Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-02-11
T1MBERLINE
OF THE IOWA

essariiy occupied a great NAM fect
Of space. He was most delightfully."-
ugly--red hair, turnadup nose, mouth
twice the ordinary size and--freck!ea.
But though the beauty Of his countc
nance was such rs to make the an.
gels sad. he WAS q very Titan for size
and strength. Indeed. az old Mother
Mag. who did washing for the ''bys.
put II, "Timberline amt much to LUX
at In the face. nj ali. but it's himself
that is the gran fieger of by. bless
hint
That. again, is as It may be. Beauty
In man Is not among tho things the
world Graves. Most men get along
very comfortably without e. Some.
times, indeed. good looks are d dis
tinct disadvantage To n man. They
have a fashion of going 10 their vic.
Tins heads, like-bad champagne.
In the case OF women, now-but
that's another story.
80. Timbcriine. whose real name
WAS Lawrence Fielding, lacked not SO
much after all. a man who could
handle drilI as he did. who was pleas
ant to work with. and always ready
~ uFtV u totUIhIf III ifbtuif. Houib
not be unpopular among bia fellows,
however faulty IN feature
No one knew who Timbcrline was.
He sometimes JeatingIy remarked he
had no folks gueBn he growed. like
T0psy" He wrote no letters and Wis.
tied none but silverton people As TO
the rest, he kept his own counsel
Whatever HIS parentagc. he had the
reputation OF being one OF the straight.
cst men Mt the mine.
When Mother Mag flrrt came Mp to
the little cabin, situated on the edge
Of the Silver Lake basin, he had been
one Of the firnt TO hcfrjeud the old
woman. In SiivcItou she found Il
hard TO make living nt her wash tub
Up al the mines there would be no
competition. Besides there was Nora
the bonnie little grille she had bo-
fricndod and taken as her own. She
must be sent to school.
dother Mag had known Norn's IN.
ther and mother. pcrbopa as well nH
any one IN Silycrton. Gentleman
Hob, IN they called him, was young
keutuckyian. who fell IN love with
aud married n little Now England
schoolmsrm. His proud parents dis
owned him on hearing OF his mar
riRge.
With pride equal to theirs. he
turned HIS back on the East and came
u the mountains Ia seek HIS fortune
There were drawbacks, bni the two
loved each other and FOR n year or two
they wore very happy Then. nn the
result OF Nc OF recislcssnoss, IIoh
took cold. II developed Into pueu
monia. TWO days later he
died.
His wife fingered a month or two
after hlm-then with the birth of her
child her life went out. leaving the ~.
tie one 10 the care OF Mother Mag
She was only poor old woman, lg
nornnt of almost all the world culls
culture. yet she cared fot the little
orphan tendorly. She worked early
and late, that Nora might have dainty
clothes, and later 20 send her to
school.
Il was u strange life the child iod.
Her early associations were the
breezy sweeps of the Fat which bor-
ders the basin. with lts strange 81
lence and sense of Isolation from the
outer world Then there wns the
lake--thc beautiful Silver Lake, re.
nocting the azure OF the sky, M well
as the mines located around It's brim
Not having known playmatcs, Morn
did not miss them, so she grew and
fourished. amid the rest OF the high
altitude flowers.
When she was seven years old, and
the pet Of the minora. Mother Mag
sont her TO the Sisters OF Mercy In
Durango, After that she was only
ut home during the summer vacations.
Eleven years later. Mag was iron
came around the corner OF the house.
80 you are going To leave ua.
Mother Mag" he said. 4 don't
know what We fellows'il do up here
when you're gone g
ITS not for moself. by. YoE have
been awful good TO poor old won.
an. Mother Mag knows"--dryine he
eyes furtkeiy with corner OF her
apron.
But sure it's no place for the dar-
lin at all, at all. she wclt on. "Ycz
know that Timbcrlme."
You're not afraid we'd carry her
on, are you, Mother Magf' ho said,
throwing his huge arms up over his
head with laugh
"Indade. is II afraid OF the miners
] ann" she said. mo. no, it's safe |
enough she'd be" Then looking close.
ly ut him: rs II fancy to herself |
yex hnve7"
Timberline jumped so that the dish
es which hung on the cabin wall rat.
tied Good Lord. Mag" he said.
shes only child"
She's is the day" the old woman
answered obstinately.
"um. that's so" and he pufrcd away
meditatiyely. At length, half 10 him
self, he murmurcd: She's too
young"