Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-07
copyrighted, 1900, Daily Story Pub. Coz

copyrighted, 1850, Daily Story Pub. Coz
At last the old-time Squatter lived in
the suburbs OF a city. Once he had lived
among the hills, in a rude log hut. be-
side a pathway rarely traversed. And
here in the door of his cabin he had sat,
playing "a tune that must have come up
out OF the adjacent ground, so Indigenous
was it to the soil. All strangers were
the legitimate prey of his drollery, and
the shrewdest of Pinkerton men could
haze 'raWn from him not one word
more than his peculiar impulses prompt
ed him to utter. And SO he lived, year
after year. shifting the wild perfume of
summer, and lowering over his rough
hearth stone as the winter wind roared
in the woods. But at last the primeval
trees began to fail about alim. He heard
them crash and thunder upon the
ground; numerous men began to dig up
the dirt. to heap it into a long ridge and
to put iron upon it; and one morning
he Old man was startled by the Shrek
of Il railway engine. He stood upon q
knoll, with his SAFE upon the rising sun
as he listened and then sadly went into
his shanty. In one moment he had made
up his mind. A tentacle of the world
had been shot forth to sting him, to
graphic him, to choke him.. He would
go farther into the forest. But his
daughter begged him to remain yet a lit
tie longer. He stood dumb before her,
unable to conceive of "a cause why she
should wish to stay-he was indeed, face
- face with his first mystery. But soon
1t was solved. The MAJ who had sur
veyed the road had fallen in love with
this wild and tangled vine, the old fell
lows daughter, and was even now at the
door to ask for her hand. The Squatter
was staggered. He put his hand to his
head as if to feel of the place where the
blow had fallen, but suddenly a melan-
choly light cleared away the darkness
that had gathered in his eyes. With his
wife he went farther into the woods.
leaving his daughter behind to contend
with the trials of civilization. But he
had left his heart with her, and when the
old woman had been tucked away be-
tween eternity's sheets, he turned back.
searching the distant sky for the smoke
of progress listening for the Shrek of a
rushing 'enlightenment." He found his
daughter, living in the edge of a town,
IN a house that was marvellous to him.
Rain Ias falling when he arrived, and
when he saw that the roof did not leak,
his wonder was increased. He put his
long, hairy arms about his daughter, and
turning suddenly about, stormed as if
at a dog. to hide his emotion; and the
woman knew that there was no dog, but
she stormed 90; and then they stood
In silence. But a new light leaped into
his eyes What did it mean? A little
girl, his granddaughter, came forward to
meet him, and when he had gathered her
into his arms, she said:
II want you to tell me about the old
bear"
And night after night he told her the
story, as upon his lap, in gown of white
she sat, warming her bare feet by the
fire; and she always said, tell it again.
How gentle was the old fellow. Time
had cowed him. The dazzle of the world
hurt his old eyes. But when twilight
came-when the child was upon his knee,
he swore that never had he been so
happy. In a corner of the yard he plant
ed a miniature forest-and he built a
model of his once famous cabin, with the
hopper near by. And when wind and
weather" damaged his premises, he
would set about Immediately to make re-
pairs, and thus time went on with him
from year to year.. The little girl never
grew weary of listening to his droll talk,
when an imaginary stranger drew rein at
the door of the cabin. He was so alb.
sorbed in his employment, day after day,
that he did not know when the girl put
on long dresses. He had seen a shy
young man about the house, but had paid
no attention to him. One evening the
young man was walking in the garden
with the girl. He held her hand as slow
iy they strolled down the path, and she
must nave pretended that she did not
know he held it, for when hi said, with
q sort of self-congratulation: "You DOM
care If I hold FOUR hand, do you, Min
nie?" she snatched it away as if sud
denly it had been burnt. Why was he
so shy? Was it because he recently had
been appointed to the chair of mathe-
mates in a college not far away? Is il
not singular that a mathematician
should be so deaf when a woman's heart
speaks to him?
II was in hopes that you did not care
he said.
She had inherited some of the ole
mans drcllery. ITO you suppose that a
girl wants to walk along with her hand
in a vise?" she replied.
"Well, really-no, I presume not. Blu
do you know hat I was not quite aware
OF the fact, if indeed. fact it was, thai
the pressure could have been SO great:
1t is quite possible tina you may moi
have observed it, but I may say-indeed