The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-02-04
~Rennery's lsetching purity fair. 1

i the T2nGhGr opened IRE. - AIN Hlnt-
| In at trouble, stowier, but [ reckon
you know your girl amt got enough
comm to her to make it worth my
BOYS while to marry her"
stowIer reached for his boots,
paused with one in each hand as Il
trying to decide which one to throw
| first, and then weakly subsidized. "Gol
dern it," be nuttered, II amt bin
a-teasin' your son to marry Liza.
*You dasnt, returned Walker, loft
ily- sfBut / jest thought as how I'd
/ drift up and let We know that amt
] stuck on his naarryin' the daughter Of
/ a man that lives in an ornery old
seow like this. Hennery 'ull hev q
ranch and he's a place to raise truck,
and he amt no call to be sparkin'
Eliza. nohow you put it,
q guess your Hennery's dom all
| the teasin' that's bin done, Walker,
said stow1er, holly, and it's up to you
/ 90 clear out. sabe?"
Within five minutes Mr.. Walker was
sewing down stream and stowler was
returning his rifle to the rack just
| above the rear door He was unstead-
i lily cursing everybody tibet sot them
sells up to be somebody" His daugh-
ter was crying vociferously and look
ing down the river.
This ended all open communication
/ between the lovers for several weeks
During this time the spring rains de-
scended vigorously and the river rose
almost by jumps. When the rain
/ stopped and the sun was out once more
StoWler looked across the Columbia
and counted the trees Whirling down
/ in the grasp Of the current. After
1 scratching his head he spent the after
noon in tying ropes Of various stages
of decay to the scow and stakes driven
! in the muddy bank. He explained to
Eliza that it looked as if there might
/ be water SO high that the scow would
float.
Two days later the skids washed
away from under the house of Stowler
and his six years residence was
t changed. Eliza and he ate their bacon
unconcerne6ly and went to bed. to
wake up with the sound Of running
water in their ears After a few mo-
/ meats Of inspection Stowler summed
/ up the situation in one remark: The
eddy's gone; places gone; were
/ goin'.''
sWhere9" cried Eliza.
Dunno" was the response.
All through the night they sat on
the careening deck Of their house and
wondered when things would end. At
daylight stowler's eyes told him that
they were 90 miles below their old
home and still going. Lucky ] corked
her seams last winter" he said to his
daughter. She sails along ii good
style. Wonder where we'll fetch up?'
'sT hope we won't go out to sea,
said Eliza. fearfully.
GOSH" cried her father. 81 amt
thought o. that So he devoted his
energies to rigging up a sweep and
with this he tried to steer the scoW
into q shore eddy But the Columbia
took things into its own hands and at
midnight StoWler's house was landed
! with a jar on an unknown point Of
land After an hours seraping about
it settled firmly on the new FONDA
ton and father and daughter waited
for the morning to take possession Of
their neWly-acauired property.
Daylight showed that the seow had
been cast up on a tongue of land that
sloped up into virgin forest. There
was no house in sight and Stowler
staggered proudly out to skid up the
/ q fSiJc
for in the afternoon the river began
to rise again, and as fast as he got
everything solid the rising water I'M
1 did his work. But finally by crude
arrangement of ropes and anchors he
moored the house boat between some
| protecting trees out of the current and
rested from his Iabors to eat a supper
cooked by Eliza, who wept secretly.
/ Two days later Stow1er had beach
/ combed' sufficient lumber to make
/ everything secure, and in a fit Of pride
| he went so far as to build a fence
| cutting the point off from the tree
grown mainland.
There was one trouble with the
fence. tt couldn't be painted. It was
made of small branches and sapplings
bent basketWise. But the general eft
feet was pretty good, and Eliza and
her father rejoiced exceedingly. Her
father because he was now house
holder: Eliza because she was equal
in station to her Hennery.
The day after the fence was COM
plete the clouds that had been lying in
| billowy masses over the hills spread
| out and covered the sky. Then it
Tained, and the water that fell was SO
pienteous that none could see rods
1 length in any direction Within three
days the Columbia river was a rag
ing torrent, and trees and brush
again began to drift by the new
/ place of Mr.. Stowler. But his house
was fast. and the trees along the bank
protected it against rude shocks, and
he daily grew more triumphant as he
pondered the blessings OF a benign
I Providence.
At the end Of a week provisions be-
gan to run short ID the stow1er house
hold, and the man determined to go
scross the river to a little town to get
some bacon and flour. He hauled out
| his skiff, put in the oars and bis
| chest and q tarpaulin. Then be called
Eliza. Look here, sis. don't 'xaetly
know the bearings Of this place I'm
| COW