The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-07

Your letters never did Justice to it
all. Charley-uever 1t IS beautiful
beautiful We shall be happy mere,
very happy, dearest"
And she meant it. Every word came
straight from her heart. How could
she understand then? How could she
know in this hour of homecoming. that
there would be day when those ma
jestic peaks would be - her a circle
of implacable faflers2 or that she
would close her windows TO the mo-
nOtouous rush of the river. cutting its
way through the mountains 10 the life
for which she hungered? Or that the
eternal sunshine. cleaning even
through evanescent showers. would
mock her misery and make her long
for the shadows of night? Or that the
Tilt OF the meadow lark would drive her
half mad with envy? He could at least
fly across the mountains. while She
The first year was not so hard. Then
her husband bought the stock, and
with the cattle came the cow os-s. Her
unframed shoulders bent beneath this
new burden. In their rough, chtVairic
fashion the men adOred her. but they
alsO-ate. At first she rose shuddering-
" each morning to the unvarying task.
Then she became numb to It,
Mechanically and at regular inter
walls she cleaned the front room. but
she never ventured TO sit there. From
Grandmother Stevens brass candle
sticks to the last photograph Of her
graduating class. everything reminded
her of that othe, life--aud she was
afraid to think.
More and more she withdrew into
herself. There was nothing else.
Vaguely and not rebelIiously she re-
allied that the volatile temperament Of
her husband was yielding TO the more
debasing influences Of the wild free
life. She seemed powerless to hold him
IN check. What could she do when
the ranch work pressed upon her until
It seemed to touch her very soul2 To
be sure. he praised her cooking and
vowed that no woman in all Sagusche
county could beat her in making bak-
ing powder biscuits. He always kissed
her. too. when, stalwart and noisy
and with clanking spurs, he came in
from the range But there were dreary
nights when he never came farther
than SasuaChe, the county seat and
on these nights size lay breathlessiy
listening for the hoOf beats and heard
only the eerie lamentatiOn Of the
coyote.
But. above it all. the mean surround
ings. the interminab bic drudgery. the
selfish negleCt of the man who wooed
her from a life OF comparative ease and
refinement. rose that passionate longing
for music. This woman. who knew the
score OF every opera. VINO had heard
every noted singer of her day. would
have cried with joy atrthe sight OF
street piano or a negro banjoist.
once when ne had made "A fortunate
speculation in stock she suggested a
piano. but he quoted freight rates
across the range. And that night he
rode into Saguache and was gone three
days. When he returned the cowboys
winked at each other and turned his
5aded horse into the COrral-all but one
man. He sighed. Perhaps he thought
Of the woman who for three long
nights had been listening for the hoof-
beats that did not come.
The next mail brought from an east
ern friend a musical journal. but the
woman never cut the leaves Again
she WAS afraid and she laid the paper
with gesture Of despair on the glow
ing Goals. Gay snatches of light opera
and piquant college songs no longer fell
from her lips. Her guitar leaned in an
ut-oi-tns-way corner, its Strings
broken.
Perhaps this was the reason that.
when the child came, his eyes We're
filed with a strange usefulness At
the age when other children placidly
suck their fingers. gurgling md cooling.
he lay with tiny fists tightly 0lenched,
staring yeagningly at the loving face
bent over him whenever the mother
could steal from her w6sk.
She was bending over him thus one
afternoon, when from a shed near the
corral came a sound that, 70 the wonl-
an was message from paradise. IN
fute-like teness someone was whistling