Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-03-19
CHAPTER VIII.

CHtll fouuudy eNeuiues JOuu.
Those were the parting words between
the lovers at the close of that happy ride
from the spelling school. Commonplace
and unsentimental as a produee-market
report they look in plain, cold type, but
that is simply because the material in
adequately shadows forth the spiritual.
Love decks dull speech with the evaRes-
cent glamour of its own illusory charms.
a glance, a blush, sigh. a tremulOus in
donation, a pressure of the hand give to
words such meanings as may not be
found in any printed lexicOns. Platitudes
become poetic sublimities in the estima-
fiOn of love, that egOtistical passion which
finds all things good wherein it may, in
fancy, see its own reflection. Even
twice two are four" may be, by loves
magic, lifted from its low estate as an
unexciting arithmetical axiom up to the
plane of glowing passion, and 90, trem-
bling and thrilling with the power of a
kiss, from one fond heart to another. Per
haps the significance so bestowed upon
words may be wholly imaginary, but
there are philosophers who affirm that
the imaginary is the only truly real.
And now it is Sunday evening; and
John, in pursuance of that engagement,
is rapidly nearing the widow Mulveil's,
while Hetty is mOmentarily peeping out
Of the window to learn if he is yet in
sight And is he thinking only of her
occupied exclusively with thoughts of
love! Hardly. He is nearing the imp
as well as the angel. While he is court
lng Hetty in the house, his horse and
cutter will be for hours at the mercy of
Danny III the barn. and what deviltry
may not be expected of that boy under
such circumstances? Happily his horse
IS a famous kicker, and if Danny at
tempts to shave the animals tail, there
are strong grounds for the cheering hope
that Danny will never smile again. OF
course, the mischievOus urchin will be
likely to take out the shaft bolts of the
scuUter and hide them, but John has an
other pair and q wrench in his oyercOat
pocket, 50 that will not be serious. Moth
ing is more probable than that the imp
will saturate the sleigh robes with wat
or, which viii be solid ice by the time
John will want to 20 home John de-
bates with himself the advisa bility of car
ryiHg the robes into the house, and con
cludes that it will hardly do. Mrs. Null
suspicion concerning the safety of visit
ors' personal property in her barn; and,
really, the robes would be no safer in
the house, unless he should sit on them
all evening They will have TO take their
chances. But what else might Danny
do? That boys possibilities are not SO
much to be dreaded for what may be ex-
3ccted of him, as because of the in
5inite potentiality of unforeseeable Gus
sedness latent in him.
Suddenly Johns mind is lighted up by
discovery of means for averting the
danger. Not in vain had the Rev. Mr..
Mcleod preached from that text about
making friends with the MammOG Of
unrIghteOusneSs."
While John is arriving at resolution
10 make friends with Danny, at any rea- !
seaable sacrifice, that happy boy IS hav-
ing fun in the barn with a thn-s skinned,
ireCtlcsome young mare, battered in one
of the stalls. Safe in an adjoining stall,
be reaches out from time to time and
snaps against the mares unprotected
Aindquarters a thin strip Of India rubber,
cut from a WORKOUT 'gum-elastic" over
shoe-one of the old-fashiOned kind we
had before the vulcanizing of caoutchouc
WAS invented. The snap is not particu-
RSrly painful, but the sensitive animal,
p'esenting it as au indignity and annoyed
10y it until she is half mad with nervous
rage, squeals and kicks frantically, to
Danny's unspeakable delight. The eli
max of his enjoyment comes when John,
leading his horse in on the barn floor,
passes behind the mare, and nearly has
his brains kicked out by her flying heels.
There would be bad quarter of an hour
for the sprightly youth, if John Cameron
were not so deeply and hopelessly in love
with Hetty But Il lover is a creature
devoid of free will. Even at the con-
scious sacrifice of duty and self-respect,
he turns. his back upon ThemiS to knee
before Eros. SO John, instead of giving
the evil urchin the trOuncing he deserves,
speaks him fair seeks to win his good
will and even bestows upon him silver
half-dolar Words do not go far with
Danny, who shrewdly divines the situa-
ton, and feels himself master of it, but
that princely gift of coin wins his ale
glance Never before has he had, at one
time, so large sum of money all his
own, and his good fortune fairly over
whClms him. Prone To be as impulsively
grateful as he is mischievous, he is hence
forth an earnest partisan of John. who
little realizes how effective an ally he
has so cheaply secured. The boy, whose
unconsciouSly adopted motto is deeds,
not words" has little to say, but Hetty
may count upon trouble with him if she
does not show proper favor, in his esti-
nation. to the young man of his choice.
Dim is the brightness Of the big fire in
the sitting room CRATE, by comparison
with the light shining from Hetty's hap
py soul through her beautiful eyes, and
cold its glow beside her welcome; but her
mothers greeting of the young wocer is
barely tolerant. nothing more.
John lays his big driving gloves on the
stand, beside the family Bible and the
lamp, takes the seat offered him near the
fire and makes some show of warming
his fingers 10 cover his embarrassment
for this Is his first plunge into real court
ing. and he is somewhat at 4 loss for the
proper course Of procedure. II makes
him feel awkward to have that old wOm-
an sitting opposite, eying him so critical
Is. He remarks that the weather is cold
and has seemed TO be growing colder
since shutdown. Hetty evinSeS interest in
his observations, but Mrs. Mulveil mere
w shifts what he feels TO be her. ncffable
contempt for such hollow conversation
al pretenSe. Striving 10 appear IT ease,
he looks about him.
On the wall, fronting him, but too high
20 reflect his face. is mirror, He Won
ders if il would make him double-noSed.
like the one in his bedroom at home. or
<uu his chin away of TO the left and
end it with sharp point, as his moth
er'S mirror does. All the mirrors he
knows anything about do some such
queer things. Several wildly colored
Autographs adoru the rOOIs: George
Washington. with his right hand in his
breast, and looking very naughty; Gen.
Winfield Scott with a fierce expression
and mounted on a pale horse. like Death
in the Apocalypse; Andrew Jackson,
whose haid stands up 50 very sJitfiy that
It seems 10 hurt him; ''Contentment," s
.Siu,DPrinr maiden with long curlS 4 red