St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-03-04
) HZA'S Luck.
S1eoa.eoccoor1eos NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
How the Columbia River Made Match
ececso.eotsca7eeao6naop.4soa:
~ BY MAX MCNEIL.
I;
BY MAX MCNEIL.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,

"1SII year the COlumDld river
l rises above it's banks in the valley
below the mouth of the Willamette
and changes the property rights Of a
tribe of scow-dwellers who skirt it's
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 vexed
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 proud man,
and his house, originally asscow, was
surrounded by fence painted yellow
He also possessed chicken yard and
raised potatoes in patch of ground
elevated slightly above the water
mark. The dog drowsed most of the
time in the muddy foreyard, and the
son ffshed on the swelling rive, and
cut ccrdwood for the steamers.
Six miles above, gayly-painted
houseboat had come ashore during an
unusually high flood and the master Of
1t, a lonely Misourian, had Slid
skids under it, put out q sang plank
and accepted the adjoining land as
perquisite of discovery. His daughter
had grown up till she wal 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
squatters; no more.
1t was the difference In the social
standing Of these two men, Walker and
Stowler, that caused much anguish to
the children, Hennery and Eliza
Hennery tried to blind himself to the
fact that his father was a proper
rancher, while Eliza was simply the
daughter of a scow-dweller. But Eliza
knew very well that old man Walker
would never forget. And as she was
proud, she assumed 'd.sdain Of Hem
nery's clumsy efforts to obliterate the
dividing line between responsibility
and shiftless poverty.
Walker, like most men 3signally ia
vored Of Fortune, attributed his own
position of affiuence to personal en-
ergy, and as authority must have a
subject, he was fond Of slyly meeting
Stowler to nag him into the rage of an
inferior, and these encounters he re-
tailed with gusto to Hennery and the
dog, knowing that the boy resented
Eeenly every sighting reference to
the father Of the girl he lowed Hen |
merry many times attempted to re-
taliate, but somehow it never entered |
his head that his fathers place in So
ciety was due solely to lucky eddy
in a swift current some ten years be-
FORE So his words fell emptily and
fruitlessly, except In SO far as they
gave the old man opportunity for
shrewd sarcasm.
In the spring Of new year, when
the alGers on the bank were thicken
lug with foliage and the clouds on the
hills were worn thin and .ifted with
summer, Hennery met Eliza by the
Elk Rock, and told her many things
that had little reference to anybody
but themselves. Eliza responded slow
ly and with tears. Womanlike, she
was unable to see how she was to be
made happier by Hennery's love unless
the entire world acquiesced. But she
kissed him passionately, and saw the
towering peaks of the Cascade range
rs in dream.
Driven beyond himself by Elizas
kisses, Hennery went, late in the
spring, and told his father that he was
going to marry the scow-dweller's
daughter. Walker stroked his scrawny
beard, and called the dog for an execu-
i've session. When he had introduced
his measure and carried it by two to
1ne, he turned his back on Hennery,
drew his flat-buttoned skiff into the
water, and went up stream, rowing
with regularity and slow strength. T.
He found Stowler sitting bootless
IN the back platform of his little scow.
Trying his feet in the weak sunshine
The hstiess pose Of the man filled
Walker with rage, and he was of two
minds about speaking. But he had
oiled six miles, and he saw no use in
citing anger defeat his. purpose.
'sHow do, Stowler?" he said gruff-
v, as he tied the painter to stake in
he mud.
Purity WE'LL" was the answer. t
'How's the fish by you7" u