St. Tammany farmer., 1903-03-28
THE WRONG
WOMAN -
BY MARGUERITE STABLER.

kHE Massons had come from some
II Where back east" their neigh
oors would have told you, and were
STUCK up" Everybody could see
na' 1rom the smart trap they drove
ana the feathers on Mrs. Masson's S
na'. Nobody could have told You Of
speclhc instance of the lstuck-up-
ness' but as the neighbors all agreed,
Mhen fellow-and a young fellow
a. tnat-held twice as much land as
"a anybody in the valley. he was bound
70 1eel his oats. Consequently, the
-Massons were severely let alone by
''ne Mlddletowners, and not given 4
cnance to ''lay it over" anybody.
At first the Massons looked upo1.
tnelr ostracism from the Middletown
church socials and school picnics as a
huge joke, and regarded the narrow
minded farmer folk around them as
OF about the same Importance as the
Jersey cattle in their pasture, and
the Brigadier stock in their stables.
But after a time-when the novelty
OF country life was quite worn off;
when the smart trap had clattered
over every available foot of the great.
nonotonous valley; when the vary
ing seasons were no longer new-a
little human intercourse began to
seem q sweet and needful thing. But
the Massons did not know how to
break down tho 1,o rr;ar of foafher
and silver-mounted harness. Jack
Mason could not pull up his horse
IN the middle of the country road and
talk an hour or two about the best
time to plant pumpkins, or the cheap
est remedy for hog cholera, because
his horses were too mettlesome to
stand. Mrs. Mason could not send
her children to the public school, and
thereby show her friendly feeling,
for the simple reason that she had
none to send.
Therefore was the ostracism of the
Massons complete. Then, when the
price of wheat began to drop, life
on Q great western grain ranch be-
gan to show it's sterner side. Mason
found he could get along without his
foreman by doing the work himself.
and by degrees dropped into looking
out for the machinery, devising
means of saving labor, superintend-
in emergencies, taking hand him
self in anything that was to be done.
In the house, matters were similar.
AS, yesr after year, the price of
wheat. continued to drop, the little
chafirg dish arts, practiced on cozy
evenings among her congenial east
ern friends, were called into use, and
"a Practical Cook Book for Begin
ners" bought and diligently studied.
As with each seasons harvest con-
ditions became worse, the smart trap
ceased to be seen on the county
roads, and the offending feathers be-
came drabbled and were not replaced
by new ones. Thrown back upon
themselves for entertainment and, di-
version, the Massons found, to their
surprise, how uninteresting they had
become to each other. Books, to i
man harassed by the care of an un-
profitable ranch, had no charm; and
music from hands stiffened by house
work. lost its melody.
Hard manual work roughens a
mans disposition and manners, but
Mason was not the man to notice
this degeneration in himself. Isola-
ton from congenial company and a
:p,<n in, hnY
make a, woman careless of her ap-
pearance; and long watching over Il
scar and yellow expanse of grain
fields burns hair and complexion, of
whatever hue, to sallow, tawny sun
burn. And Mason was the man to
notice this change in his wife keenly
and feel aggrieved. ..... liz ..rs
At length, after the tenth long, dry
summer in this sun-scorched, sun
cursed valley, things reached crisis.
Their domestic tranquility was dis
turbed by a rupture caused by the in
tolerable monotory of their lives set
fling down on their nerves. Then,
after more days, more discomfort.
more desolation, there was another
rupture, until the existing state of
affairs could be endured no longer.
Tt was then Julie Mason wrote for
the little niece who had been the
Aower girl at her wedding, to come
out and spend the winter with them.
The prospect OF having child in
the house, albeit borrowed one.
rnt new interest in both their bro
len lives. They grew less Indifferent
70 their manners and appearance,
and even tried to establish a better
understanding with each other-for
the child's sake. The trap was over
hauled and repainted, pony was
houpht, and a kitten was. saved from
the drowning for pet for 'Lisbeth.
But when 'Lisbeth arrived, with
the added weight of ten years upon
her curly head, she was not the little
tot they had left behind them ten
years ago, and that they. in their
blindness, had still expected to see.
Elisabeth was now a woman, and
keenly alive to the fact.
Julie Mason took 'Lisbeth to her
arms, as she would have taken any
human soul for the sake of compan-