Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-10-23

! thinking of one big. broad. brown fell
low who would have come.
nc had to be Do.n ON side, Why
| lid ne have to be poIn on the other.
! she signed.
Its going to be nice, amt 1t, Phl-
lander, to have the supper in such
beautiiui placer" little Cecilia DolloiI
/ eXulteL, mildly. But ner gaze Wandered
| wistfully to Jeffy, cleaning harnesses 10.
| the SIZED doorway. She knew VIVA
Jeffy was thinking. Mothers always
lDow.
/ Its kind of hard on Jeffy. the
| mother sighed, and the mild flash OF
/ exultation glimmered fecbler and Zee
bier on her face till it glimmered out.
| 1t was hard on a big, brown fellow to
| have to look across dead line at
| the one only winsome, laughing little
| maid in the world. One of these days
! lefty might-no one knew what Jeffy
might do one of these days. Even
mothers do not know things like that.
| On Wednesday of the next week Oc-
! tober outdid herself. She put on her
most brilliant dress and Haunted it
cut in scarlet and crimson and gold.
Diantha said she acted for all the
world as If she had been invited to the
| party!
Early in the afternoon Miss Danger
field donned her best black dress and
| sat down to wait. She looked rather
anxiously down-fields and up-fields,
and little Fuckers of perplexity wrin-
killed. her sweet, smooth face unWont-
/ edly OF course she might not be right
in her surmises, but if she was right
Its my barn." she insisted gently.
II can do what please with my barn.
And if it should be the blessed
MEANS" she closed her eyes and one
might almost have thought she was
| praying that it might be. Philista Dam
gertield had lived her fifty five years III
absolute peace with all the world. she
had never dwelt on a battle-ground be-
! fore. She did not want to now.
"If-if--if-' she mur.nured wistful-
ly, opening her eyes after little mo-
ton of her lips like an amen, 'if--but
then. there's no knowing. 1t isn't safe
to prophesy. It's Danger-field eh-
pertinent" This was her favorite pun.
but she wrinkled her brow over 1T to-
Day unappreciativeiy. There was sure
ly-yes, some one was coming from
the east and some one from the west!
Two laden figures were steering for the
old red barn. One was a girls figure.
springing buoyantly along in spite of
its laden arms; the otner figure was
bent and small and stopped along la
boriously. They were hidden from each
other at first, but now-now they were
in full view. Now they-were going
to-meet. Philista Dangerfield shut
her ewes again and moved her lips. .
At the great barn doors they met.
Not until then did either one look up
from her load of plates.
"Oh!" calculated Diantha.
"My-land!" gasped the little bent
woman breathlessly; saint you. Di-
antha Dolliver!"
You, Aunt Cecilly!" for on the
other side she was universal aunt.
There's. ben some mistake-I-1
don't understand"
Diantha's head went up. There is
no mistake on my side" she said stiff
lly. This is our harvest supper day.
and Miss Dangerdeld has lent us her
barn"
Its ours, too-she's lent u.s." gasped
Aunt Cecilly weakly.
..No?"
Yes
For an instant's space they stared In
to each others bewildered faces. Then
Diantha's nature asserted itself. Di-
antha laughed till the plates rocked
and clattered in her arms.
no praof i-Okeo she cried
"Oh, somebody take my plates-I shall
drop 'em!"
MY land! Ny land! What shall we
do, Dianthy?"
'Do?-do? Set the table and go back
what we shall do. You bring every /
thing you've cooked and I'll bring
everything we have, and We'll sit down /
together and ask blessing-and sat I
'em! That's what Well do. Well eat !
in the Bible, and when we've eaten (
everything up. there won't be any sides
left in Riverbye! You wait and see.
Aunt Cecilly; You trust me. All you've I
got to do is to go home and get your +
pies. Wait; first, I'm going to-kiss
you. am, and you may tell my father (
Sllu tue QeeCOH. L III SolHS W KISS you 4
so, and its the kiss of peace be- !
tween me and thee" The girls face I
had grown rapt and solemn. The kiss
was a grave little ceremony, and their
lips fingered over 1t. Philista Danger
field opened her eyes and saw it.
They set the table with all the dishes
they had brought, and then they separ-
ated again, one going toward the east,
the other the west.
Don't say word to anybody" Di-
antha called back. Not to any man.
The women will have to know,
but I'll risk the women. And I'll risk
the men when they see our support"
and her clear laugh came trailing back
into Miss Dangerfield's open window
Yes. I'll risk the women folks"
thought Cecilia Dolloff, trudging home.
The women folks will be glad enough.
Haven't we all ben prayin'-all of us?
Amt this the answer? Don't it seem
as if it must be? But the men folks
Cecilia Dolloff could not risk the men
folks With the peace-kiss warm on
her lips still. she could not indulge in
the happiness that seemed SO close at
hand. There were the men folks-oh,
the men folks! If she could only be
sure of them.
They came together at o'clock. 1t
was always mooted question in Riv-
erbye how the two sides came togeth-
err. and just what they did in those first