Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1905-04-06
ELIAS Luck.
How the Columbia River Made Match
by MAX McNEILL.

\ IT VICE a year the Columbia river
i rises above its banks in the valley
below the mouth Of the Willamette
and changes the property rights Of q
tribe Of scow-dwellers who skirt its
shores. These arbitrary transpositions
by the resistless stream Of the river
lead to many complications some
times TO bloodshed. In one case TO a
solution Of a problem that had yexed
the tender hearts Of two young peo-
pie.
On Wild Mans island which lies be-
low Kalama, and is tucked under the
high shores of the Washington side.
there lived in comparative state a
rancher named Walker, with his dog
and his son. He was a proud man.
and his house, originally a seow, was
surrounded by fence painted yellow.
lie also possessed a chicken yard and
raised potatoes in a patch of ground
elevated slightly above the water
mark. The dog drowsed most of the
time in the muddy foreyard, and he
son fished on the swelling river and
cut cordwood for the steamers.
Six miles above. a gayly-painted
houseboat had come ashore during an
unusually high food and the master of
II, a lonely Missourian. had slid
skids under it, put out a gang-plank
and accepted the adjoining land as a
perquisite Of discovery. His daughter
had grown up till she was an efficient
aid to her father in handling his net
and the two of them called the Shiny
strip OF bar home Their one grievance
was that the water was not low enough
TO justify a fence. They were simply .
no more.
Il was the difference in the social
standing of these two men. Walker and (
Stowler that caused much anguish 10
the children, Hennery and Eliza.
Hennery tried to blind himself to the
fact that his father was a proper
while Eliza was simply the
Of a scow-dweller. But Eliza
knew very well that old man Walker
would never forget And as she was
proud, she assumed disdain Of Hem
lery's clumsy Efforts to obliterate the
dividing line between responsibility 4
md shiftless poverty. I
Walker like most men signally ia {
'ored Of Fortune attributed his own (
POSITION of alliuence to personal en- Z
.rgy and as authority must have a ]
ubJect he was fond Of slyly meeting /
'towler TO nag him into the rage of an 7
Inferior, and these encounters he re- {
allied with gusto to Hennery and the
log, knowing that the boy resented c
.eenly every sighting reference TO e
he father of the girl he loved. Hen
.ery many times attempted TO re- c
aliate, but somehow it never entered G
rs head that bis fathers place in So
iety was due solely to a lucky eddy +
n a swift current some ten years be- \
ore. So his words fell emptily and \
ruitlessly, except in so far as they I
ave the old man opportunity for I
hrewd sarcasm. {
In the spring Of a new year, when h
he alders on the bank were thicken- &
ng with foliage and the clouds on the
Ills were worn thin and rifted with
ummer Hennery met Eliza BY the
.lk Rock, and told her many things !
hat had little reference to anybody ;
ut themselves. Eliza responded slow =
and with tears. Womanlike she !.
'as unable to see how she was 10 be !
made happier by Hennery's love unless {,
he entire world acquiesced. But she a
Used him passionately, and saw the Z
owering peaks Of the Cascade range !,
S In a dream
Driven beyond himself by ELIAS i
isses, Hennery went. late in the \
pring, and told his father that he was =
Ding 20 marry the scow-dweIlers
aughteE Walker stroked his scrawny o.
card, and called the dog for an execu- 3
I've session. When he had introduced ].
Is measure and carried ii by two TO y
ne. he turned his back on Hennery. =
rev his fat-buuoned skin into the gt
.ater, and went up stream. rowing :
nth regularity and slow strength. Is
he found Stowler sitting bootless 4
a the back platform OF his little ecow. !,
rying his feet i'm the weak sunshine !,
he hstless pose Of the man filed
Walker with rage, and be was of two !,
iinds about speaking But be has