Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-11-01
A ROMANCE OF WORK


The sun hung like a copper disk in an
indigo sky. Heat danced, whrcd and
eddcd few feet above the alkali dust in
the trail. Over the GREAT patches of -dgc-
brush the air hung l;c he breath of tho
dead Not even the wing of bird set it
in motion. The low adobe cabin seemed
to crouch upon the plain as if it were try
ing to r,eaic notice fearful lest the heavy
sky would tell upon it. Except the few
scattered sheep corrals there Was not u
brcnh ia the monotonous level of the
ground.
one could judge from the height Of the
sun tElf tho morning was scarcely begun
Bu There was no othcx "ign-song of
birds sparkle of devon the pidcc ranch.
y Young woman sat i'm the doorway with
folded hands and detected shoulders Sho
was apparently Us lilclcss as her surround
ings. Wuh hcr head leaning against the
side of tnv CIor she might have made ~
pleasing picture were it not for the hard
lime, about her mouth and the hopeless
look in her cycS-ryr. which wandered
over tL- gray saechru,h and fingered
stolidly upon the patch where She had
There had been time when the sight
of these withercd plant, cooked blythe sun
would have made her cry. Not now,
though Janet Dinscomhe wondered
NuLuvy if she were losing her senses. ~ho
remembered hearing centuries ago-it was
lc~- than IA Ycar-that mon lost their
mind, when they were alone for months
in the drert She had laughed at the
though, If that when Roger Dm.romho
had told hey OF lis love before he came to
work nut Il living ON u sheep ranch. Sho
would uut delay the marriage. Il am to
bc u hrlimcvt not hindranrc, ~ she said
and urged him to take her with him. Il
will keep house for you. We will be to-
gcthcr What more can we ask she said
ploadirRly. With pretty flushed cheek
up against his Roger Dinscomhn had not
the courage to deny Janet Moorr's de
lnand Her home was not very pleasant.
he argued to himself in Justification And
Janet had her own way.
The first two months the young wife
went singing about the little cabin, happy
enough. Then her step grew less lively
and hours of unhappiness followed Roger
loved her of course she knew that But
h. did not tell her 50 very often now
Then, too, he was busy all the day and
she had long forcno0ns and afternoons
when there was nothing to do. Her house
was neat rs IA pin. She even had read all
the advertisements i'm the few papers which
chance brought her. Her nearest H,ghbor
lived five miles away. When Roger camc
home, he was too tired to talk much
There was IA late supper and an early
hrcakfast-and then silence and dcsula-
ton
One day Janet realized she was losing
her love for her husband That was when
she had planted the garden. \ few siokly
plants grew there, which she kept alive by
carrying water from muddy lutte stream.
When July came this dried up. And now
her plants were dead. She felt choked aS
she looked at them, but the tears did not
come to her eyes
Roger DnScombc noticed the shadow
which had settled upon his wifc's face.
Blaming himself he grew irritable and
moody. Instead of love making him ten
der it forced him to be distant Often now
husband and wife avoided looking into
each Others ewes That very morning he
had spoken to Janet sharply us he went
away The words fell back on his own
heart like Il lash "What brute | am,
he muttcrcd, and half turned To com,
back. But the set look on .Janct'S fac,
camo up before him and he spurrcd on The
pony he was riding.
Am | going mad:' Janet repeated t,
horsclf until the sun had orept To whcr,
she sat II won't 90 mad. / am II cir
of common SENSE. | used to hate the work
at home of cooking for housclul of step
brothers and sisters mending and darn
ing, with constant whining and frcttinl
from stcpmuther who was as strong as
am Now work would be the most blr,Sc,
boon on earth What shall do?' TIL,
little sitting room and kitchen were spot
less She could not do anything there
I'm put my trunk in order, SIN
Thought Not ribbon was out of place
She took up bundle of patches idly
"Why not make "a quilt>' The idea please,
her rs she looked over the patches. Tina
bit of lilac print was her first grown III
gown, aud thi, blue and white checke
calico was the dress she had on the frs
time she met Roger, She remembered nov
that she had a bunch of wild crab appl
blossoms in her belt when she ran int
Mrs. Din,cumbe ON an errand and WA
told, Janet, this is my son Roger, VIII
has just come homo from the west.
The young Mrs. Dinscombe's face soft
enod as she seemed to live il over agar
and 10 sH" honest blue eyes looking al hel
saying 81 approve of you" Piece aftc
piece WAS unfoded. This white null wa
her wedding dress Smoothing and pei
ting II with fingers which would z,
1erky, Janet sat for long time. Then tn
tears camc-lears which seemed to me
the iron hand around her heart When sl
remembered where she was, it was almo,
supper time, and she jumped up with
little start. Poor Roger, sine murmurct
"What must you think of me!" She cooke
thu h,st that her kitchen afforded, anu