River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-08-08
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Mrs. DENNISON had bco1ln life bv
BY Gwendolen Overton.

plenty Of company gave her no con
ISOLATION. She had had many suitors
both because she was the only girl
within n radius Of 50 miles, and be-
cause she was a very nice and pretty
one. But only Leslie and Dennison
had ever stood a chance, and Den
nison had won out-no one could
quite tell why, Maggie herself least
OF all, probably. Leslie would have
been the better match, viewed fnan-
Cially, and looks were in his favor
very decidedly.
But Maggie chose Dennison with
the usual wisdom of her kind; and
having no particular religious prefer
ences one way or another, went with
lin TO the nearest adobe town and
had herself married by a padre, as be-
ing the easiest and quickest way out
u it. And thereafter for three years
Dennison had treated her abomnably.
He made nothing whatever of beating
her; ne overworked her; he drank.
His conduct was the scandal of the
surrounding country. knowing Mag
gic's progenitors and her own dispo-
sition, the wonder to every one was
that she did not shoot Dennison and
have done with it. Since nothing of
the kind happened, the only possible
conclusion was that She loved him.
Which she did. If he had neglected
her she might perhaps have had re-
course to a six-shooter; but it is at
least having some notice taken of you
to be knocked down, and Maggie fire.
quently was.
The treatment told on her good
looks after a while, the more especial
ly as they were of the sort that are
Of youth alone. The plains and hard
usage age a woman early. So when
Maggie was q she looked ten years
older than that
Then Dennison left her. He found
somebody he liked better, one day
when he went over to the railroad
town rs miles away, and took her
away with him Maggie had no no.
ton where he had gone, else She
would probably have followed him.
Instead, she stayed on the ranch and
hoped and pinned, She carried on the
ranch alone, it being one of those
plains ranches having no especial
boundaries, no especial fields or crops,
and only a scrawny mich COW or two
and a few chickens, There were a
couple of hundred head Of stock. cat
tie that roamed the country and were,
10 all intents. wild, and some broncos
Of much the same sort. These re-
quired no care, so Maggie spent most
of her days sitting on the sill Of the
back door of the adobe and staring
of toward the mountains and think
ing about Dennison.
The Mexican woman who lived with
her squatted on the ground in the
shade in summer, in the sun in win
ter-with black tapalo over her
head, smoking cigarettes until the
hard soil in the neighborhood was
strewcd with straw paper stumps.
She had Il children. Maggie had
none. There had been baby, but il
died A whitewashed board fence
upon the top of a knoll that was to
be seen from the back door marked
where the grave had been before the
coyotes had torn it up. Besides the
woman and the Il children there were
two .'greaser' vaqueros. whose duties
we're not burdensome, who ate ierked
beef and frijoles, and helped Maggie
wait for Dennison to come back
But though she sat day after day
with her fading eyes looking toward
the mountains beyond which was the
railway and from which came the
road, no Dennison appeared other
people came by at long intervals.
Twice Leslie had ridden up. There
had been a years space between the
visits. And at the second one Maggie
had seemed no nearer consolation or
common sense than at the first Then
he had let Is months elapse.
When he came down the road this
time he saw Maggie. from affair off,
sitting on the door sill with her chin
in her hands, the Mexican woman
lugging narrow strip OF shade, for
il was near noon. and some chickens
and children yariously disposed. lie
lismounted with a clanking of spurs
and led his broncho to the water
trough.
Maggie rose without haste and went
over to him. She might have seen
him five minutes before from any sign
81 surprise or pleasure she made
Hers was the apathy OF the woman Of
the frontier rancho, to whom life is
as her outlook upon the world dead,
fruitless and dry. She took him into
the house when the pony was turned
over TO n vaquero. Had he heard
news of Dennison. She wanted to
know. Leslie looked serious so scri.
Gus TINT She leaned forward with her
yellow hands ciasped hard What was
IT, she asked. Dennison was dead. 1t
was that he had come to tell her, II,
had just returned from the Other
side of the Colorado and had had
news Of her husband there, quite by
chance.
Tell me, said Maggie, "tell me tho
whole thing. / want to know"
Leslie told her, tipping back in hi.
chair with his hands claspcd behiut
his fine head, and his buckskinnc,