The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-03-12

with shlftless, professional tenants.
He was not only shrewd enough to
know that q prosperous tenant was
the more profitable, but he also felt a
kindly interest in young Brooks.
For several years this young man
had been known in the neighborhood
as an Industrious farm hand, and
when, after accommodating enough to
purchase a team Of horses and a few
household goods, he had married the
neat and thrifty Mary Scott, people
had pointed them out as a couple des-
tined to succeed.
HE hasn't been spoiled" Marvin
had said to his wife when Brooks took
the place, "and | think | can make a
good tenant out of him."
He had even gone SO far as to make
q large reduction in the rent. But all
this only increased his anger to-
ward Brooks. He noted the weedy
corn-fields as he rode along that after
noon and felt the more convinced that
he had been deceived in his tenant.
Even the neat appearance of the little
two-roomed cottage and the grounds
surrounding it did not modify him
much. He suspected that this quiet
beauty OF clinging vine and soft-scent-
ed flower had robbed the weedy fields
of the care they so much needed.
He dismounted and strobe quietly
acros the green sward in front of the
cottage. He must pass d window to
reach the door at the side. A bed
stood near the window, and over it's
head-board he could see Brooks,
standing with folded arms, gazing
vacantly in the opposite direction.
He could see only part of the face, but
it was so pale and thin, and the ex-
preston SO haggard, that ne invGlun-
tarily stopped for a second look.
"The doctor says | can be up soon,
Philip" came a weak voice from the
bed, where Mrs. Brooks waslying with
her young child.
ut can't make much difference. /
almost wished hat / had died and
you had followed me-" said Brooks,
bitterly.
30 Philip! And your baby!"
81 know" he said; but MI. Marvin
must have his rent, and / suppose we
will be turned out and loose all we
have! My God, Nellie! know / ought
not to talk of these things to you, but
no one else cares"
Marvin did not wait to hear more.
Somehow he could not go in, and he
turned and walked away as silently
as he came.
Down the road a hundred yards
David Gorham was working, and Mar
vim rode on to see him. "Dave''
everyone called him, and he was
pleased with the familiarity which the
name implied. He was one of those
"shiftless" renters, as Marvin termed
them, but withal a ~big-hearted, whole
souled fellow whom no one disliked. He
was unselfish to the last degree, and
though he thoroughly detested work,
yet If it must be done he had as soon
do it for q neighbor as for himself.
''That'sa shame, isn'tit, Uncle Ben"
he said, as Marvin came up, pointing
to the field where Brooks wheat stood
growing and rotting in the shock.
"Why wasn't it taken in?"
"Well, you see Brooks was taken
down with the fever, and we neighbors
cut his wheat for him; but by the time
we had taken care of our own it set in
raining, and his all spoiled in the
shock"
That's too bad" said Marvin, re-
calling the scene in the cottage.
eyes, after the poor fellow worked
like a beaver last spring to put his
crops in. / am afraid he viii come out
behind this year. He promised me
part Of his corn crop if I'd tend it, but
I'll gladly give him all I've DONE"
eff he hadle t me know, Icould have
helped him." said Marvin, not quite
ready to Justify his tenant.
sWell, we told him he could depend
on us, and then everyone is a little
afraid of you, Uncle ~Ben-except me"
he added, with a twinkling glance at
the stern face before him.
There was something about Mar
vim that repealed familiarity, but
just now he was glad that
this ne'er-do-well fellow was not
afraid of him. If this Gorham, who
proverbially s'came out behind" as
he expressed it, at the years end,
could do so much for his tenant, what
was his own duty in the matter? Sure
ly he did not set q higher value on
dollars than Gorham did on days of
labor. The Quaker turned his horse
and rode back to the Brook cottage.
The young man sat in his doorway,
pale, but quiet. Evidently the worst
was over, now that his wife knew all.
He met Mr.. Marvin's look squarely,
and when the Quaker had seated him.
self, he proceeded at once to the paia-
full subject.
II am afraid | "a rude to you this
morning, Mr.. Marvin" he said. "but
I was too much discouraged to care.
1t is true, though, that | can't pay
the rent. | suppose you. had best
take my horses and get what you can
out Of them, and Nellie and | will give