Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-21

hungry. These lords of the soil had estab-
lished certain ground rent, shall we say,
by which the new occupants were notified
from time to time that they were not the or
ignal possessors. There was not woman,
and there was hardly man who would have
dared refuse the application thus made
And if great Shawnee hunter did appear,
Mrs. Titcomb and Sarah had learned, before
the winter came on, not to be afraid of him.
They knew that, like other men, he was
hungry, and they knew that he expected to
be fed. They knew he would be quite in
different as to knife or fork, but they knew
that he would eat more than they had con-
ceived it possible for human being to eat.
when they left home.
On the other hand, they were not par
ticular as to what they gave him. If there
were dry and hard Johnny cakes laid aside,
they were good enough for Indians; if there
were hominy only half-cooked in the pot, it
was good enough for Indians; if there were
salt pork not yet boiled or fried, it was
good enough for indians; and they had no
experience of any warrior or hunter refus-
ing anything that was set before him. If
the man wanted to spend the night buff
falo skin was given him, and he spread it
where he chose. No salutes were exchanged
on the arrival of such guests, and none
when they departed.
Sarah Paris wondered with herself some
times, especially when the quiet Sunday
came, with an opportunity to look in upon
herself q little, that she was so entirely
satisfied with the life that she was living.
There was no writing in journal; there
was no committing to memory of Mr.. Cow
per's poems or DR.. Young sentimentalities;
there was no chattering with other girls of
her own age; there was no cutting over of
dresses or matching of ribbons; there was
absolutely nothing of the life which had in
terested her only year ago. And yet, as
she said to herself again and again, she was
happier, stronger, indeed in every sense
she was better than she was in Salem.
Sometimes, when she was in the mood for
analysis, she said to herself it was because
she was of more use; sometimes she said it
was because she dealt more with the realities
of things. Sometimes she tried to persuade
herself it was because she was in the open
air; sometimes, in her reverential moods,
she said she was nearer God under His
sky, than she was in a lighted
dancing room or in an elegant parlor. Of a
rainy Sunday, she would bring out from her
little chest one or another of her books and
try to read, ,as she knew she would have read
in her pretty room at Mrs. Whitman's if she
were in Salem and there were a storm.
Sometimes she did read, but she was well
aware that she was not interested in the
book as she had been when there was less to
interest her outside. She even wished
sometimes that she had the writing of the
book herself, and felt that she could come
nearer to what she called "the true thing"
once, when she was trying to make Mrs
Titcomb understand her, than the stately
English writers in whom she had been so
much interested while she was at home,
The truth was that in the six months which
the girl had spent in measuring herself
against other people and against the world,
she had advanced in life as she had not
done in five years before. Her soul was
larger soul, her mind was a larger mind,
even as her body was different body. And,
as she sat one day cutting to pieces one of
the dresses which she had brought out for
the winter, so that she might be able to put
it on, she said to oherself-what she dared not
say to Mrs. Titcomb-that she believed she
had grown as much in other ways as she was
sure she had gained in the length of the belt
she wore.
They were all happy because it did not
occur to them that they were happy. They
had not time to ask themselves the question
whether they enjoyed their lives, and the
first consequence was that they had ''the joy
of eventful living" and all lived as if they
had never lived before. So passed October,
and so. with an occasional frost now, the
glorious Indian summer of November came
in.
COncluded NeIt Sunday1