The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-06-16

Before spring folks got to going by
Rufe's ak and lantern in beginning
and leaving off work morning and
nights the same as they go by the big
tannery whistle down the valley now
and nobody who began work as early
as Rufe did and worked till Rufe's Ian
tern was out at night was counted
lazy.
And Rufe did more than chop cord
wood that winter. He learned to read,
and this, both his mother and his father
considered far more "ridiklis" pro-
ceeding. Yet more; he went to meet
ing every Sunday as regularly as the
most pious and thrifty of the whole
neighborhood. Not that he became spe-
cially religious SO far as / know, but by
going to meeting he could get glimpse
or two every Sunday of Kitty Sylves-
ter, and it was little thing indeed for
the man who was chopping cordwood
whole year that he might make one
call on her, to listen to sermon once
a week so that he could sit for whole
hour under The same roof with her.
Nobody knew then how this devotion
of her once shiftless, no-account lover
affected Kitty Sylvester, but we learned
afterward that the sound of his ak
the valley became as music in her ears,
and that the light of his candle shin
ing through the trees in the mornings
and the evenings was delight to her
eyes. AT last the long winter, with it's
cold, it's storms and it's darkness. wore
away, the spring passed and the sum-
mer with it's heat came on.
"Now Rufe'n weaken" said the loaf
ers about the store. Its all right to
work hard when it's cold and the air
is bracing, but he'll let up IN the hot
weather, sure"
But they were wrong. All through
the heated term Rufe's ak gave noisy
notice that he was still working, and
when the fall began it was still biting
out chips and splitting up lengths. AT
last the year was nearly mp, and old
Sylvester had begun to ask himself
whether he had not made an exceeding
ly bad bargain after all. For Kitty was
plainly much interested in the patient
lover who had toiled SO long and so
steadily for the privilege of calling on
her lust once" and it might be, the
old man reasoned, that she would allow
him to call the second time, and per-
haps third, and perhaps But the
thought was too awful to entertain and
the old man strove to dismiss it. Fail
ing in that he questioned the girl, who
refused to answer satisfactorily and the
two had a quarrel in which Mrs. Syl.
vester joined, taking Kitty's part most
| vigorously.
On the last day of the stipulated Il
months Shiftless Rufe went to his work
early and began with quick. eager
strokes to cut a big hickory. He had
become an expert axman by this time
and the sun was not yet high in the
sky when the big tree came down with
crash. 1t so happened that | was
over in the big woods that day with a
neighbor looking at the timber. We
heard the tree fall and at the same
! time a scream as if strong man were
in mortal agony. In hurry ran in
the direction of the sound. guided by
| low means that followed the shrek
There, pinned under a branch of the
/ fallen tree lay Shiftless Rufe, badly
crushed and barely conscious. For the
first time in the entire year he had mis-
calculated in telling his tree. AS quick.
ly as we could my neighbor and l cut
away the branch and released the
young man. Then we got together q
stretcher of boughs on which we pro
posed to carry him home. AS we lifted
him he opened his eyes.
II wish-you'd take me over to Sly.
westerns first he said, family. II want
to call on his daughter. She said
might come to-night-and so did hel
father-and- maybe you take me
home before l go there | won't be able
to see her tonight at ALL"
So we carried him across the flats tc
| the big house on the Barley estate
Part of the way he was quite uncon-
scious and part of the way he was pa
thetically delirious, butwhen we reached
| the house he was quite rational, though
very weak. And so it was that l was
present when Rufe Cunning made love
| to Kitty Sylvester. His love-making
| didn't take long, for his strength was
about gone, but he had time to say what
he wanted to say and to hear what he
wanted to hear. And when, after a
long look into Kitty's eyes. poor Rufe
peacefully closed his own, his big hand,
no longer soft and pulpy but sinewy and
strong, clasped her little one in the
clasp of an accepted and acceptable
| lover.
Guessing Her Age.