The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1899-03-30
widow McClane, don't stand

GGTF that's you. ElYira. said the
widow McClane, don't stand
L there with the screen door wide
open. Come on in. DO yon spose |
want to be shoon' flies out of the house
all the rest of the summer
Elyira hufriedly shut the screen
door, but she was too late. \ fly had
flown in.
The widow laid down her sewing
and. advancing cautiously, Mapped her
blue-checked apron. Tine ny. retreat
ing, lighted on the screen, where ne
buzzed defiantly. With her left hand
the widow opened the door an inch or
so. and with her right she made covert
passes at the fly. Her outstretched I'm
gers Travelled stealthily across the
screen and up and down, while her
large mouth sympathetcally worked
itself open and shut. From the street
she appeared TO be affected with a sort
OF mild insanity; but when n fly was
in question the widow McClane cared
little enough for the opinion of the peo-
pie on the street.
After further effort she succeeded In
c0rralllng the fly, flung wide the screen
door, spread out her fingers and let him
go. Dazed by his sudden release from
Imprisonment he remained suspended
In midair for drunken moment, then
winged his way straight into the sun
light
The widow fastened the hook with
vicious clamp.
There she exclaimed, returning to
her chair by the window and taking up
her sewing. "lf there is one thing in the
world | hate above another, it's flies.
I'm sorry | made so much trouble"
said Elvira, wistfully, twisting the cor
ner of her apron.
"'Twasnt no trouble" responded
the widow. .Leastwlse not much. Set
down. You make me nervous enough
TO fy to the moon, standin there fidget-
in"
Thus admonished, Elvira timidly en-
scOnced herself in the nearest rocker,
from which vantage ground she fur
lively watched the widow, whose grim,
weather-beaten face now bent over her
work. Her needle moved unevenly
back and forth until the thread short
ened itself 10 fingers length. Taking
two or three decisive stitches one above
the other. she drew out the needle aud
bit off the remaining thread.
well, what is 1t, Elvra?' she in
qnired.
A faint flush rose to Elyira's eyes,
creeping thence to the roots of her hair.
ITS about joe" she answered.
80 he's asked you to marry him.
has he?"
Yes" assented Elvira, the flush
growing more vivid under the sharp
scrutiny of the old womans eyes.
'If you've come to ask my advice"
said the widow McClane, II say, marry
him"
HE amt much account, aceordin' to
what people tell me-" yentured Elvlra
alphabetically.
Hes as much account as the ones
1hat's talkin' about him, reckon" re-
torted the widow. "They amt any of
'em worth shucks as far as | can see;
but that amt here nor there. He's a
man, an any sort of man Is a protec-
ton to woman. If he amt any better
than just scarecrow, hung up to keep
away the hawks. The worlds fun of
hawks on the lookout for wilder wom-
en-, waitin' TO peck 'em TO death the
first chance they get. I've been a wild
der nigh on TO twenty years, an
know"
"My old man was like joe" she said.
returning TO the subject In hand. "IIe
want much account. kinder projec'in'
around at first one thing an then an
other an not dom much of anything
after all. but he kept off the hawks.
Pore Teller. he had asthma. You could
hear him most mile off a-wheezin an
n-wheezin. Sometimes | thought II
would set me plumb crazy the noise he
made, but many's the day since I'd bin
glad enough TO hear him wheezin' agin
That there asthma kept him from dom
pretty much everything he oughter
done. He couldn't chop wood for it OF
bring in the kindlin' or make the fires
had TO do all that. He got so after