Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-05-02
A Farmers Wife.

J1\ would be married before any of
the rest. But Marion only
laughed and said nonsense" Was she
not welded to her art? And did she
not scorn the masculine sex, indivld-
ually, collectively and In the abstract?
ideals. with an object in life, have for
man? A life of dependence for her,
her world to be bounded by four
square walls? Never.
SO she Went on her way rejoicing,
young, beautiful and heart whole; re-
fused the men who We're unfortunate
enough to love her, laughed In their
faces not that she was cruel by ma
ture, but their ardor amused her-she
could not understand 1t.
When June came, and the girls talk
ed over their vacations, she astonished
them all by quietly remarking that she
guessed she would go down to Ray
mond.
what, that pokey old place" ex-
claimed Anna. What in the world
will you do there? Four miles from
nowhere. Why, | wouldn't spend a
week In that tumbled-down old farm
house. And then it's so dismal, that
pine grove is enough to give one the
shudders. Oh, don't go there, Marion,
come with me-"
But Marion remained firm. To Ray
mond she went The quaint, charming
little town of Raymond, nesting at the
foot of the green hills close to the bor-
ders of the beautiful Sebago Lake,
and there she met her fate. 1t ap,
peared suddenly and Unexpectedly one
June morning, In the shape of a man,
overalls and basket Of setting hens.
Now IL there was one thing more
than another Marion detested 1t was Il
hen, and next to that farmer and far
above both she abominated overalls.
She always associated them with the
street department.
But this glorious summer morning,
as she was wheeling down Il steep hill,
taking the narrow path, and keeping
we'll to the side of the road to avoid the
mud, around n sharp bend she ran
bump into her fate-farmer, oyeralls,
setting hens, basket. wheel and girl,
all scattered and mingled in the dust.
She, womun-like, was the first to re
cover her voice. Good gracious. |
hope haven't killed YOU" she gasped.
IL. al nf
mud Off her nose.
He picked himself up out of the de-
bris, surveyed the wreck about him,
the wheel standing on Its handle bars
in Il raspberry bush, the hens squawk
Ing and tutterlng on the ground, the
girls sweet. flushed face beside him.
and then he threw his head back and
laughed-a deep. ringing laugh, that
tloated out on the still morning air
over the quiet waters Of the lake and
took the girls heart with it. She loved
him from that moment One swift
furtive glance into that frank. hand
some face and the girl knew by an
unerring instinct that he was Il gen
tlcman
KILLED me, oh no, just temporarily
foored me, that's all. | hope you are
not hurt
Il am awfully sorry. really" Marion
began to hide her confusion. Il beg Il
thousand pardons.'
BY this time he had gotten her wheel
right side up. and without another
glance, she mounted it and disappeared
around the bend.
That night at the supper table when
she recounted her adventure she learn
ed who he was. Harold Martin, a
young man who had lately taken the
Martin place" beautiful farm two
miles from Raymond. After that she
often met him and the acquaintance
so abruptly begun ripened into friend
ship.
1t was strange how the enchanting
allurements of art and life of indie
peudence faded into oblivion. how