The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-06-14
ROMANCE OF DELL.


blond and soft and it had been bleach
ed by sun and weather until it was as
lifeless as cured hay. His face was tan
ned and he walked with the uncertain,
Longing gait that comes from travelling
after the pillow, toiling over soft ground
and keeping foothold on steep hillsides.
Dell had lived to be "a without even
SO much as looking at girl since his
schooldays. In fact, Dell would have
had little time to devote to girls. He
was busy from early morning until
night about the farm, and when there
was a few days respite there he hitch
ed up his team and drove to Groveland
to help his brother in his celery and
sweet corn fields.
One day there was excitement in the
Mason farmhouse. Dell brought let
ter from the postoffice to his mother,
and she read that Miss Hamilton, who
had extensive forest interests in the
vicinity, would be her guest for day
Or two while looking over her property.
do not make any fuss for me,
please, Miss Hamilton wrote. II know
how busy you are at this season. Have
Dell run down a hen and let me have
potpie for dinner"
Dell smiled at the mention of his
name. He had been too young to re-
member Miss Hamilton when she went
away, but he was proud to know she
remembered him.
81 suppose I'll have to meet her at
the train" said Dell, with the Pc
culiar drawl that had come down to
him from Puritan Green Mountain an
cestors. 81 suppose I'll have to dress
up"
"Of course, Dell, and put the best
harness on the horses and take the wag-
ON down to the creek and wash off the
mud
81 guess she'll get used to m I'D, -
said Dell.
When the train climbed the hill and
finally stopped at the hillside depot,
Dell was waiting, holding tight rein
over his fractions farm horses, which
were unused to the "chaff chuff" of the
exhaust of the locomotive. Two women
were handed down from the vestibule
One Dell knew was Miss Hamilton and
small blond person by her side was
stranger
you are Dell, know" said Miss
Hamilton, coming up. "This is my
friend, Miss Sayles," and the blond
vision smiled at Dell and showed her
pretty white teeth
Can you get in?" asked Dell, for the
horses were restless and he couldn't get
out to assist them, and all the way
down the hill he sat very straight and
handled the lines, conscious that the
prettiest girl he had ever seen was sit
ting behind him and probably contrast
ing him with the men who drove for
her in the park and on the city boule-
wards. When he stopped the horses at
the farm gate and helped the ladies
down from the high wagon, he thought
to himself that it was like lifting doll
when Miss Sayles put her foot on the
step and held out her hands to him If
she had been looking at him, she would
have seen that he blushed clear up to
his faded white hair. But she WASH t
looking She saw only the farmhouse
hidden in the trees, was conscious of
the drifting scent of violets from the
garden and felt the sunlight falling like
benediction over all.
Dell watched her going up the path
to meet his mother standing on the
porch in her best calico dress and fresh
gingham apron. "She looks like vel
low bird " he said to himself. A thou
sand times he had seen graceful bird
poise just as she was poised ON the step
Of the porch, seemingly ready for flight
into space.
The story of how Dell came to wor-
ship at the fair girls shrine is short
one. The first thing he did that morn
ing was to pick great bunch of yiolets
from the border for her In the after
noon he was her guide to the innermost
recesses where nature slides away her
spring jewels Of hepatica and arbutus.
He threw stones into the creek that she
might cross without wetting her dainty
feet. He showed her where the win
tergreen berries grew thickest and
laughed because she was afraid to eat
them. He did not say much. Dell sell
dom said much, but he loved to hear
her talk
"She's pleasant girl" said the
mother to Dell that night.
YES" said Dell, she's a great
t-a-l-k-e-r"
Miss Salyes might not have felt COM
plimented if she had heard Dell's com
ment. 1t was sincere. To Dell it was
great thing to be able to talk well.
The days following We're full of de-
light to the girl All the glories of the
spring were heaped upon her. Birds
awakened her in the morning with a
thousand musical voices. She brought
home loads of delight from the fields
and woods in the afternoon, and in the
vening Dell told her stories of autumn
hunts and huskings He told how a
woman he knew had become mission
airy.
"And she has gone to teach the heath
emp asked the girl.
"N-o," drawled Dell. II guess she's
what you'd call a home missionary She
goes around backing stoves"
Dell's mother explained that the
woman in question had a lightning
backing outfit, and she went about the
neighborhood backing stoves without
charge inst to occupy her time and
benefit the appearance of her neighbors'
kitchens.
There was a world of tenderness in
Dells voice when he talked to the girl. |
Seldom did he grow tender in his words, |
however, only once, when they were
sitting on the porch toward evening and
a mosquito came humming about Dell's |
ears. He struck at it with his open
hand, and it flew toward the girl.
Don't send your mosquitoes over this
way to bite me, !" she said.
THAT'S what I'd do if was mos
quito" said Dell without a smile
and with a degree of earnestness that
almost frightened her. She went into
the house then, and Dell saw her no
more that evening, and there was lit
tie strain in his left side that almost
choked him when he thought of her. He
told his mother what he had said
81 meant it, too" he said and then
added desperately, 81 wish l was a
mos-q-u-i-t-o.
dell, -" said his mother, lyon must
not say such things. She won't like it.
She isn't plain, like us, and she won't
know how to take it. But they are 60
ing away in the morning, so you must
be up early to drive them to the sta
ton.
AS the train left at an early hour
every one was awake soon after day