Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-06-10

Know what has come to you-youhav
grown SO impractical lately.
\ think l am little tired of being
practical" said Shelda, darinely. /
VIII be practical again by-and.by;
want little breathing space. How
warm the sunshine is And listen to
ehe oilds-listen to that one up above
our heads ~ :
lie sings each song twice over.
Les. you soonld think he never could re
me FIRST fine careless rapturer
Birds and sunshine are better than
"Sheldal"
Yes, know, Bella, am wrong
dreadfully wrong, | am not sure.
though, that l am wrong; the great
truths of life are not the facts that
our nteliects can grasp. Life has
ueeper meanings the birds and the
sunshine know something about them,
and we can get glimpse of them
when We are still, and let the birds and
the sunshine speak to u.s.
You are talking like a romantic
girl in your teens, Shelda. Do set to
work and purge your mind of such un-
healthy fancies," Bella said shortly
and authoritatively.
The same morning Nancy and Tom
were engaged in equally perplexin2
conversation in the garden. Nancy
mad come out to pick flowers for the
mouse; Tom was sauntering to and
fro IN purposeless way near her.
when is Miss Clarke going away,
Nancy" he asked at length.
Next week, |" said Nancy.
Cannot you persuade her to stay
ionger?" said Tom, awkwardly.
Nancy paused in her task and looked
curiousiy at her brother. do you
wish her to stay?" she SAID.
"Well-yes."
al thought you disliked her." said
Nancy; Il thought you hated all
learned women. You have said so
over and over again"
Have II" said Tom. Well, | re-
tract. Let all women be learned by
sll means if Shelda is learned"
tom" said Nancy, al do not think
1T is quite right of you-quite nice,
mean-to speak of her like that. She
might object. | should not like her
brothers to call me Nancy should
think 1t most impertinent of them.
You ought not to call her 'Shelda.' :"
"Shelda-Shelda is the prettiest
name in the world" said Tom, little
irrelevantly.
You said once that it was an out
landish name"
What TOOL / must have beeni"
said Tom. 81 retract again"
The days went very rapidly. Mon
day evening arrived-the eve of Shell
da's departure. After dinner when Bel
la went up to her study, Shelda linger-
ed down stairs with Nancy. Tom was
engaged in the library with tenant
of his fathers, and the two girls had
the drawing-room to themselves. They
sat at the open window andNancy talk
ed. At last her chatter took :. r.
sonal turn.
you have done one good work
since you have been here, Shelda. You
have converted Tom"
Shelda blushed, and looked up quick.
ly, questioningly.
He thinks now" explained Nancy,
that girls ought to have opinions,
and are better for college career"
Shelda smiled She was looking out
of doors, at the quiet sky overhead,
and the trees waving lightly in the
breeze, and the fields in the distance,
where the reapers were still ut work.
"The world is a beautiful place"
she said, presently, with sigh al con.
| teotment. at is on evenings like this
that one feels how good it is to live.
And tomorrow" with great sigh,
Il shall go back to the prose of life
again. and forget to be glad about
! things. One does not feel after day
with Horace and Virgil, that it is
good to be in the world, with the flow.
ers and the sunshine and the birds,
and other living people to be careful
about one"
Nancy laughed. "Do you'll like people
to be careful about you? | thought
you were too independent to like be-
ing taken care of. Why, you rtgoing
to London of your own accord, to
live in strange lodgings all alonei How
can you talk as though you did not
love to be independent"
"fes, / am going" said Shelda,
meekly-"of my own accord too. But
l do not look forward to it now. 1t
will be lonely-dreadfully lonely"
''It is odd," said Nancy. musingly,
puckering up her brows in her great
| perplexity. "Yon havecome round to
Toms views, and he has come round
to yours. 1t is strange"
'What is strange" said Toms voice
from the doorway. "And what view
OF mine has Miss Clark adopted"
And Tom came into the room, and
took up his stand by the window, just
facing Shelda, whose eyes dropped be-
meath his glance.
"She has adopted all your views,
Tom-just as you have adopted hers.
She thinks that independence in Lon
don is folly, and that learning is as
dry as dust"
Nancy" expostulated Shelda, while
her cheeks flushed crimson and her
voice trrmbled with easerness, Il
never said SOL never thought SOL
never"
"Well," said Nancy, lyon acknowl-
edged that you would be lonely. You
said you were going back to the prose
of life again. Idon't know what that
means il it does not mean that all
/ your views are changed.
Shelda said no more. The color
had died out OF her face again, and had
left it very white. She sat looking
down, conscious of one thing only
| that Toms eyes were bent upon her
and that he was reading her inmost
thoughts, her very soul. Asilence had
fallen upon them all; it seemed to
Shelda as though that silence had last
ed for hours already, she would have
given the world to break it, but
her self-possession had deserted
her, and she could think OF
no word to say. Present
ly clear voice CAMERON some upper
room, calling. Nancy Nancy where
are your and Tom said, with unnec-
essary earnestness, bella is calling,
Mamie. Had you not better go?"
And Nancy went.
Shelda looked up then. She and
Tom were left alone, facing one anoth.
err. looking in one another's faces, but
both were silent. But there is silence
that tells more than speech, and when
Tom spoke at last, it seemed to Shell
da as though she had known what his
words would be.
They were simple, direct, manly
words: "Shelda, we love one another.
Give me the right to be careful of you
all through life"
She made no answer, but she looked
up timidly and shyly at him, and love
is clever 70 catch the consenting OF
dissenting OF glance. The next mo.
ment Tom had his arm about Shelda's
waist, and her head was leaning
against his shoulder, and ''girl-grad,
uate' was the only woman in the
world for Tom, and the charms of Gin
dependence" were forgotten by Shelda