The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-08-17

CJlV 49, lace was literally
!. !. :: !. g. : J. !
Mn, wNEaa besprinkled with
lNT, " JN4lHN| freckIes of a decided
HIVlI@s MN thrown aside the
MI LIN hat, which, at some
earlier stage of its
career, had evidently been worn by
man, revealing a tangled shock Of sun
faded, hay-cOlOred hair. Her dress,
now of no particular color or cut, had
probably once been bright-hued calico.
Much wear had reduced it to an unde-
cided looking brown.
She ralced one bare foot back and
forth in the grass. Its tanned and
callOused heel bore a stone bruise Of
goodly dimensions.
This child was Liz, the daughter of
old crippled Harkley, whose cabin
could be seen on the side of the next
''rise," and whose "south eighty"
which was sparsely covered with dis
couraged-looking sod corn, extended
a considerable way to the right, to-
ward Copper-head mound.
A locust, whose rasping ''siz-sawz'
had been heard for long time, as he
fddied his monotonous tune from the
under side of the distorted limbs of
the scrubby jack-oak, presently be
came too lazy to longer retain his
hold. He dropped off and landed be-
side LIS hand, as she lay stretched
out at full length.
She quickly grasped the insect and
gravely examined the curious mark on
his back, wholly unmindfuI of his evil
dent desire to escape The mark in
question looked a good deal like an in
verified letter M" Liz pronounced it
a wv" at once.
Wonder what that stands forP" she
remarked half aloud. "W. That
might mean warts, or wood, or wire
or dozen more things. Ole man
Hanks, he says hit stands for war, an
wen you see right smart NV locusses
there's a war a-cOmin'. Wall she
went on, shaking her head gravely at
the locust, 4 don't believe nuthin' NV
the kind. Hit don't stand to reason.
How could this yere locus know if
there 10as a war comin'P He couldn't
Ole man Hanks talks jist to hear his
mouth, | reckon
She studied the struggling insect
with great gravity.
Reckon w means warm" she went
on presently. "Uv course that's what
hit stands for Hits warm, an the
locus knows that"
She released the insect, and, with a
buzzing whoOp of delight, the locust
shot away in the sunlight. Then the
child rolled over with her face upper
most, and, with her arm beneath her
head, lay and gazed thoughtfully up
into the clear blue OF the Indian sum-
mer sky. One by one long cobwebs,
as light as fairy lace, fioated before
her sight in their aimless driftings
from no man knows where to an I'M
known destination. Far above, a buzz
gard sailed back and forth In rhythmetic
circles, coming and going in solemn,
stately fashion like a ship at sea. The
point far below the center Of his ever
narrowing circles was the top Of Cop
perhead mound.
Dead rabbit or coyote over there, ]
reckon" Liz muttered.
Then she turned her gaze of down
tho slope to the little ''branchn that
gurgled its way along the bottom OF
the draw" There, a Cherokee heller,
with sleek, fat sides and sharp, black
tipped horns, stood in the shade of the
little clump Of persimmon and haw
trees and calmly kept the tormenting
green-heads at bay with the monoton-
Gus swinging OF her long, tufted tail.
There was extreme satisfaction ex-
pressed in Liz's chances as they rested
on the sleek, well-fed heifer "Bet
that's the peartest COW 'twixt we're an
the Nation line, " she spoke, half aloud.
jest a few days now" she muir
INJURED, cor two weeks. mebby, an
then"
She paused, as IL in happy contem-
plation of some bright prospect OF the
future. For q long time she lay with
her head on her arm, looking UT
through the branches OF the iack-oak
at the floating webs. There was q
happy smile on her lips. Then, her
eyelids dropped, and with the breeze
from the southwest, ladened with the
perfume Of wild verbenas, blowing
across her tanned cheeks she slept
A little, striped-bacS gopher crept
nOiselessly from his hole, and, with his
boady eyes cleaning mischievously
glided close to the sleeping child. II,
snuifed at her tangle Of sun-faded hair
and, concluding that it was exactly tn,
material he needed for his nest lining
he proceeded 70 pull and tug at tres
in the vain endeavOr 10 detach it from
its owners head Liz stirred uneasily
as she felt the little jerks. and tn,
gopher scuttled OF in wild alright.
on to the southN est a dark, moving
mass could be seen slowly passing til,
NOTE OF timber that surrounded tn,
water hole in Tyler's creek. II ap
preached slowly and steadily till tn
outlines OF a herd OF cattle were re
vealed. The cowboys WHO accom-
panied them could be seen urging
them onward. AS they came ueare
the sharp, pistol-like cracks Of thei