Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-10-15
The Overland Eastbound
77ER name was Eulalle. but every
l6I one in Elkton called her Dottie.

70ER name was Eulalle, but every
In one in Elkton called her Dottie.
S"Old Man" Lebrun. her father,
had started Elkton. He came down as
hunter and trapper In the old days
when the territory was as primeyal as
his own Canadian frontier, but when
the wild game was pretty well hunted
out and the white emigrants and the
soldiers commenced to come he turned
freighter, and later, when the copper
camp started ut Goose Greek, he blazed
a stage route thither and founded the
: traffic that made him rich-for from
tiersman. When Mrs. Lebrun died
Dottie was chubby. big-eyed cid Of
4 and SO the women, who We're few,
and the men, who had never more
than one tender side In their make-ups
in those harsh days. petted the child
and made life very sweet and radiant
as she grew, Now she was 90, with
the eyes OF doe, SO lustrous and won
dering; broken skin. peeling n little
from her oval face from the whipping,
sand-spattered winds of the plains, the
form of stately woman and the heart
of yearning child. She had been
Through school," had taught In 1t for
term and was esteemed us the most
learned inhabitant of Elkton next to
Parson Davies and Squire Becno," and.
perhaps. Professor Swlnton, who was,
however, newcomer and therefore
yet on probation.
Professor Swlnton stopped" at Lee
bruins. He was n New-Yorker, frank,
boyish, unaffected, gentle and gener-
GUS. He laughed deprecatlngly Mt the
professor idea. for he was only a
principal" of the three-room school,
and he had that admirable desire to
be called by his given name that is
strong in all young. Ingenious natures.
His coming had made quite differ
ence" with Eulalie, and they had come
along SO well in their acquaintance
that she now called him Mister Maui
rice" and he said miss Eulalie." He
had told her many wondrous things
about New York and the world that
lies beyond and apart from the sand
girt silences of her home, of the SPLEEN
dor and folly, Of the pageantry and
the mockery, of the canon-like streets,
the glories, the squalor. the romance
and the emptiness of the life he had
left to grow up. as he said, with the
free West. Sometimes he told her love
stories. of which she forgot to ask
/ him. How do you know?" and silent
and enger-eyed. like the child In the
nursery ut night. she only listened and
hoped that his legends might never
come to an end.
Sometimes. when the sun had gone,
they rode their ponies away into the
short grass, endless plateaus. that din
and rise above the mesa walls of the
little town; sometimes they galloped
through the narrow trails of the re-
moter hills, but always she listened,
smiling half sadly. half raptly, and al
ways he told his quaint jokes, his true
tales of real fairies, and his romances
Of the Babylons she might never see.
One day he got fat letter from the
East. and when he had read 1t and
laughed over 1t, and held up the check
which 1t brought, he ran into the hall
way and called for Miss Eulalle. She
had ridden into town, her father said.
ITO trade" Maurice went to the cor
raj and saddled his pony. 1t was Sat
urday, his holiday. He galloped gaily
down the dusty road, shifting the hot
wind and twirling his quirt like n man
with good news. He met Eulalie in
the main street. just mounted upon her
old white pony, and waved his letter
at her.
Aunt Won Werdon is dead, Miss Eu-
lalie," he said, stopping and looking
at her merrily.
"That one that gave the tea party to
the cats and Kittens? But you're sor-
ry. amt you. Mr.. MauriceT she asked,
wondering at his levity.
"Yes-and no. You see. she had only
two reasons for living-cats and me.
she preferred the cats, and-then she
was old beyond computation-but I
will say that she did better by me
than had right to expect. See?
She has left me $500! 1 shall have
money to burn" And,his eyes looked
(wistfully up the heat-scourged street
with its reeking barrooms, Its empty,
wooden sidewalks and its dreary same
Iaess of frame-shanty stores. "win