The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-06-28

I GlTI. nut purity as sile cOuIu be.
/ taught her letters To her, an when she
was nine she could pick out words in
/ the newspaper"
Jim looked up at this for some APP
precIation of his work His lips were
/ shut and his nostrils dilated, in a swell
/ ing pride at the recollection, and then
rs 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 crcpt into his manly eyes.
Then her father thought she know
cd enough, but | knowcd she didn't.
! ! knOWed she Orter be sent to school.
| The nation was just starting Il semina-
~ at TaIlequah, an | got the old man
| Ia let me take her there. I'd rather
not say this, but the way | 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 nc
| family myself, so | thought I'd do what
! ] could for that little girl. 1t is twenty
| miles to Tallequah, an | used to drive
her over there in the wagon an go af-
| ter her Christmas times an vacations.
| When the school term was long once
or twice | went up in the states and
rustIed and made n little extra, but /
always come back in time to get her.
| | 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-
| tions i'll EN-, an | set up nights to an
swer em. 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 a boy,
| sailed it off into the field. But it was
| impossible for him to shake off the
hcayiness of his mood.
II don't know how it happened, but
when she was y or 13 she quit askin'
me questions about Boston an New
!
| tell me things history and old stories.
| ! remember one about II girl named
Charlotte Corduroy, that killed the
Frenchman in bath-tub. Did you
ever hear that? Yes? Well, l guess
ed you had, but there was lots of that
kind of things, an then-then-n
'What, Jim?"
'Ihen-I was tryin' to think how to
tell it-but when | would try to tell
| her anything, instead of lookin' inter-
esled, an her brown eyes gittin' big
like they used to, I'd catch her laugh
| in, quiet like-iest as if she'd read it
| 50 much better than | could tell her
| an every vacation she seemed SO much
| bigger an so different that | began to
stand off like; an once l went to call
| her name an / called her Miss Bella
| jest as if I'd never knewed her when
| she was n baby, or carried her on my
saddle when | went to bring in the
| cows. or anything like that
! You called her Miss Bella?n
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 Il fellcr would if he was
asElin' You if you hadn't forgot some
thin"
"Well, that shouldn't depress you,
Jim. That's a way with all girls. There
comes a time when they freeze THEN
friends and have to be called miss
.'Oh, tain't that, sir. But | got to
thinkin' about her so much that
| couldn't work, an when I'd take her
| back to school | felt like | wanted to
| shoot any fcller that looked at her.
You see, sir, | was gcttin' to likin' her
| too much"
Il see, Jim"
'Well, last summer | made up my
mind to tell her about ii and did !
asked her one night to gowith me, and
we sa'ntcred down along the edge Of
the holler where the timber is. The
evening seemed 50 still that | could
hear my heart bcatin', and when
one of them mcdder larks whistled it
| sounded like the express to me. She'd
| drop on her knees every now and then
to pull some Of the violctS that growed
| over there, and once she laifcd, 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 'cm up and looked her
square in the eye and told her ! told
her that ! loved her, and that Td try
to make her happy all her life. | told
her I'd loved her ever since she was a
| little girl and used to set her on my
| knee"
jim put his 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.
Il tell YOU it was tough, sir. She
| said she used TO like me once, but since
she'd been going to school her learnjn'
! had made her dissatisfied with the In
| jun country and the people here. She
said if she married it would have to be
a man who had read a heap and knew
| lots about books. She said her idear OF
real man was IN editor or some fel-
| Ter that could write n newspaper. She
| said | was good 'nou@h feIlcr in the
! saddle, and she liked me rs friend,
| but to be even that | must never men
ton the matter to her agen. Then she
walked straight back to the house. l
watched her pass this depot and them
stones there and 90 in the door. and
then l went down the holler 'Taint
10 use. sir; I've tried to brace up agin
it, but | can't, and the folks can't see
why 90 down TO Muskogee and get
full and wrestle with the deputy sher-
ifT."
why don't you go away. jim?
Leave this quiet place-go up in the
busy states. You can't forget her when
she's daily in Your sight"
"Ill tell you. She's home now on
what they call the Easter vacation. an
she won't graduate till June. See?"
Hardly"
''Nhy, she's set her heart on her ed
| ue2tion. She's learnin' Latin and his
tory and all about the stars Shes got
| EN- all named. Well it would break
her heart To quit now before June Fl
| was to 90 away the old man wouldn't
send her 10 school a day longer. There
/ are 50 many thin~S to Get Her ma and