The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-02-07
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The man strolled leisurely along the
road, keeping In the grass between the
dust of the highway and the skirting
stone wall. He was not a very big
man, and there was something sug-
gestive of physical frailty about the
stoop at the shoulders. There was
strength in his face. however, and a
look in his eye that told one that few
things that God had made held no place
in h mans heart.
It was a historic old road this. 1t
wa the road h a led and still leads
from Concord to Acton. Minuiemen
a hurried along the thoroughfare,
ana the tramp of the feet OF the young
men of Acton going to the front in the
days of civil strife had left many more
marks than We're made when the sur
Tivors returned. The man who this day
was trudging along carried a little
biologists hammer in one hand and
In h other a botanist's tin box. Oc-
c~asionally he would stoop to pick u
flower or to rap with his hammer on
the surface of a jutting rock. Anoth-
er man was coming along in the oppo-
site direction. The two met and this
salutation passed:
Good morning, Ralph
Good morning, Henry"
Then Henry showed Ralph a flower
and q bit Of Clipped rock, and they sat
on the top of the stone wall to talk.
They are cutting down the big trees
in Holmes woods, Henry said Ralph.
h Q man can't cut down the
clouds, Ralph answered Henry.
Then Ralph took UP the flower which
his companion had first shown him
and said: Henry, you know more
OF these things and of the trees and
the mammals and the birds than do
most OF US. You are one of Mother Ma
lures best lovers. There is one thing
You lack" n then a smile spread
over the speakers somewhat grave
face. You lack a wife. You would
find still more beauty in this pink ane-
none, much as 1t holds in Dtore for
you now, IL you We're married.
Ralph, you speak with the feeling
OF the man who has u recently found
a mate and to whom the very stones
sing. This is rather idle talk. though
1t lis between old friends. Mating and
marrying are not for me. I'll keep
O. !tramping the fields. and when I go
home tired I'll take off my own over
coat and cool my feyered brow"
Then they parted. Henry, with his
hammer and box, kept straight on
toward Acton until he reached the Ian
leading Through a tangle Of wild roses.
- NV siS ENdyNWGli anu whence AZ
led. He had run many d surveyors
line through this section, and, not
w~ithstanding the nature Of his last.
words with Ralph. his feet ~quickened
as he turned Into the shaded byway.
and withthe auickness of his ace came
q quickening of heartbeat. though he
would not own 1t. house came into
view. It was the place Of d fairly we'll
to do farmer. Under a tree was i girl
"a woman perhaps better describes
her, for she was at least 10 years old.
Ofalate when Henry had been botan-
izing he had found that the flowers
grew fairers along this way than even
along the road that led to his loved
Walden pond mi Walden woods. He
had thought 1t possible thatfthere
could be a. place in his life for n
love save that OF bird and beast and
flower and of that broad human sym
pathy With men ard women, but which
is sympathy only.
The girl had liked these visits OF the
scholar. She was nattered by them.
She knew of his friendship with the
great of the Village. Shesknew
that already his fame wassbroader
than the state. She knew all this. and
was pleased thereby. AS for the nat
urNltst, he said little when he TONED
for his half hour at the farmhouse.
He neve attempted to find out how
much there was OF gold and how much
OF dross IN this creature who pleased,
his eyea as did a beautiful flower or a
Eose-ttnted cloud. Analysis. which was
his first thought on plucking q rare
plant, eve entered Into his head. He
did not know whether he was IN love
with, this farmer maiden or not In tie