The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-05
LOVE IN WINDIEST KANSAS.
AN EPISODE IN a REGION WHERE
TORNADoES ABOUND.

Nho March Wtud-h ParttnE AFTER = FropOSAl
-WFecE or n Rousseau and n LoVe-A
Lover kidnapped ny n TornndO-Au Expo
dient TO make n THIRD RaiShAP lrupsssibIe.
The wind blows a gallo all the year round in
Kansas, but In March 1t cuts cnpers. Then
cyclones miles in length sweep across the cy-
Gione belt at the maddening ratio of sixty miles
en- hour, hurting tho dust about in raging yell
lew temposts, blowing It under the doorsills and
through tho cracks Of tn, windows. moaning
end screoching and dreaming until tho head 10
N q whirl with the oise OF It all and one longs
tSr q quiet spot in some vast wilderness with
any sort of weather 80 the wind doesn't blow.
About March. too, 10 the time when a hail
stone or something of similar smallness drops
into the southeast corner of a cyclone and gen
crates a tornado. Thon what q rending of
the universe! The wind goes about upr 1oting
~>hole groves Of stalwart trees, s~prinkled about
again just anywhere over acres of ground; tear
ing out houses by the roots and depositing them
elsewhere, as often as not upside down, always
ohimneyless, %rooless, foundationless; blowing
tho feathers Off the chickens, thrustirg little
ptraws through tho bodies of great cottonwood
trees, Unfolding dust an inch thick In the flesh
Of its human victims and leaving them for dead.
acting altogether like the big, black. hideous.
nurderous, funnel-shaped nend It Is.
Such is the difference between the cyclone
and tho tornado; but while they arc going on
you are not so much interested In the subtle
difference between the two rs you are busy
wishing they wouldn't.
1t was on q blustery night In March when
Elsie stood at the window looki ny out upon the
street where the trees, bent to the ground by
sudden gusts of wind, were dashed skyward
again. tossed aud played with until the twiEs
wero bereft of leaves and the trees OF twigs.
Indeed she wondered that there was anything
left of the trees themselves but the trunks.
Some late wheelmen sped by at a scorching
~o@A Nhntr aAt 49, H. 80. -r.~zI1Al k~ NEA
gale. while others walked disconsolately home
ward against the wind t%rundling their wheels;
for you ride only one way in Kansas, the way OF
the wind. Then you dismount and walk back.
The street lamps lit up the disguised faces of
those who wero walking back.
The house rocked, the chandelier shook and
the windowpanes ratified in their sashes. Ro-
land looked mp. wondering why the girl stood
30 long there by the window, where little ire
preSsible gusts rushed under the sill, blowing her
hair and neck ribbons diatractingly about.
1T is a pretty stormy night" he said, and SO
It was even for Kansas. Just then the wind
rnHned around the corner Of the house with
H. pitiful vail of a lost soul; and the sharp
tree limbs raped against the pane like human
knucklos. The sough Of the tempest died away
across the prairies only to return. moan again
and again die away.
Elsie suddenly left the window and stood
close to him, ~clasping her hands nervouSly.
I am afraid for you to go hotnc., she said.
and her voice was trenulous q. though sho
You can have JAMES room. We will STOW
him away in the, attic. Anywhere!" Jamie
He shook his head. II am afraid I can't"
he said. u have important business downtown
whole house leaving at such an unearthly hour.
What's thati" springing to his feet; 1T sounds
Nothing much" she answered. only one of
the cottouwoods in the yard blowing down."
1t was a common enough thing for one OF
those Cottonwoods, immense of height and
broad OF Eirth. to blow down in a March wind.
town, except when some wandering waterspout
caught it straight up into the clouds. there was
extreme youth and grown that way, leaning
forward in the attitude OF old men running. -,
lie asked as he .at down again; for she had
:akon a chair on the other side OF the table. quite
away. from him. after the manner or a woman
who had beon married q couple of years. she
sat there. looking into the fire and pron6oring.
matter, but the real TRUTH was that she was
H;rHid Of iosioF him. H. He had Just j n PrGPosc d.
kk know. This Mo was sS her third n.0 But N M duc RS was her eG
un fWo ya m1nf bef %@a IN shi MS %ai M sha had been en-.
gaged to be married. An her wedding, tnery
had %f be-, been .R %a iana + b]s csptinIII II o WAS: i to 4 So b. os s1osat
in a distant wing OF the house, far from profane
ssSS a sss th hSH's to look o5E at nsT those s'S delic s1trt 5hih ps5,
Ear to the bride elect, lingerie white and
ling gown owl Of fn a quality yaifRSet 20 t ne as fairly IF; to
Io her. The day was set, She could al
= hear the peal OF the Wedding OeIlB Wnen a
ible thing happened.
I tornado came along and tore away that
SR Tff iRS seS TiS of it 81 ln tine n0G It sa ia4niSsdpER her Ie tFous!
Beau to the four winds of the heavens. a silk
waist was found In one county and the skirt to
match it In another, many miles distant. Her
%beplumed hat truiled in a pool OF muddy water,
ditch and her white satin wedding slippers
hung by their heels at the top OF a tree n a
was postponed until such articles of her apparel
as were ht for usc-and they were few and far
to replace the rest-irrevOcably lost.
But alas for the fcklcness Of the masculine
naturel BY the time the next rousseau was IN
readiness her sweetheart had lost his heart to
another girl! However. Elsie was not OF a ma.
that date she was re'snEaeed. this time TO a
young man :. whose honest n blue eyes spoke vol
March again approached, and with it the in.
variable winds, growing higher and higher, and
whose sultrlness had been almost uncomfortable
sure precursor OF a tor~nAdo-Bhe stood at tho
r door. he stepped o11tside, and the tornado, hap.
pening to pass at that moment, caught him into
she never knew where. strewn in the path OF
that tornado were window saSheS, doors. shin;
bodies~but not the body of her blue-oyed
For many months she grieved for him. plung;;
ing into the deepest mourning, dismally CARRIED
~ foolish of her. some said, since her lover, for
Sl she knew might 9ht stu be in E.t The Ella land dr Of ths
him In another county, where, as likely as not.
he was by this time making desperate love 10
another girl. However that may have been
Time, the great healer, assuARed her grief. and
by way OF compensation. brought her Roland
1t was no wonder. then, that she quaked with
fear when she realized that another Marcel
storm was upon her, and he must go out in 1t
ono plar to keep him after another suggested
itself only TO be discarded as irrational. Sht
was about to despair whom a happy thouGh'
struck her.
''Wait a minute she said, as he stood at thu
door-she was afraid to open II. remembering
how that other tornado had swept his prede
cessor TO the happy hunting grounds on tn
wings OF the wind-and running back Into tn,
dining room she In q closet AM
brought out o large ball of twine which she hell
behind her when she once moro emerged int,
the balf-dark hall where Roland stood wonder