The Greeley tribune., 1905-11-30
Judith ef the
Plains
BY MARIE MANNING.
Authes of Lord AIl;nsham. Bankrupt
Co>-nSA.. 1905. ty E.-er & Brese,
lcoyTESUED.l
CHAPTER VIII.

plica ton that their house was reached
vim graveled driveway rather than
across lumpish Inequalities Of prairie
oyergrown with cactus stumps and
clumps OF sagebrush- From the buck
board stepped figure whose agility
was compatible with her driving.
No sketchy outline can do justice 10
Mrs. Yellerc or her costume. Ike The
bee, the ant and other wonders of the
economy of nature, she WAS not TO be
disposed Of with a glance. And Yet
there was no attempt at subtlety on
her part On the contrary. no one could
have an appearance of greater candor
than the lady whose children Mary
Carmichael had come west TO teach.
Her costume was a thing apart, sug-
resting neither sex, epoch nor personal
vanity, but what il lacked OF these
more usual sartorial characteristics ii
more than made up in passionate in
dtvidualism-an excessively short skirt,
20 innocent Of ''ft' or hang In its
wavering. lndeterniIMte outline as to
suggest the possible workmanship Of
teeth rather than of scissors, and rid
ting boots coming well TO the knee, dis
playing a well shaped, ample foot,
perched aloft on the usual high heel
that COW punchers affect as the ex-
preston of their chiefest vanity. But
Mrs. Yellett was not wholly mannish
In her tastes, and to Offset the boots
she wore a bodice of the type that
generation ago used to be known as
basque"
Such a garb was not, after all, in
congruous with this original lady's
weather beaten face. Her skin was
tanned to fine russet, showing tiny.
radiating lines about the eyes when
they twinkled with laughter, which
was often. No individual feature was
especially striking. but the general i'm
preston of her countenance was of ami
nation and activity, mingled with
geniality and with native shrewdness.
"Howdy, Miz Yellett," called out old
Sally, hitching her rocker forward in
m excitement she could i'll conceal.
~You uns' gov'mert come, an she
amt much bigger'n a lettle green
gourd. Don't seem to have drawed all
the growth comm to her yit."
SIN roundin' up the p'ints of my
Gov'ment, Mis- Rodney, you don't want
10 forget that green gourds and green
grapes is mighty apt to belong to the
sour family, when they hangs beyant
your reach"
"Ai-yiw griInaced old Sally. Its
fOrable far to send east for green
fruit. We can take our own pep'mint."
The prospective advent of govern
ess in the Yellett family-moreover,
one from that mysterious center Of
culture, the east-had not only rent the
neighborhood with bitter factions, but
had submitted the Yelletts to the re-
proach Of ostentation. In those days
there were no schools in that portion
a the Wind river country where the
Yelletts grazed their flocks and herds.
Parents anxious to obtain "educatiOn-
n advantages"-that was the term, ir-
respective of the age of the student
q the school he attended-sent them
often with parental blindness as to the
equivocal nature Of the blessing thus
conferred to visit friends in the neigh
boring towns while they got their ed
ucation," or they went uneducated,
o. they picked up such crumbs of
knowledge as fell from the scant pa
rental board, but never, up to the
present moment, had any one flown
into the face of neighborly precedent
except sturdy Sarah Yellett.
Old Sally, in her eagerness to con-
vey that she was in no degree i'm
uo1 o<1o ooDina1 Inn
ton, like many another belligerent, lost
the first round Of the battle through
m excess of personal feeling. but,
though down, Sally was by no means
out, and after brief session with the
snuff brush she returned to the field
prepared to maintain that the Yellett
children, for all their pampering in
the matter of having governess i'm
ported for their benefit, were no better
OF than her own brood. who had taken
the learning the gods provided.
''Too bad, Miz Yellett, that you uns
had to hire that gov'ment without
lookin' over her p'ints. I've ben takln'
her in durin' supper, an she'll never
be able to thrash 'em past Glen. She
mouglit be able to thrash Glen IL she
got plumb mad. These yere slim win
min is tarrible wiry an active at such
times, but she'll never be able to thrash
beyant her" And, having injected the
vitriolic drop In her neighbor's cup of
happiness, old Sally struck gait on
her chair which was the equivalent of
a gallop.
Il reckon l can thrash my own chill
dren when It's needed without gettin'
In help from the east, or hereabouts
either, for that matter. II other folks
would only take out their public spirit
ed reformin' tendencies on their own
families there'd be heap less lynchin'
likely to happen round the country in
the course Of the next ten years."
Old Sally let the home thrust pass.
"Who ever hearn tell Of good teacher
that wasn't fine thrasher in the bar