The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-09-24
THE LOWER RANCH
BY HATTIE HORNER LOUTHAN.

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when barns must be painted, hire
hands paid, and that semi-annual pay
ment always staring them in the face
A hired girl had been the dream o
her honeymoon days, and the necessit.
for house help grew as the passin!
years increased the work, and slippet
babe after babe into her reluctan
arms. But she was told, impatiently
I fear, that she could see that thre
hired men couldn't put in and cult
vate and gather al the crops Of tn
homestead and Lower Ranch and tn
rented land; he must have more help
When once the Lower Ranch was pait
for, she could have hired girl ant
welcome.
It was the fifth year when the mort
gage was due that diplomatic tril
had to be made to the county-seat
The last payment was overdue, Will
only part of the interest paid. Bu
the agent was wise He had learned
upon inquiry that Jason Grant wa:
hone st, hard-working and ambitious
that he always paid. as. he demanded
| to be paid-to the last penny. So there
was no trouble about the extension Of
| the mortgage; and the ranchman re
| turned home radiant. His wife was
not as sympathetic as he had expected
Every year Of the extension Of thai
mortgage meant another year without
help in the house.
The second five years proved harder
than the first FIVE. Mary's superb
health yielded more and more to the
strain. The rosy face and arms grew
brown and leathery from exposure al
the washtub, in the garden and in the
barnyard. She took less pride in her
self and children now, went less fre
uuently to church, though the minister
still unmarried, called to protest. She
grew more and more silent. unfriendiy
and self-contained, as she "trod her
eternal circle of cooking, dish-wash
ing sweeping and mending, washing
milking COWS and rocking babies
During these years Of meeting pay
ments, she seldom expressed a want
of O need-shees or school books fol
the children. bottle of medicine, OF
small donations for the parsonage
but She was confronted by the Lower
Ranch and its next payment
At length the mortgage was lifted
the last payment met; but the sign OF
pardonable relief was quenched by the
announcement that the "fine house
would now be built-fors renting pur,
poses. The projected Branch ROAD
from county scat to county seat was
enjoying its biennial boom. the Lower
Ranch was on it's surveyed route, and
as all the adjoining ranches were max
ing improvements, it was just pure
business to keep up with the nelghDors
and be ready for what might happen. :
The "fne house" was begun anu
finished, and Ranchman Grant urged
his wife to go with him and see 1t.
Mary smiled one Of her grim little
smiles. and said she was too busy ana
too tired; the children might go-Ru-
ben, Mandy and Jason. She really
never had been to the Lower Ranch,
near as it was The longing of earlier
years to visit had changed, first into
indifference, and by-and-by into posi-
tive aversion, quite unaccountable TO
her husband .s.
The years that followed were full
of prosperity for Jason Grant. be
bought more land to raise more corn
to feed more hegs"-his eternal circle.
His possessions increased - fields,
barns, stock, family. He would have
hired a girl for his wife, he told her
one day about here; but country help
was high-priced, and besides, Mandy
and Mag were quite old enough to
take responsibilities. To this Mary did
not respond. She was growing to be
almost as silent as he.
More years, more prosperity. more
improvements on all the ranches and
now of the state Of affairs at the old
ranch house, just glimpse.
Ranchman Grant sits inside the fly
screen of the west kitchen door. Mrs.
Grant has "done" the supper dishes
and strained the milk and set the yeast
and picked the chickens and put the
baby to sleep and heard Mag's and
Willie's Sunday school lessons, and
now she draws her mending basket
near the lamp, and approaches her
husband on the matter of their share
Of the minister's salary. The Joneses
give ten dollars besides most keeping
the minister and his sister in meat.
The Turner's give ten dollars and never
go to town without taking q bushel
OF turnips to the parsonage. And didn't
he mind, they had set down four dol
lars and one-half last revival time, and
only fifty cents Of it was paid, besides
the half bushel Of potatoes and what
butter she had spared?
Enboldened by his silence, she goes
on to remind him that Ruben needs a
new pair of boots, since he and the
team have been promised week in
Turner's timber. And Mandy ought
to have a new calico dress If she
takes the little ones to Sunday-school.
And she, herself, would like to get
another bottle Of that iron tonic just
to carry her over haying season; the
other bottle had sort O. braced her up.
She hated to go to DR.. Dean again.
when he wasn't paid yet for tending on
Willie and the baby.
Jason Grant is astonished. Doesn't
he let her have half the butter and
egg money, and oughtn't woman to
keep herself in little things with all
that? Don't all the stores where she
trades carry calico? And Ruben's
boots will last another two months at
least; he noticed them only last Sun
day. AS to the parson. doesn't he,
Jason Grant, give each Of the children
a penny every Sunday for the collec-
ton? She doesn't stop to calculate
how much that amounts to in year;
L