The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-11-16

able place as waitress an Jim he
flowed it was case for the law. He
was a little shy Of twenty at the time,
just a young cockerel bout br'ilin' size.
Some of the old hangers on bout the
place they see heap of fun in Jim's
takin' on bout the girl, he bein' that
young that he had scarce growed Il
pair Of spurs yet. An one of 'em says
to him, Sonny, if you're Altered that
this yere corral is onjurious to the
young lady's morals, We'll call in the
gospel sharp if you'll stand for the
brand Now Jim hadn't a cent nor no
CALM nor prospect to his back, but
he struts up to the man that was dom
the talkin', game as a bantam, an he
says, The lady amt rakin' in anything
but a lettle white chip in takin' me,
but if she's willin' here's my hand
cat which that pore young thing
cried harder than ever. Well, jim he
up an marries the girl an it turns out
fine. He gets a job herdin' sheep Oh
shares, an she stays with the Rodney
outfit till he saves enough to build a
cabin. Things is go;G' with Jim like a
prairie afire. In 4 few years he ac
quires a herd of his own, a fine herd,
not scabby sheep in the bunch. Aida
she makes him the best kind of q wife,
them kids is the pride of his life, an
then them cattlemen do for him. Of
course he takes to rustlin'. I'd do
mOre'n rustic if they'd touch mine"
The pair Of bronchos that Mrs. Vel
lett was driving bumped their backs
like cats as they climbed the steep
mountain road. With her driving was
an exact science. It was a treat to
see her handle the ribbons Mary
asked some tritling question about the
children, and it elected the informa-
ton that one Of the girls was named
Cacta. YES" she said, II like new
names for children, not old ones that
is all frazzled out an folks has suf-
fered an died to. It seems to start
'em fair, like playin' cards with a new
deck. Cactas my oldest daughter, an
named her after the flowers that
blooms all over the desert spite Of
everything-heat, cold an rain an al
| kali dust-the cactus blooms right
through it all. Even it's own thorns
don't seem to fret it none. I called
her plain Cactus till she was three,
an along came sharp studyin' the
flowers an weeds out here, an he
lowed that Cactus was a boys name
an Cacta was for girls-called it a
feeminin tarnation or somethin' like
that-so we changed it. My second
daughter amt got quite so much of a
name. She's called Clematis. That
holds its own out here pretty well,
long by the willows on the creek.
Paw lowed he was terrible afraid that
I'd name the youngest girl Sagebrush,
so he spoke to call her LESSEE Viola,
an / Civ in. The boys is all plain
named-Ben, Jack an Ned. Paw
wouldn't hear of fancy brand beill'
run on. to EN-"
The temperature fell perceptibly as
they climbed the heights, and the air
had the heady quality Of wine. It
was awesome, this entering into the
great company Of the mountains. Pres
| emily Mary caught the glimmer Of
something white against the dark back
ground of the hills It cleaned like a
snow bank, though they were far be-
low the snow line on the mountain side
they were climbing.
"Well, here be camp" announced
Mrs. Yellett. What Mary had taken
for bank of snow was d huge can
vas covered wagon. Several dogs ran
down to greet the blackboard, barking
welcome. In the background was a
shadowy group, huge Of stature, max
ing it's way down the mountain path.
And here's all the children come to
meet teacher" Mrs. Yellett's tone
was tenderly maternal, as if it was
something of feat for the children to
walk down the mountain path to meet
their teacher. But Mary, straining her
eyes to catch a glimpse of her little
pupils, could discover nothing but a
group of persons that seemed to be
the sole survivors Of some titanic race
Not one among them but seemed to
have reached the high water mark Of
six feet. Was it all optical illusion, a
hallucination born Of the wonderful
starlight, or We're they as huge as they
seemed? The young men looked giants,
the girls as if they had wandered out
of the first chapters Of Genesis. Their
mother introduced them. They all had
huge, warm, perspiring hands, with
grips like bears. Mary looked about
for house into which she could escape
to gather her scattered faculties, but
the starlight, yellow and luminous, re-
vealed none. There was the huge COW
cred wagon that she had taken for Il
snow bank, there was a small tent
there We're two light wagons, there
were dogs innumerable, but there was
no sign of house.
What do you think Of t?'' INQUIRED
Mrs. Yellett smilingly, anticipating a
favorable answer
Its almost too beautiful to leave"
Mary innocently supposed that Mrs
Yellett referred to the starlit land
scape. But I'm so tired Mrs. Yellett,
ana SO glad to get to a real home at
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