The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-02-29

sa..- >~IVN'N .-.tt. Ills C11dI dCISI1SIlC
8s gg1 drawings. Mrs.
- "a Dodd thus de-;
A.. scribes one attrac-
tive scene: Presently a voice
sounded from below the deck
railings. Mills was calling up
ward from the seat of the jolly boat,
which he was holding alongside ."I'm
.goin' for milk and eggs, ma'am, to the.
hall. Perhaps it 'u'd be your pleasure
to take the trip up the dixie" A mo-
ment later, and we were gliding across
the sunlit river. What could be better,
after morning in a stuffy cabin, than a
trip in an open boat, and a descent
upon an English farm house? One Or
two skilful strokes of Mills oars sent
us sl1imming from the brilliantly
lighted river surface to the quiet of a
placid creek; it was like turning from
a busy highroad into. lane. The
green waterway, seemed to have cap.
tured the secret of perpetual twilight,
the day finding it's way only through
the dense arch woven by the osiers and
willow boughs. ::E- ."@-r: .-@s5 =
. Presently stood forth through the
glistening tree trunks the fair facade of
"a stout, substantial mansion mantled in
ivy. 1t was Horning hail. Close to the
farm girlish shape was seen leaning
: over a rustic stile. It was a
traditional pose % in which to
discover feminine rusticity; but
I the living loveliness of the girls fair
face, and the SOFT animal wonder in
her hazel eyes, made one oblivious of all
other genuineless models. us it milk Or.
cream?'; was her strictly professional
question. It's milk, my lass, an eggs,
if you've got 'em fresh Mills was
obviously entirely at his ease with the
rustic divinity IN ith a long, sal er-liksi
1nrch forward he took his place beside
E the girl, leaving us to follow s An the
guv,nor, how is he?; An your aunt, an
the stock?" we heard him say as the
two bent their steps toward the back of
y the farmhouse - Mills took. his way to
the barn while the girl seized our own
moment of indecision to grasp the milk
jug and cross the courtyard AS we
stood watching her, noting her young,
fresh, loveliness, why was it that sud-
denly other equally fair and comely
shapes took their places beside her
that Maggie Tulliver, Hetty Sorrel, and
Tess Of the D'Urbervilles should also be
crossing that sun-fooded courtyard,
trailing before our eyes the memory of
their tragic fate? The peace, the per-
feet stiffness of the farmhouse en-
closure, the wet and deWy earth shin
ing through the tree boughs, the herds
OF cattle and droves of sheep moving
under the, fresh sunlight yonder, the
very drone of the bees in the bushes,
had brought vividly to mind those i'm
mortal types of women whose histories
seem forever interviewer with such
homely notes as the pouring of milk
into tin cans and the rhythmic thud of
the churn. ~, T. f. + Il. s.ss- .%,
~ The farm maiden meanwhile had
* filled our milk-jug, and Mills visit
within the barn had come to an abrupt
end We were about to depart when, in
an inspired moment, we ceased gazing
at live picture and dwelling on TRACE
dies to confront both in one AS we
turned toward the dixie stone building
rose up before us. It was as unexpected
building to meet in a remote country
farm as might have been, say, the
Tower Of London or the New York
Produce Exchange. The structure was
sturdily buttressed; it had beautiful
early-English traceries in its regularly
spaced windows; and although its porch
and belfry had long since disappeared,
1t was as Enthusiastically a chapel as il
rows of choristers were still intoning
within it's vaulted roof, instead of the
impatient stamping of the beasts
} stalled within its walls. III
It's a barn, ma'am. A chapel? Yes,
Y ma am; it was st. Benet's chapel But
it's been a barn since before ever / was
born. !" &
The chapel proved to have been part
of the old abbey, and we soon sailed
past what was left Of it. The marshes
to the left was an un broken plain
, Ont of the tufts Of grass there rose up
sud denly the huge outlines Of an un-
calmly draining mill from the lower,
southern side Of which blossomed a
lovely gothic portal. Clearer and clear
er. became the shape and form Of it; here
& and there within the portal were bits
! Of tine7Worn border traceries, tottering
canopies, and pile Of shapeless capt
tails and rib-v aulting gs. The bank along
# the river showed faint traces Of broken
bits Of walls, Of ssunken towers and
ramp arts, now but mounds Of turf.
i Sf,& ~