The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-12-08

IL II the mcdincNai DAYS were run OF
demons with which one etkoned.
today has many Of them coucen
4 trated in a single aspect--the de-
mon Of unrest. IL possessed Charlie
Harding in his shop in the village, the
mills. the depot. the meeting house, be
Ing hard by, and all the gossip Of the
burg about his counter Aud the world
outside grew tempting.
But IL was thought that a rich find OF
silver had been made in the neighbor
hood. and at once the price of every
old pasture that even the sheep them
selves would have disdained 60 crop
had gone soaring out OF sight. and the
stald old parish that had followed The
way Of its forbears for 600 years and
over had gone wild over It's potentlality
Of riches.
OF course Captain Uardlng--a train
band captain OF militia was he-had
not been in the center Of an the talk
without finding opportunity for bond
ing and buying and selling land, and
he had. as he phrased 1t, melted down
good pocket piece through the varl
GUS transactions. In the swinging
fafe's pendulum. however it was pres
emily found that the silver was not
a paying sort. and the boom in land ex
plolel like bubble. But it left Cha
lie Harding full Of eagerness and Z
wild spirit adventure IN money MAX
ing
"Why amt you contented where you
be-" asked his wife's grandfather.
There's alters ben silver here sence
pfore you was born. why should it
make scch a difference to We al on
sudden nowY Trouble is ye have TO
put it Ia TO get it out. Costs more'n
it comes to There's folks l know has
! silver spoons made of II m0re'n 2On
years ago But. bless ye. them spoon
cost more'n gold. There's gold too.
/ Didn't ye know itG That Californy
feller PANIED some gravel out, ! heerd
say. an 20 what he called a color.
/ But longs spring pans out In the grass
I an YARDS | DO knows l keer for the
1 other color AS long as the bloodroot
comes. an the marshmaller, an Il
long leaf Of the dock that makes a
most healin' salvc, an burdocks for
bAstegs. an crambries TO draw out
cancers. otlier folks may have their
silver. 1T YOU an Grace wants sill
yer, Jest keep to work. An the sooner
We sit this silver maggot out'n yer
brain the Detter,it'll be for you. You
got a CROWN business, you're poplar,
! an 1t amt more'h a miles walk morn
ms over to your store when you can't
use yer ,,,seGl My king! Here's spring
for sure Here's a mournin' bride.
And, all excitement the old naturalist
forgot his stick, hurrylng and hating
and slipping and stumbling, but ma
ing sure of the beautiful butterfly.
Captain Harding looked after him aud
wondered how a reasonable being could
be contented with such a life-no be
ter. he thought, than a mole's.
Grace Harding through some un-
known freak Of descent, had developed
great deal more worldly ambition
than any others Of her family. She had
Insisted on going TO school when her
sister Louisa preferred staying at hom
and drudglng with her mother aud she
had read novels and taken q fashion
paper. and on her marriage she had
gone to housekeeping ID an old weather
beaten farmhouse only az a prelimina
ry 20 something altogether finer II
was pretty place, under green hiil
with great sycamores and brook
whose bank were lined with blue for
getmenots They had nuilt q httlf
piazza where they could SIT az NIGH
looking dowu over tie marshes lnyste
rions IN shadow, enchanting ia snu
light. and %. some days be rode ovel
10 The store on his big wheel, on whicl
be loomed giant figure agaipst th'
sky -it was before the days of the safe
ty and on some Days be walked. ans
the store tbriyed gently Qnd Grace BAG
her nower beds and her row Of swee
peas ana went TO meetlng IN her myrth
green silk gown with pink roses ia he
bonnet looked upon Dy Louisa in he'
brown delaine as very much the M
lady
Life then was flowing on serenely
with now and then n Yea party ~ ~
village and every day visit with he
mother and with Louisa, who was nov
married hersclf and living at the tol
OF the bin. when one night her hus
band came home and threw down hl
bat III a temper "Well, Im sick o
thism he cried 'I've ben doln som
little outside the store, you know Bu
now the boom's gone up. and there
nothln' more In land round here. ~
turned over quite few properties
though aud made my penny ever
} time. But this is the end OF it. How
you like to go to Colorado"
Colorado
ayes. I'm like the wild beast that
tasted blood Say, / could just shut ia
store as it stands-l took p'r'aps mos
dollar today turn the key an put
in my pocket am git out there In th
thick OF things. an II l didn't stak
? out claims an strike pay dirt I'd pu
: out what was wortk hoatin' An 'y
5 an idee / could make my Innings.
Z learned a lot FUN them fellers that wa
$ here lookin' over the lay OF the land.
see 'em tryin' out the silver buttons
> "You saw said Grace calmly.
z II saw them. An now I've a lit
: suthin' to the good suppose we jus
:. turn the two keys an try it. The wori
, we can do is to come back again"
? And they did, Captain Harding wlt
= a fierce but gay determination, and b
wife with a beating heart and a fuste