Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-08-31
CHAPTER z.
A NEW HOME.

small pldceS. % you Will nave W
hurry up little, my good woman.
No one to meet you? Well, you will
if you have any here, for you can peep
in every doorway in the village in half
an hour. All aboard"
There though was no person in sight
to go aboard the call was made just the
same, from force of habit. Off the
trian moved, and in a moment rounded
the curve and was out of sight.
Something had so disturbed the lady
as to cause her to weep. 1t may have
been the conductors reference to
friends that came not, or it may have
been the sudden realization of the fact
that she and her little boy were stran-
gers. The village was quiet and still,
as if the houses were tenantless and
the former occupants had gone to
church or to q merry-naking in the
grove near by. The country store was
open and the stranger, holding her boy
tightly by the hand, walked in. The
proprietor, finding that she did not
wish to purchase any goods, invited
her to a seat. She appeared be-
wildered, respondent, and somewhat
alaZed, and was evidently wrapped up
in thoughts she could not drive from her
oven had she so desired. The bright
eyed, curly haired, fair-cheeked, little
fellow by her side sought to cheer and
comfort her by soothing words, ten
derby and sweetly spoken, and she
and embracing her boy lovingly and
endearingly, assured him that now and
at last she was weeping for JOY. They
roo nf 1t31on 0f mr.
self-satisfaction. The tears of sorrow
had given away to the tears of JOY.
Flowing almost together and at the
self-same moment from the self-same
fountain-yet between them was a gulf
as wide as that which separates time
from eternity.
The lady assured the store-keeper
that she was % stranger in the village,
that, In fact, she was q stranger in the
State, and had neither friend nor rela-
tive, as far as she knew, in all the
great, grand West. She and her boy
would like to remain a few days, if they
could find Il home with some of the
good people of the village. The man
called in his wife, and telling her what
the lady wished, the pleasant and
cheerful little woman soon arranged
that the new corners should occupy
the spare room over the store and take
their meals at the store-keeper's table.
Less than forty houses constituted
the little village, and yet had the lady
searched the great broad West through
she would not have found place bet
ter suited to her loneliness and friend
1essness.
She had travelled more than thous-
and miles, that she and her boy might
hn Tod l> ~
the law. Her guiding star had directed
her to this valley, and for the first
time in weeks, she began to realize
that there was still much in life to live
for.
The following morning she looked
about the village and was charmed by
the beauty of the surrounding scenery.
She admired it's lOveliness. and was de-
lighted with its pretty, little crooked
stream which ran along the valley. as
If playing hideand-seek with the adj
jacent grassy bluffs, then, losing itself
in the friendly groves. to reappear on
the distant prairie, where, like sill
very serpent, it wriggled and twisted
itself along until lost in the far-away
lake.
Every day the stranger and her boy
could be seen taking long walks in the
country. With each passing hour she
seemed more ana more delighted with
all she saw. She would stop at the
farm houses to rest, and she never left
without having made q friend. All the
villagers came to know her, but none
of them knew her history. or cared to
know it, They only knew that a woman
of her intelligence and refinement,
brought up in an Eastern home, amid
wealth and atfiuence must have his
tory of absorbing interest, or why
should she leave home and kindred to
dwell among strangers?
But no one sought to share with
her secret. There was no village Cos
sip to shun, no mutual friend into
whose ears she might tell her story. if
story she had to tell, nor did she want
such a friend to listen and perhaps to
betray-but all were friends now. all
were neighbors. and all delighted in
making her contented and happy-a
condition in life of which the kind
hearted and generous natured farm
people knew the value so we'll.
Mrs. Patterson might have told a
story of thrilling interest, and yet her
past life was like the placid waters of
Wonder stream, while the life she had
vet to experience was like the seeth-
inc. boiling cauldron in the turbulent
river when at flood height, and after a
night of tempest.
But just now she is exceedingly
happy. Her mind was made up that
her home should be in this beautiful
valley. Here she would live and here
she would die. In her walks she had
often stopped at farm house where it
seemed difficult for the Woodworking
owners to make both ends meet
at the end Of the year. He
had quite large family to pro-
vide for. but the number of
mouths he had TO feed could not have
contributed to his unfortunate cireum-