The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-10-24
THE HOPE Of
the HEART
By BALDWIN SEARS
Copyright. 1901. By Bdld,cin Scars

The scuttle In the roof of the farm
house opened slowly. and girls head
appeared. As she held up her face to
the evening breeze. her fair skin. yel-
low hair and delicate features made
her appear like some faint star Just
glancing above the horizon.
A young man with a scythe over his
shoulder crossing the lane below the
barn looked up toward the house See
ing the girl. he stopped. Strengthened
his shoulders as. though he half expect
ed her to speak and to speak himself.
then walked on with tagging steps and
disappeared below the orchard where
the brook flows into the woods.
Mary leaned her arms OH the edge of
the scuttle and looked out. The hot air
from the garret blowing in gusts past
her face was like twiteh at her
sleeves reminding her OF the household
she had left below.
She was the only one who had not al
ready gone to bed. 1t was harvest
time. They were cutting the wheat in
the meadows, and all day the hum of
the reaper had come up from the
broad, white fields where the men
were at work. Since dawn the house
had been buzzing with lively toll. but
now the days work was ended.
In the front room of the porch the
farmer and his wife were asleep. They
had gone to bed Immediately after sup
porch she heard their low voices talk
ing over the potato crop and the grain.
their drowsy words growing fewer,
slower. until at length they sank away
and ceased. while yet the bobolinks
were skimming over the meadow and
the red of the sunset fingered.
Across the gate her married brother
and a neighbor had talked politics
Mary had heard their nasal voices al
ternating like the wooden balls tossed
by a 1uggler. In the south chamber
Just under the attic her sister-in-law
had been putting her children to- bed,
| the creak. creak OF the rocking chair
as it swayed over an uneven board
| dimly audible through the silent house.
In the attic under the roof slept her
little brother Bob. dreamless, tired and
contented at the end of his long sum
| mer day.
Down In the kitchen yard the turkeys
and chickens had gone to roost In the
apple trees and the grape arbor. cluck-
ing and twittering in sleepy protest
against the awkward ones as they set
tied themselves together.
In a few moments II had grown
very still and dark.
The girl ON the house top drew a
long breath and leaned her head back
against the edge of the roof. 1t wal
only 8 O'Clock, and the faint yellow
twilight fingered on the border of the
summer night A new moon hung low
over the crest Of the woods. The wes1
wind brought up the hot smell OF
ripening cornfields, and a bat dartet
out of the orchard In swooping cir
cles against the clear night
From her eyrie above the treetop
the farm buildings. the neighborini
houses. the fields and lanes. even th,
wide post road looked quite small an,
cheap, like toy village. The country
side In its irregular checkerboard o
pasture, corn and woodland, pale vel
low with the wheat stubble. sombe
green where half ripened orchard
spread, marked here and there by
cluster of roofs. a spire that told
hamlet In the hills, became signif
cant only In the mystery Of distanc
as 1t mounted toward the hills an
ended at last in one vast gray. seaiik
level against the trackless sky. Mar
looked at 1t all as one upon who's
mind the meaning Of these familia
scenes had just begun to dawn-thes
fields, the chickens she must plucl
the bread she must make, the rasI
berries she must preserve, all groupe
themselves before her I'm a coheren
scheme Of life. From dawn till darl
each day alike. cooking, washing. Pre-
serving. holding the babies-the bun
dens Of each side were hers. So ia
she had carried them unthinkingly. vi
questionably. II was only the lot G
every farmers life.
Tonight she was unusually tired. 7
escape a feeling of restlessness she ha
determined to go to bed 1t was r
freshing to lie in the cool darkness. Bl
before she reached the top of the att
stairs she felt the dry heat Of the su
baked roof. The great, timbered spac
dark with its age blackened beams an
scantly windowed twilight, held
strange odor Of cedar shingles, Of Al
cient leather trunks. Of musty paper
} In the solemn dusk the candle lost
: bold glare and dropped to a waveriI
] spark, eyed by the glimmering grs
= panes OF the gable windows high und
; the ridge.
, The two chimneys, like huge stoI
, giants whom she had been feeding 6
day. stopped over her as they tower,
4 toward the roof. reminding her Of
!. morrow's kitchen work.
z As Mary sat on the edge Of her q
thinking Of these things. she looked |
d vaguely. A star. the first in the pa
& night, shone through the window up
0 her, clear. unwinking. pensive. holy.
A lock OF hair loosened by the vii
foated softly across her cheek like t
kiss Of unseen lips. For the first til
: in her life she felt the restless longi
:, for some good of which she was igr
v rant What was il her simple. swe
Y existence lacked? Had she not ever
e thing that a girl could ask-fath
mother. food and shelter, place
- the world? What else had any on
h The aged farmer and his wife-thc
d two good people fast asleep without
thought in their nightcaps beyond I