, 1890-07-24
TOUCHING TALE,
Sad Story of an Immigrants
Faithful Love.
THE GRAVE BY THE DUG1UT
The Thrush and the Lark Sang a
Requiem for Departed
Hope.

Rowing one day over the western
prairie came on u deserted dug
out" Near 1t lay q rusty old tea
kettle. horses skull and baby's
shcc. Their story? This;
Early morning, May morning
i'm Kansas. over all the land sill
very mist, palpable dcwncss, n de-
licious freshness, the peculiarly rich
and subtle scent Of freshly-turned
earth, much of 1t being soil "broke"
for the first time. a proud and
prosperous young meadow lark in
gray coat, yellow vest and BLACK
creyat pours out series of tremul-
Gus triple notes, roundeiay
to the little mother cuddiing
her eggs In the sprlnging
prairie grasses. The mist begins TO
rise. Upward, still higher, one
marvellous scroll 1t curls, revealing
the pallid primrose of the Eastern
sky. And now the vapory veil Is
quite withdrawn, and all the soft
rose.fires heralding the king kind'e
into brilllance behind the bluffs.
Lighter and brighter 1t grows.
Fraught with promise Is all that
gleanl and glow. Behold, the prom
lse is fulfilled! Up rises a golden
line which swells into q curve, n
semi circle, huge, dazzling, blind
/ ing ball of flame. Up and up! y
1 4. l. ttat ~
| lifts its voice i'm jubilant mathis,
which are chimed In upon by the
I brisk bravuras of rival robin.
Men and horses appear in the
fields, plows are hauled out; the
work of the day begins. In the
phrase of the Kansas farmer, 1T Is
sun-upw
Having numbered through the tiny
town which lies upon the state u Inc
separating Kansas from Nebraska,
crossed the railway track and y
brand new bridge, UP q steep bluff
worn into deep ruts by the daily
passage of wagons laden with stone
TO be shipped farther West, comes
slowly and heavily that most iamil-
lar of Western sights, u prairie
schooner. Ponderously plod the
horses up the ascent; clumsily
lurches along the level attained the
great white-canvased wagon.
Unlike the ordinary emigrant
outfit in some respects
this. To be sure evidences of
habitation bulge from the interior,
and chairs, stove, broom, with vari-
ous household utensils, are tied on
behind. But there are no cows, no
dogs, no scrubby ponies bestridden
be hrelegged boys. or the thou
sands of wagons which trundle
yearly over the Western prairies
this presents n particularly lonely
appearance. Who ever saw one
without children? Children of all
ages, tow-headed, brown-skinned,
healthy. hearty children, including
the inevitable baby staring solemnly
from the clasplng mother arms.
| Perhaps you may have seen some day,
Roses crowding the self.same way,
Out of a wilding wayside bush.
The driver, whose broad back oh
scures the light of the front arch,
turns in his seat, and glanccs into
the comparative gloom OF the in
/ terror.
"How is she, Corry?'
asleep"
The woman within "A young
woman with a pretty, pale, sad face
directs his attention by a glance
to the baby In her lap. He mods
draws up the horses by the side OF
the road.
Dent you stirpp he says. He
desceuds, unhitches the horses, finds
twigs, builds IA fire, goes to the near
est farm house tor water, and comes
back with full kettle, which he
suspends over the blaze by couple
of crooked sticks. Soon the smell
of sizzling bacon and boiling coffee
become appetizingiy apparent. Then
he goes To the wagon. His wife laws
the child gently down; alights. He
notices that she is white. "Air you
sick?n he asks, quickly.
mo, no." she murmurs. But
quite suddenly she sways, and falls
forward into his arms. The Jour
ney, the rough, strange life, the
variable weather, the exposure, all
have been too much, he decides, for
one delicately reared as she. When
she revives he insists they shall pro-
ceed no farther for "A few days, per-
haps not for few weeks. About
| fifty yards from the road is little
deserted "dugout." Some distance
| from it new frame house testifies
To the prosperity of the former occu.
pants. From them the camp
ers" obtain permission to take
temporary possession of the queer
! little cabin. The whole interior
consists of one room, and that room
| ten feet by twelve. To enter IL is
necessary to descend several rough
steps. The walls and floor are of
earth, Just as when dug, unconcealed
by board or plaster. The slopiny
roof is of logs irregular in shape and
length, these covered with sod from
the prairie. Here through the
chm geable weather of May and in
to warm, beautiful June live the
three, the woman protesting all the
time she is strong enough to go on, =,
but growing gradually trailer, weak
er. A complete contrast she
and her husband. He is n
tall, brawny, handsome
Young fellow, animated by in
tense admiration of his wife and
gentlest devotion to her, but unmis-
takably her inferior socially and
intellectually. She, delicate,
dreamy-eyed, wrapped up in her
baby and her memories TO his al
most utter exclusion. One day the
child sicSens, grows violently i'll,
dies. Her grief Is silent but intense.
She will neither eat nor sleep, lust
sits still as stone in the little
"dugout," and looks and stares at
the wee waXen thing which
lies therein. So when the
husband rides into town TO buy