The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-11
The Heiress,


| hour glass. and talk in q, slow. apologize
monotone about the wealth of the
| marshes
| l hope no one will think me a sordid
| person; / speak of his whim because 1t
explains his last wish and his last act.
He did not own a foot OF the landscape
and the shanty was no more than
! squatters claim. But somehow ms vague
intentions had instilled in my heart
| longing, withouthope or reason. to in
! herit the dreary acres Of reeds, pools OF
salt water and piles of sweepings emp
| tied from grain cars on the Y, and, God
willing, 1 shall live minis forgotten
estate as long as 1 may.
It is now perfectly clear that my gen.
tie, sensitive beenfactor had thought an
heiress would be happier far from mere
with the love Of a worthy bridegroom
who once belonged in a city. He showed
| this by mute signs when he himself went
out from the rude habitation never TO
come back alive.
For how many years, 1 can not tell,
sifted the waste of the grain cars that
came down from the mills and elevators.
Tons and tons of sweepings are run out
on this little branch of the railroad and
are unloaded by the brakemen with huge
shovels. The railroad people call II
dump. but my guardian told me long ago
He II was who discovered what those
Dlacer heaps contained He invented
sitter and taught me how to separate the
dust from the wheat.
At first 1t was wild play to see the chaff
and flour dust flying like fine snow IN the
wind 1 was little girl then. After
while I came to know 1t was Work, Out
did not complain. Other poor people
found out the mine and worked 1t for
i
sides. But the idea of vast wealth grew
upon nv aged foster father until he be-
gan to talk about turning the sacks of
wheat into sacks of pure gold by some
mysterious means. This he said he could
do, his thin face-pallid as the flour dust
staring at the hour glass he made with
his bony hands.
AS we sat together by the peat fire in
the shanty and waited the long winter
evenings for word of new siding OF
cars, 1 would ask the old man many silly
Questions but always when he did not
wish to speak his mind he was listening
to the wind rushing in from the sea over
the salt marshes. And his answer was
ever the same: "Ah, my little girl, 1t will
be fine tomorrow at the mine"
Afterward the track-walker would
knock to tell US the cars were due to
come down by daybreak. He would sell
dom enter and seldom stay long, because
I think he was afraid the railroad spies
would hear ne was giving information
and have him discharged, though he
never said so.
He was a fine fellow for taking the
risk. But whoever heard of employees so
selfish, so heartless?
Ny benefactor told me once the track
walker had been an engineer Of survey
that helped to build the railroad, but he
was laid off and could find nothing bet
ter to do than pace watch over ten miles
of the road bed. From the track-walker
1 learned all the signals of the trainmen
hnd 1 could answer them, when 1 saw
him far off sounding the rails of the main
line and stopping now and then to ex-
anime a loosened bolt. But he would not
come near the diggings of Marsh Mine in
the day. Hundreds of bags of half wheat
have the old man and L taken out of the
sweepings from the mills, which are
many miles away. The work did not
stop in ay season, wet or, dry, warm or
drear since the mills never Quit grinding.
At last the old man became too feeble TO
carry the sacks of wheat on his back
to the shanty. Al The could do was tie
the full sacks wit hstrips of cotton, darn
holes in those that were empty and I'M
safe and mend the sifters where the wire
netting had broken.
Every week wagon came an dtook
away the golden harvest, which was sold
to rich people on 5the highlands. They
fed it to chickens and mixed 1t in bran
for the cows. But I never suspected what
price it brought, nor cared to ask. We
tnade the balance into bread and had
enough The old man-no, 1 will not call
him a miser-uaed to say that when the
mine was cleared up a hundred times as
many sacks as his age then he would
die and l should be heiress of the
marshes. 1 set on store by his oft-re-
peated promise, forgetting how many
thousand bushels of grain ore had gone
to rnake-believe assayers. Still humored
his whim and even said l would marry
the nomad of the main line who risked
his job so many times to make US
wealthy.
Yes, my love had made his iplea-a plea
without a plan. And that 1 know is for
loves own sake. But somehow ! fancied
he watched a little wistfully at times the
faces that sped by at the windows of the
through express Like faces flying
through a dream they are; people of
dreams. for they are dreaming. too,
upon this wayside picture. What matter
if the sudden blast of the whistle is
bah! for all the joy and sadness of the
marshes? The trailing waste of smoke
mingles kindly with the clouds of -four
dust and chsf, and the marshes are
quiet again.
But at such times was afraid lest my
good friend feel discomfort. And now /
am afraid it was my anxious gaze down
the track at sunset that helped the old
man to think some day our track-walker
would turn his face the other way and We
would not see him any again.
My benefactor became a watcher az
have climbed up into the signal tower by
the and looked for the solitary figure
coming nearer and nearer on the double
tracks. Then we would wave hands TO
him, shout good night when he approach
ed and passed, and go nome together
the old man and HAPPY as the wild
ducks that fly over the marsh.
Hes a good boy the old man would
say simply.
My heart leaped to thank him, but
something held my tongue. Perhaps II
svould only have made the old man brood
more deeply over the purpose / was IN
conscious of.
One day as he limped over the half
frozen ground 1 ermember that he said:
All, my child, IL IS terrible thing 20
be old"
I shall never forget the sadness in that
voice or the look in those deep-set eyes.
one other time 1 have seen him that
way; his eyes wide open with far-away
stare, as IL trying to see where the snow
flakes began their interminable journey.
I am sure 1t was a sudden great blow
70 my guardian when he heard The track
walker was discharged. He came 10 tell
Us how il happened and 20 say goodbye,
stopping first at the grain cars on the Y.
which he had never done before Ny
sweetheart IS young and brave. so ne
only laughed But l had no heart 10 20