Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-09

uueuueu LIS own clOIueS, required his
own plows, replastered the WORKOUT
walls of his house and trimmed the
hedges or his domain. He and his
!, son, without any beast of burden to
help them, did all the work. They dug
deep, and opened out their cultures to
the sun with energy and confidence.
Their vines were the best in the coun-
try. They never quilted them-never
ceased thinking Of them day and
night, and SO lived by them.
Roch took pleasure in this kind of
existence. He loved money-relig-
iously, with I'll his strength. He hun
gered for gold, that he might handle
it, imbibe its powers, hide it in cor
ners. at the foot of trees, under heaps
of rocks.
On sunny Sundays he collected his
fortune from its hiding places and
heaped it on his table in front of his
door, in the midst of his fowls, alone,
and counted his silver and his gold
pieces, making them glitter in the SUI
light and fall through his horny hands
in a gathering shower.
Near him, within instant reach. he
had his dOuble-barreled gun, and he
laughed and fed his eyes with his large
fortune. A glory sang within him. he
sWelled with the pride of being rich.
He thought of Michel, of the happiness
which this treasure, amassed with so
much fervOr and patience, would give
him at some future time, when he
would no longer be there. At ease in
his solitude, he gave himself UP to this
enjoyment; he enjoyed his lands, still
full of riches, while his son down yOn-
der, behind the trees, dug bravely at
the foot of a vine.
! Then, suddenly Overtaken by terror,
he hurriedly returned his gold to a can
vas bag and bore it away; made a
fresh hole in the ground, no matter
where, sometimes in the most open
and noticeable spots, SO as to ward off
suspicion. And when he had thus
buried his treasure the old man stood
poWerless, oppressed with remOrse, as
If he had buried his happiness, his
eyes lost in ecstacy; he planted himself
for moment before his cottage. lifted
his eyes toward the blue sky, scanned
the high road along which were pass
ing the dull and Indifferent wagoners,
he looked for his son, still working
yOnder behind the trees.
! When he returned to labor and
health, the joy of the soul came back
to him abundantly. Yet he was pur-
sued by an anxiety, a miser's care, a
peasants pride in his lands. After
him what would become of the patri-
mony? He had confidence in his son
who resembled him; but his son would
not remain alone. -4e ought to be
married already. And the young wife
and the new relatives would, perhaps,
destroy the order and prosperity of his
possessions. He would himself choose
a wife for his son.
Michel bowed humbly before his
father, whom he regarded as a SUI
periOr being, since out of nothing, from
the depths of poverty, Roch had raised
himself to opulence. They went forth
together at dawn one Sunday in spring.
The clear sky hung over all like a
robe of innocence. Fresh voices muir
INJURED in the solitude
ave will not go into the town. said
the old man. eve shall not find there
what we want; the girls there are too
fond of luxury and amusements. Let
us try what we>may see in the vii
lagos"
Michel tired of these proceedings
after awhile. None Cf the girls plea sed
him. He thought them all too much
dressed up and too forward in their
bearings. The father grumbled at the
young mans i'll humOr and exaction.
II.
On the farther side of the mountain,
on the border of a torrent and shad-
owed by trees, stood a farmhouse,
poor and isolated, the only house to
which Michel sometimes paid a visit.
It's inhabitants We're a man named
Bruno, taciturn, always at work,
rusted by the sun. The wife, Olympic,
a dried plant of the mountain, dried
up like cinder, like her husband, for
ever at work, sewing and tending the
flowers and vegetables; then the
daughter, a TALL brown-haired girl,
sweet smelling as the grass about "a
spring, the pure and caressing growth
of the peace of the fields.
This was Justine, the sunshine of
the hearth, the pride of her parents.
: For her sake Bruno, put off his tact
turnity after the days work, and on
Sundays went to the towns to the
fetes, exhibiting his heiress dressed in
bright colored gowns, with gold chains
about her neck-the jewelry of a long
forgotten grandmother. Justine was
not yet twenty, and there had been no
thought Of marrying her.
Michel and Justine had grown up
together on the same soil. They re-
!, garded each other as if they had been
old people. talking and laughing to-
gether without restraint, their CONVEX
SatiOn always turning on the same sub
jects. their labors and the seasons.
;, On the evening of the day following
that on which he had been with his
father on that strange excursion to the
town and the adjacent villages, Michel
met Justine; they looked at each other,
then suddenly flushed, and their eyes
grew moist with fOndness.
They walked side by side.
When they were near the farm. al
ready dim amid the shadows that were
creeping to the brow of the hill. Just
tine asked:
You and your father were away