The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-06-16
Copyright. Iso7.)

got the Corners post Office, which,
by the good will of providence and my
friends I've held ever since, no matter
who was 'in" at Washington, that
first took notice of Shiftless Rufe Dun
ming. He lived with his father and
mother just across the flats at the foot
of West Hill in the edge of the Big
Woods. You know, all this region was
pioneered late, and although nearly
everything was cleared up on this side
the valley and the pine timber had long
been cut off the flats. there was a heavy
growth of mixed hardwood and hem
lock to the west that stretched away
back l don't know how many miles.
Here and there the little Openings" on
the side of West Hill log houses were
Still to be seen and the folks living in
them were sometimes pretty print
tive.
The Cummings were probably the
most no-account of the lot. They lived
in little shanty old Rufe had knocked
together out of slabs given to him by
the sawmlll boss. They had only lit
tie patch of ground, and they lived on
what they raised, the fish they caught
and what they trapped and shot. They
didn't steal, as l know of, but they were
all mortal shiftless, and young Rufe
was worse than either his father or his
mother. In fact. he was so alfred
lazy, if l must put 1t that way, that
even the old man felt discouraged about
him.
Young Rufe was % before any body
suspected that he could possibly have
any ambition at all. But one day he
saw Kitty Sylvester. She was the
daughter of the first manager of the
big Barley estate. Old man Barkley-
the grandfather of the present Barkley,
who never comes near the estate-had
just put the place in a managers hands
and moved away with his family. Now,
Kitty was a real sensible, go-ahead
girl. She knew the Sylvesters were as
good as anybody round the Corners,
if not a le-etle better, and she tried to
live up to the family reputation in all
ways. When a girl, her mother had
been famous for the work she could
do, and Kitty was not bit behind
Every morning in the winter she was
up early and got breakfast by CANDLE
light. All day long she wove carpet,
or quilted comforters, or spun stock
ing yarn, or did something else that
counted. Every morning in the sum-
mer she was up with the sun, and
every day when it went down she had
churned and worked more butter or
made more cheese, or in some other way
done more work than any woman any
where around could do. And she was the
savingest girl in the county. Every
body said the was the smartest young
woman going, and, naturally, she was
considered highly-desirabl catch.
But she held herself mighty shy OF
them all for awhile, and it was regularly
given out that no young man need ever
think of keeping company with Kitty
Sylvester who wasn't fully her match
both at working and saving. So when
it was noised about that young Rufe, of
all the world, had got him pair of fine
boots, ruff1ed shirt, doeskin panta-
looms and broadcloth coat, and had
begun to shine up to Kitty, there was
general uproar. Folks couldn't believe
it at first, but it wasn't anywhere near
as hard to swallow as what came after
ward.
You see, the out-giving that had been
made about the kind of chap Kitty's
husband would have to be had sifted
the young fellows out a whole lot. Most
of them were willing to work and will
ing to save, and they all admired Kitty,
for she was as good looking as she was
industrious and frugal, but her stand
ard was so high it scared the boys, and
beaux got to be mighty seldom on the
estate.
Now, as it turned out, Shiftless Rufe
thought more of Kitty than any of the
others, and at the very beginning she
gave him little encouragement. Not
much, to be sure, but enough to reform
him completely. He was naturally
mighty bashful when he called at the
big house, all fixed up in clothes he
wasn't used to, and Kitty at first pre-
tended she didn't understand that he
had come to see her.
''Ill call my father" she said. "Per-
baps you want to talk about cutting
some cordwood."
NO." said RUFF, directly, Il want to
know if can keep company with you.
The girl was startled by his failure to
beat about the bush. but she answered
quite as directly:
Certainly not. You're too lazy to be
allowed to keep company with anyone. .
Then an idea flashed through her mind
''But if you'll cut cordwood a whole
year, every day but Sunday and holi-
days, you may come and see me-just
once. Here comes father, and you'd
better make arrangements to cut fol-
him on shares"
To Kitty's surprise, Shiftless Rufe