Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-09-26

back porch of his cabin smoking his pipe,
while his daughter Mary, whom he was adj
dressing, was busy washing the supper
dishes. As he concluded his speech and re-
sumed his pipe, Mary, acomely lass OF nine
teen, with hair and eyes black as ravens
wing and complexion fresh and beautl-
I full as the roses that bloomed in the front
yard, stopped her clatter with the dishes,
and, looking her father full in the face, re-
piled:
'sPap, you're older'n 1 am, an s'pose
know more bout every thing; but tell you
Jets as nice err young Teller as there is in
this settlement. He's homes am stiddy, an
has good team an farmin' things, sides
some money he's saved"
''Don't make no difference answered the
old man, promptly, show homes an study
he be, don't like none o. the Waymire set.
an amt goin' to hev any truck with any
of 'em, much less havin' of 'em in the fam
Bly,
'Pd like ter know what you got agin 'em,
or what harm any of 'em, speshully Jet,
ever done ter you," queried the girl; and
then, as she hung up her dishpan behind
the stove and pushed back the little sup
portable, she continued: 1.-THE Waymires
are bout well off an bout well
thought of as we are, an if Jet wants ter
come here to see me can't see why he
can't, that's all"
''See here, Mary" SAID the old man, wrath
fully, as he rose to his feet, ''don't get
sassy, now. You're mighty nigh woman
grown, but as long as you stay round this
house you've got ter mind me or take the
consequences"
'sPap,'' broke in kindly voice, "don't
get frustrated, now" 1t was old Mrs. Pit
zenberger, who had just come into their
presence, and who had a way of cooling he1
husband down whenever he took one of his
CHI lad Do zI,r
continued, ''Mary is gittin' old enough te
know her own mind an 'twont do no good
fer either of us to go cpposin' of her. Ell
she an Jet are boun' ter go tergether.
they'll put erbout ter do it. I know girls
better'n you do, pap, so take my advice anG
don't poster Mary now"
But his good wife seemed for once to have
lost her influence with Uncle Abe, for in
stead of needing her words as he usually
did, he turned fiercely on her and told her
to mind her own business, and added:
GAS long as girl of mine stays round
my house she'll mind what I tell her, or
FI strap her. I don't keer eff she's as old as
Methuseler an as big as er mountain
AS for Mary, seeing now that her father
and mother were in for a somewhat pro-
longed discussion and In which she well
knew her mother would not come out
second best, she put on her hat, and gath
for the w-lot, which was situated at the
edge of large pasture-feld some rods dis
tant. AS she walked along the path that
led down the hill, by the little spring-house
at It's base, and across the branch, on the
other side of which were the pasture bars
where the quiet-faced cows were waiting
for her, she was hot and angry. And very
beautiful, too, she looked in her wrath; her
eyes glittered like stars in a summers sky,
while her cheeks flushed crimson, beside
which the poppies in her own little garden
would have hanged their heads in shame.
If Jet could only have seen her then! But
Mary was evidently thinking less of him
than of her father; for as she walked along.
taking half aloud to herself, the words
pap and ''mother'' fell from her lips re-
peatedly, but not once did she mention Jets
name.
Later in the evening, and just as it was
growing dusk, when the tree-toad had be-
gun his evenings song in the old locust