Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-02-03
RUBEN COLES CHANGE.
BY ANNIE HAMILTON DONNELL.

qulChIy.
The seed catalogue lay open, and she
could see the bunch of thrifty onions on
the open page. Reuben almost always
ended his list with onions. There was
not time to wait any longer-it was
lnow or never.
And roses, Reuben?"
Reuben Cole bent over his laboring
pen. apparently deaf to the gentle,
wistful voice His hand was painfully
cramped and the parallel lines indented
between his eyebrows told of his men
tai toiling. Flowing half a day
steadily on the windy side of Stone
Scrabble hill was nothing to this.
Leah could have helped him if she
had only dared to suggest it; but to
her simple vision there was something
majestic and unapproachable about
Reuben with pen gripped in his nm
gers. 1t required all her courage 10
mention her hearts desire-the roses.
But I'm bound | WILL she COM
muned with herself, stoutly. III DO
my part. an that's all the Angel Ga
briel could do if he wanted Reuben TO
put roses on to his list
But her heart failed her as she
watched Reubens slow pen trace Two
packages of best onion seed" and then
sign Reuben Cole" in great, quivery
letters. 1t did not write roses and
Leah Coles plaintive face fell.
Reuben Cole was not deaf. None of
| the Coles had ever been, even in their
| eighties. 1t was a matter Of family
| pride with them all.
He had heard LEANS gentle reminder
u, lint h.. had LET
il pass unheeded. just as he had the
year before and the year before that.
Leah always puts in her oar for some
foolshness like that every time he sent
of his order for seeds ana berry canes.
one year it was towering almonds an
some kind of Tartar honeysucklrs. If
| he got en- once, he'd have to again.
| ana wasn't it about all he could do TO
manage the garden sauce? They'd got
10 have that. but they hadn't got to
have a mess a bushes an flower beds
| littering the front yard. Leah was real
curious about that"
| The cole farm was prosperous. Ac-
cording to its place in the taXgatherrr' 5
books. ii ranked as one Of the thrifteSt
| in the town. There We're always the
! newest varieties of small fruits in its
! berry patch. and the newest kind "t
| garden sauce in the garden. Its field
crops were tine-its level moving fields
wonderfully productive. The neighbors
/ avefred that they never did SEE
| urernrr, heavier grass than grew n
| Reuben Coles meadows. ana his loads
If hay at hayng time were sights to
behold
/ . l,. Mt IN 'gIRs'
| barren ana dismal. 10 ~ sure, there
we're I.cah's beds Of uld-fashioncd
| flowers ihat she spaded and tended
| herself with steady patience. but they
| had i discouraged look in spite Of her
care. The it'll. old-time posirS refused
to blossom thriftily in such barren, un-
dressed soil, and Reuben could not
spare amy dressing for it,
| But the grass-oh, that was the
worst! 1t tormcnted poor LCah's beau
| ty-Ioving eyes summer after summer
| 81. ala sD long to see 1T brilliantly
green ana carpety, like other people y
! front-yard grass. Across the street, a
! little way down the hill. tn Hobbs
grass was 50 green, You could feast
| your eyes On it, ana bury your feet
| in its Iuxuriant thickness and they al
ways kept it moved.
| Leah Cole aid her own front yard
moving. 1t WAS not very successful.
The day after the seed list was sent
| off. Leah took her sewing out into the
ward. 1t WAS one Of those surprisingly
warm summary days that come some
times in early spring, and she could not
resist the temptation of it. But she did
not sew much. She wandered Wistfully
around the big. bare enclosure. girt in
| by its unkept fence. 1t took all Rcu-
ben's time to keep the pasture fences
trim.
It's a nice-shaped yard" murmured
Leah. It's got the possiblos' in it.
Mowin' an dresstn' an fiXin' up the
bushes an things-land alive, woudn' I
they make it nice? I'd like to see il
jest once before / die"
| She went about picking out her
"sites," as she called them-this corner
where she wanted a Tartar honey
suckle like Amanda Hobbs'-this little
| longish place where she wanted row
Of rosebushes-this sheltered spot for
the Towering almond.
There were a good many sites. They
dotted the forlorn little place all over.
and when Leah shut her eyes and
made believe. transformed il into q
lovely little place.
In the antpodes of Leah Coles hun
CRY. wistful life it is possible she might
have been an artist. The artists soul
was in her.
ia put Il clump o hydrangeas over
here in this cornery place-kind q set
en- round careless in scattering
bunch. They look real pretty 50.
There's a clump in a yard over to BuX-
VILE. And the white laylac I'd like 70
20 about here. 1t would grow big and
need plenty Of room
\ white lilac was one of Leah's
hearts desires, too. She wanted a
white one 50,
They We're blowing down in the home
field. and the sound of the mems voices
drifted up to her through the clear air
| Reuben's voice was hearty and full NJ
enthusiasm. He was going to lay down
he field to clear clover.
II wish they'd ploW the front yard
lup." unused on Leah, watching the long
straight burrows grow. I'D SOW the
grass seed myself. It's the only way to
do. This sod is 50 dead n alive
There were no children on the cole
farm. and all the loVe and devotion
Leah Cole might have spent on little