Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1898-05-06

40 miles across from vi n to rim, rims
north anil south, drained
now by crooked, dee1-clt thread Of
water.
Here and there a clu mp of trees,
yellow-green against the yellow gray,
may rise depreeasingly, blt they are
the trees of men, merely tolerate by
the elements. Deer, rich grass and
flowers and snow and savage cold
were long the maiu products Of this
great wild garden of the north. Once
the grass and flowers for hundreds Of
miles lay spread like royal carpet;
but now the carpet is made of hun
dreds Of miles OF wheat, fine and hard,
such as no other land produces. Men
of the old world and the new, from the
north, the west and the east, swept
out into this garden land that lay
ready for the plow as soon as the In
dians were driven away from it. The
creak of the wooden wheeled carts Of
the half-breed butlalo-hunters was re-
placed by the clank Of the seeder and
the rattle of the reaper.
Sim Cages house. low and clinging
hard to the ea~th with which 1t com
bated, stood far out in the middle Of
this broad prairie ground, across
which one might look for more than
ten miles an see the big elevators Of
the II eafesl sews.
There were no towns at all there
Is years before, when sin Gage first
turned up the bright black loom on
his claim. Since then he had met the
billiards and beaten them aud had en-
dured the blazing heats of the swift
summer seasons. The snow had not
separated his grip from the land on
which he had laid hold, and drought
had not burned out his resolution.
His hair hld thinned and grown
gray, his face became Drowned and
scanned with the weather, aud perhaps
his heart had hardened somewhat
under the steady and relentless pres
sure of his life; but never hal he
slackened his hold or dreamed Of Civ
ing up the fight with this iron-bound
garden OF the wheat. He had hardl y
lifted up his eyes.
At first it was bacon and bread that
Sarah Gage, his wife, had cooked;
then it was beef and bread. 1t began
to be beef and bread and other things
Of late years, when Number One wheat
had brought growing cities to the edge
Of the forgotten sea. But then Sarah
Gage died. Poor womanl she should
have been unhappy, no doubt, during
her life, but she was not wise enough.
The years broke her down, and the
winds blew away her color and comeli.
ness, but neither sun nor snow could
dim her love, her cheerfulness or her
faith. She loved her home, every
inch of it, as it grew. She loved hei
husband, loved her daughter. All hei
dreams came true.
Six days she labored, and the seventh
was the Lords day. Twelve miles OF
more across the prairie each Sunday
although the icy poudre cut or ths
sun seorched or che level GROUND
swan with water, Sarah Gage rode oi
drove to church. Farther than tha
she would 60 to nurse the sick settler il
his SHACK" or care for the over
worked woman who had dropped il
the harness of the daily life.
How beautiful and noble is such
life as that of Sarah Gagel You ma,
have eaten bread made OF the Numbe
One wheat she helped to raise, an,
the money you paid for it may hav,
helped buy the hymn book that sh,
loved and from which they chose tn
favorite hymn to sing above her grave
her grave in the bottom of the forgot
ten sea.
That was in the fall, when the al
was growing sharp, although still TIA,
midday heat famed up apace. Til,
clear blue of the sky was fiecked an,
lined with troops of white fowl Tn
stubble-fields were white with th
great fioeks of the snow-geese comm,
down from the north. In the morning
long squads and armies of the bi,
brown grouse, on rocking, rapid, inter
mittent wing, were passing down from
the barren wastes of snow to region
whese timber and eorn-lands CAV,
them longer lease of life.
Only man remained behind in thi
forsaken land, to prove to the ele
ments that he was master there. TIL
grass passed into the seer and yelloy
leaf and was cut down by the frost
and snow blew above it to render
forgotten.
Sim Gage went back to the hous
and sat down in the black clothing
worn alike for festival or mourning
His face was hard and emotionless, bu
his blue eyes looked out with pitt
| full and beseeching gaze. Emmy com
forted him, as is the mission of woman
kind. though Emmy should still hay
been a girl
| All through the swift fall and tn
leaden-footed winter Emmy was a
her fathers side, doing for him all sh
could. Fom dark 10 dark sho wa
always busy. The cattle at the barr
needed her sometimes, and the silen
clamoring Of housekeeping never cease
| It's uAil dDllCtls 1ub bahOld
was as neat as any in England. B.
the freside sat figure suddenl
grown old; but quietly, here. there
everywhere, moved the straight forr
Of Emmya woman grown matured i
her demeanor in less than 30 DAYS
realizing the burden which had com
TO her, but ready to meet it with con
tinuing courage. Itwas not alone tn
men who won the west. When th
deep SHOWS came and the bitter col
Emmy and her father bundled up i
heavy wool and futs when they wen
about their outdoor work At night
gathered close to the little stove, tn
two talkedsA cad or oftentimes passe
long hoursf silence Emmy had
few bookstR journals and now an
then picture. Perhaps it was as
premium from weekly paper that sh
had obtained the picture she mos