The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-05-01
Our farnilp 9torp.
ING THE CLAIM.
.Ashby stood in the open door
her little sod cabin and gaZed

her little sod cabin and gazcd
ally out across the broad stretch
yel, Kansas prairie. She was a
Al, Broken woman, whose deeply
rrOwed features and great, hollow
,es told a pitiful story Of mental and
,ysical suffering.
Like many of the poor settlers on
the great Western plains, she had ex,
perfenced the bitter trials and hard
ships of q long and unsuccessful war
fare against poverty. There was a
yearning, soul-hungry expression on
her sad, wan face that was touchingly
pathetic.
Jpn across the prairie from the
west came another She was
young-not above twenty at the most.
She WAS tall and slender, almost to
expression that characterized
Mrs. Ashby, but without hat hopeless,
Departing look.
.'spgeli, Mary" Mrs. Ashby said, in
an eager, questioning tone, as the
younger woman approached end sank
to a seat by the ct.bin door.
"Dick Enness will not buy the
claim, mother" the other replied,
folding her hands in her lap.
Mrs. Ashby stared ut her daughter
in amaZement.
'"Why, Mary |" she finally exclaim-
AcdA%how is that? l thought he
wanted TO buy t."
HE did, mother, while father was
living, but he has changed his mind
now"
but why has he changed his mind?
He surely needs the claim now as
much as he needed it then"
Eyes, he does"
"Then, why doesn't he want it
now"
"He does want it, mother"
"Then why won't he buy it ?
Mary hesitated q moment, then
rising and drawing her form to it's
full height, with angry Indignation,
replied:
"Mother, Dick Enness is q rascal,
and he won't buy u claim because he
thinks by waiting a little while he can
get it for nothing. He was anxious to
buy while father was living because
>.hekRewfather could hold it, but he
give IL up and move away. and then he
will have nothing to do but enter it in
u stead"
"Surely, Mary, Dick Enness did not
tell you that ?" Mrs. Ashby said in
credulously.
said enough to make his meaning
clear. He means to get this claim,
and without paying anything for it,"
Mary twirled her bonnet nervously
and an expression Of set determination
gradually overspread her features.
With q deep sigh Mrs. Ashby at last
broket the silence.
"Well," she said, if what you say
is true, Mary, l don't see that there is
any hope for us. 1t is hard to believe
that Enness would take advantage of
u ~helplessness and deprive us of our
land when w have worked so hard to
improve 1T. l would never have
thought he could be so h~eartless."
Neither would l." Mary replied.
-" 1t is q poor return for the way father
helped Dick Enness when he came
here and the way he nursed him and
helped him in his crop last year when
he was sick. He might at the least
pay us for the work that's beer done
on the claim, rather than to see us
turned out in the world with nothing.
But, mother, he shall not have our
home. l thought it all over as l came
back across the prairie and I made up
give it up"
"Why Mary" she said, chow can
we help giving it up? We have no
ean of living here unless we can
raise q crop"
Il know that, but we'll raise o
crop" Mary replied, with a quiet
determination.
But hov a wo?" Mrs. Ashby
asked. "V haven't a dollar to hire
nobody is going to work for
us without the money in hand"
We won't ask anybody to work for
u.s." Mary said. "Werl work for our
selves. Well SOW the land in wheat,
just as father intended to do, and Iii
break the ground and drill the grain
myself"
YOU" the mother exclaimed, in
c~redulously.
Eyes, l." Mary replied, firmly.
"But, Child" Mrs, Ashby protested,
"think what u task it would be, and
you're only a woman"
81 have thought, mother, of all
that, but we must not mind the work.
I'd rather go through anything almost
than to give up our home and leave
here with nothing"
But / can't think OF you trying to
manage q farm and doing q mans
work." Mrs. Ashby objected.
II can think Of it much better than
I can think of giving everything over
to Dick Enness. ! may not prove
successful in my efforts to raise "a
crop, but I'll try. We have the team,
the plough and the seed and I'll make
use of them"
Mrs. Ashby did not acquiesce readily
in her daughters plans, but she finally
gave q reluctant consent, aud Mary at
once set to work to carry her plans
into execution. Fortunately, she was
used to hard outdoor work, having
aided her father on the claim the two
years they had lived in Kansas, and ut
the same time she had gained an idea
of farm management that stood her in
good stead.
At the end Of three weeks she had
forty acres of ground broken and
ready to seed. and she felt that the
worst part of her task was done.
LII go over to Dick Enness'," she
said to her mother, land get the drill
and put the wheat in, and then I'll be
through with the work for the present
and have a little time for rest"
Goodness knows you need rest"
Mrs. Ashby replied, casting a look of
love and sS sympathy on her daughter.
Z" YOU'RE not strong enough for such
hardships as you have gone through
"Oh, Two not hurt myself in the
least. mother" Mary replied, land
now that the hardest part of the work
is done [ shall get along all right. 1t
will only take u little while to drill
the wheat, and the work is not hard at
ALL"
Mary harnessed the horses, and de-
parted for Enncss' to fetch the drill. |
Enness was at home, and when she