The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-07-24
sLiteral report.
CHAPTER III.

s.IIctty! do you ever think what it
would be like to be crgaged?'
Engaged to do what?' said Hesty,
lazily.
She lay as in cradle, in a grassy hol-
low under an apple trce--the Anak OF
his tribe. The branches, treighted with
pinl-and-whitc blooms. dipped earth
ward until the extreme twigs almost
brushed tho grass, and shut in the two
girls arbor-wise. The May sun warmed
the flowers into fragrance that limited
subtly Of continual fruitiness. Hester
said she tasted. rather than smelled it.
Bees hummcd in the boughs, through
the still blandness of the air light
shower of petals fell silently over
IIctry's blue gown, settled upon her hair
aud drifte1 in the folds OF the afghan
covering Testers lower. limbs.
Homer had discovered in the garden
fence a gate opening into this orchard,
and conGlcntially revealed the circum-
stance to IIetty who, in time. impaired
it to Hester, and conspircd with her to
explore the paradise as soon rs tho boys
and Fanny were safely off to Sunday
school.
Engaged to do what?" Hetty had
dreamy eyes wide at the accent of the
reply.
..To benlarried, of course, Miss Ingle-
nous! What else could mean?'
"Oh-h-h!' still more indolently. Il
don't know that ever thought far in
that direction. Why should II"
...Why shouldn't you. or any other
healthy and passably good-looking girl,
expect to be -engaged-and be married
and be happy? 1t Is time You began to
| take the matter into consideration, If
| you never did before
'..Thcfe is usually another party to
such an arrangement" -.
..AId why not in your case?'
Where should he come from? Is he
to drop from. the moon? Or out Of the
| pple-,ree"-stirred to the smile by the
/ flick of tinted petal upon her nose:
''!Or, am TO-: stamp him out of the
earth. .a-la-Pompcy? And what could |
do with him if he were to pop up like a
| fairy-princc, at this or any other in
stant?''
/ al III lOtc Will HtHs dHte MARRY
him out-of-hand! irish you woald,
Hctty, and take mo to live with you!
That is pne Of my dearest dreams. l
have thought it all out when the back
ache keeps me awake at night, and
when get.quiet dreamy hours by day,
when he is of pastoralling, and the boys
I and Fan are at school, and baby Annie
is asleep. ana fcan" hear Tony croning
Sweet Julia so far away | can't dis
.tinguish the frightful words, and you
are & ing about the house singing to
yourself, and blessing every room you
enter like a shifting sunbeam.
|. Why, my pet, you are talking
| Hetty raised her head from the arms
crossed beneath it,. and stared. at the
CHILD. The light, filtered through the
mass of scented color, freshened her
complexion and rounded the outlines of
| her face; her solemn eyes looked upward;
her hands lay together, like two lily
| petals, upon the coyerict. unwittingly
she was living illustration of her
fathers theory of the Reality of the
Unseen.
Nor she answered, quietly. Not
poetry for it may easily come to pass
that you should have husband and
homo of your own. / do dream poems
sometimes, ii poetry is clouds and sun
sets and music nobody else hears, and
voiccs--and. love-words-and bosh.'