Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-02-04
so1<. HERE was beauty enough
D to be found in Mataska
= s Valley, what with the river
4 l. + and the lake and the forest

.aoN crowned hills, at least in |
summer time, and even the dry, cold |
rgor of Minnesota winter could not !
+oke if all away Nevertheless, there
was nothing else there half so beautiful |
as Norma Ericsson.
Her withered. old Norwegian father |
had settled himself on a good enough !
niece of land, away up above the head |
Of the lake. miles away from Mataska |
village. and no one could say he had so |
mich as one friend more at the end Of !
i've years residence than the day the
first timber was cut for his house.
Rarely was Norma seen in the village:
almost never at all at any merrymak-
ing of the neighborly country folk, and
old Jan seemed to take an ogreish sort
Of pleasure in preventing her from en-
tertaining visitors-yOung men, espe-
cially-at his own house.
And so. the more Norna's beauty
grew and became known among them
the more unpopular was old Jan Eric
son among the free hearted settlers Of
the Mataska Valley.
And yet there We're those who had
succeeded in breaking through or
climbing over the odd old miser's wall
of reserve.
John Pinner had done it. by his faith
er's advice. for Judge Primer was Jan
Ercson's lawyer. and he had more
than once hinted to his son and heir
that Norma had other and more solid
attractions than her beauty
If. therefore, any fair occasion offered
John Pinner had been generally quite
ready to oblige his father by carrying
it, and more than once he had even
ventured on a brief call without any
special errand.
As for Paul Wood. on the other hand,
either he had not sufficient cunning to
invent errands or his pride forbade any
subterfuge, for he had positively and
openly hraved, more than once, even
the harsh discourtesF Of old Jan, in his
uninvited, unabashed intrusions.
If Paul did not pretend to vie with
John Pinner in dress. wealth or appar-
ent prospects, he was certainly a fine,
manly specimen of a young Western
farmer, and his dark curls and almost
swarthy features wore pleasant con-
trast TO even the ripe blonde Morse
loyeliress Of Norma herself.
One bit of strateg it seemed that
Paul had stopped to, for more than
once Norma had been surprised to find
that he had been ''out a-hunting in that
nelghborhood' on the very days which
old Jan had chosen for bit of teaming
tr for trip to the store at the village.
Nobody ever knows how such things
come to be common property. but
somehow or other. Judge Pinner and
his son We're made aware that they had
reasons for distrusting Paul Wood. and
he had been made to feel the fact very
snsibly more than once
There had been an added bitterness
the past autumn in the fact that JOhl
Pinner's nomination to the State Legis
lature had only resulted in showing the
FOLLY Of the Mataska Valley people, fol
the stupid fellows had known no more
than to choose Paul Wood instead, ant
even Norma Ericsson had said she was
glad Of it.
There came a day. however, In thu
early winter when Paul would have
given his political honors and his bes
horse, perhaps even his farm to boot
TO have known why it was that Norma
suddenly became as distant and repel
ing as old Jan himself.
Not a word would she vouchsafe him
though he met her full half-mile from
The house and walked to the very doc
by her side
lie did not give the matter up, eve1
'hen, half SO much for the volley O
oltter abuse with which the old mise
greeted him, as for the icy look Of in
"Herence with which Norma marche
straight on into the house and close
the door
There was really very little "giv
up In Paul's composition; but he me
1ohn Pinner before he had left tn
larm mile behind him, and ther
was look on Johns face that sus
sested good many ugly thoughts
'he sore heart of the discomfite
youth.
Inc next day and the next, and,
TACT. a good many days after tha
were decidedly unfavorable to cour
Ing of any sort.
Anyhow, there were terrible storit
VI suffering. here and there, and n
nody cared to stir far from home ''ul
oh the frost should let go it's hold
little"
John.' said the careful Judge. {
,Ne third day, when the abating stor
oSsan to let IN the frost-"John, dor
you think you'd better go and take
4ooA at the Ericsons? I don't belle
'ne old man was ready for this
what. You amt in earnest?' e
talmed that ardent lover. "Ten mil
through these drifts! Do you want Il
10 bury myself"
Wen. maybe you're right; but
wv Touldn't wait too long, if I were yo
aneyil be breaking out the roads in
uay or so,'' replied the Judge.
r., nus more than ''day or so'' we