Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-07-19

ing pride at the recollection. and then
as his memory carried him on from
that time to something that touched
him deeper, the lines of the face
came down and the shadow of the
evening crept into his manly ewes.
.sThen her father thought she know
ed enough. but [ knowed she didn't.
[ knowed she orter be sent to school.
The nation was just starting a semina-
~ at Tallequah, an | got the old man
TO let me take her there. I'd rather
not say this, but the way I got him to
do it was by payin' her expenses my
self. I'd never had no sisters or broth
ers, and never expected to have no
family myself. so l thought I'd do what
could for that little girl. 1t is twenty
miles to Tallequah. an I used to drive
her over there in the wagon an 90 af-
ter her Christmas times an vacations.
When the school term was long once
or twice | went up in the states and
rustled and made 4 little extra. but !
always come back in time TO get her.
l wish | could tell you how she grow
ed; how She got prettier every day,
an how her face seemed to get bright
er than any OF the faces round about
here as she learned an learned. She
used to ask me questions bout every
thing. bout the states, an the people.
an the towns. That was when she'd
come home, an then sometimes at
school she'd write me letters with ques-
lions in 'em, an [ set up nights to an
swer EN-. Do you know | kinder GOT
to longin' for them letters, an watch
in for EN-? Yes. sir
Jim was thinking again Once he
got down from the platform to the
track that ran by and kicked mechan-
ically at the cinders that formed the
ballast. Then he picked up a loose
washer that was there, and, like boy,
sailed it off into the field. But it was
impossible for him to shake off the
heaviness of his mood.
Il don't know how it happened, but
when she was y or Is she quit askin'
me questions about Boston an New
Orleans, an people, an commenced to
tell me things-history and old stories.
| remember one about a girl named
Charlotte Corduroy, that killed the
Frenchman in bath-tub. Did you
ever hear that? Yes? Well, / guess
ed you had, but there was lots of that
kind of things, an then-then-n
''What, Jim?"
''Then-I was tryin' to think how to
tell it-but when [ would try to tell
her anything, instead of lookin' inter-
csted, an her brown eyes gittin' big
like they used to, I'd catch her laugh
in, quiet lil1e-jest as if she'd read it
SO much better than | could tell her
an every vacation she seemed so much
bigger an so different that 1 began to
stand off like; an once | went to call
her name an | called her Miss Bella
jest as if I'd never knOwed her when
she was baby, or carried her on my
saddle when l went to bring in the
COWS, or anything like that"
You called her Miss BelIa?"
Eyes; an ever since that, whenever
I've forgot to call her nissan it's
only been once or twice-she kind of
smiles in her queer way an lifts her
eyebrows like teller would if he was
asbin' you if you hadn't forgot some
thin
''Well, that shouldn't depress you,
jim. That's way with all girls. There
comes a time when they freeze their
friends and have to be called miss"
ooh, faint that, sir. But I got to
thinkin' about her so much that /
couldn't work, an when I'd take her
back to school | felt like I wanted to
shoot any teller that looked at her.
You see, sir, l was gettin' to likin' her
too much"
Il see, Jim
''Well, last summer / made up my
mind to tell her about it and | did ]
asked her one night to gowith me, and
we sa'ntered down along the edge of
the boiler where the timber is. The
evening seemed so still that 1 could
hear my heart beatin', and when
one of them medder larls whistled it
sounded like the express to me. She'd
drop on her knees every now and then
to pull some of the violets that growed
over there, and once she LATED, and
pinned some on to my shirt, and |
wouldn't stand that. [ tux hold of her
hands and she jumped kind of skeered
like, but held 'em up and looked her
square in the eye and told her. told
her that [ loved her, and that I'd try
to make her happy all her life. l told
her I'd loved her ever since she was
little girl and used to set her on my
knee"
Jim put mis- face in his hand and
seemed lost in the recollection, either
of that evening or of the baby girl of
whom he talked so tenderly.
4 tell you it was tough, sir. She
said she used to like me once, but since
she'd been going to school her Iearnin'
bo Il ,,,aJa L Nv. Jiera +;z 4 oJ ,,,I+I, +I,o r.,
jun country and the people here. She
said if she married it would have to be
a man who had read heap and knew
lots about books. She said her idear of
a real man was an editor or some fell
Ter that could write newspaper. She
said | was u good 'nough teller in the
saddle, and she liked me as friend,
but to be even that | must never men
ton the matter TO her agen. Then she |
walked straight back to the house. I !
watched her pass this depot and them |
stones there and 90 in the door, and |
then | went down the holler. Tain |
no use, sir; I've tried to brace up agin |
it, but | can't, and the folks can't see |
why l 60 down to Muskogee and get
full, and wrestle with the deputy sher
if"
why don't you go away, Jim9
Leave this quiet place-go up in the
busy states. You can't forget her when
she's daily in your sight. y
''I'll tell you. She's home now on
what they call the Easter vacation, an
she won't graduate till June. See?"
Hardly"
''Why, she's set her heart on her ed
ucation. She's learnin' Latin and his.
tory and all about the stars. She's got