'And no one but a
woman IN the house."
nnre OF that, ?" said deeper voice.
les, plum sure" was the answer.
and wouldn't wonder IL there we're
O'ner things for the picking mp"
Zone on, then" said the other one /;
ana step lively. We can't stand here
nSlng all day. The door is bolted, is
wait a minute; I've got a little
gaer mere as would start any staples
lnis side of Denver"
JANE had listened in brcathless hor-
vi In an instant, as il were. she COM
p,saendfd the full danger that men
neo Mrs Lepell's treasured gems the
,uise diamond rings that the boarder
nsu once told her were worth thousands
= aViiars. And here she was alone
and helpless.
hurriedly she turned over the crisis
- her mind. Ii she we're TO re-enter
- .ue asnse by the same way In which she
nI, ieft 1t, she must certainly meet the
sns. and any resistance which she
s .I" oiler would be speedily overpow-
aa'e barr was not one to hesitate
u.s while the thoughts yet careered
.ough her brain, she sprang from the
os.es INTO the blooming boughs of the
80. cherry tree which grew so close
I'ne house that its branches scraped
'1s = rooi on windy March days.
y was hazardous thing for any one
... 80 VINO was not swift OF limb and
H. Cf eye; but jamie alighted,
sdIa aest, IN the fork of the tree, climb
lssassa'iy down until she reached its
l ss.Ir oough and thence leaped breash-
sc, r! 70 the ground. springing swiftly
Gus. .o's Tue meadows to Ralph Parsons
ssgSeuter shop.
jamie, what il it9n
Aaipn Parsons himself rose up out Of