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

to free it from an escaped splinter
from the snuff brush. when me an
paw war keepin' comp'ny satin warn't
good enough for me. He lowed I Wuz
to have half creation Sence we wuz
married he amt never found time, ell
durln' all these years, to build me
bird house. wuz raised in Tennessee,
an we uns had a house for martins
made out'n gourds, an it was pearty."
Mrs. Rodney leaned toward
her and whispered something in her
ear. She regarded him tentatively,
then grinned. At her time of life why
should she put faith in the promises
Of men? "You fix it up, an you get
your bird house," was the conclusion
Of his sentence.
While this discussion had been in
progress the viands had not been neg
lected except by such members of the
company as had been bereft of appe-
tite by loftier emotions-in conse-
Quence Of which the table appeared to
have sustained visitation Of seven
teen-year locusts. Eudora, ever eco
nomic in the value she placed not only
upon herself, but her environment, pro-
posed to her guests that they should
wash the dishes, an art in which they
were by no means deficient, being no
exception to the majority of range
bachelors IN their skill in homely pur-
suits. And thus it came to pass that
Eudora's suitOrs, sWathed in aprons,
meekly washed dishes shoulder to
shoulder, while their souls craved the
performance of valorous Deeds
AS this was the last stage station on
the way to Lost Trail, Mary Car
michael was perforce obliged to con-
tent herself till Mrs Yellett should
call Or send for her. After supper
Chugg, with fresh horses to the stage,
left Rodney's, apparently for some
port in that seemingly painless sea Of
foothills. That there should be trails
and defined routes over this vast, IN
varied stretch Of space seemed more
wonderful to Mary than the charted
highroads Of the Atlantic.
Very lonely seemed the Rodney
home among the great company of.
mountains. A brooding desolation
had settled on it at close of day, and
all the laughter and light footsteps and
gayly ringing voices of the young folk
could not dispel the feeling Of being
adrift in tiny shell on the black wa
tiers Of some unknown sea, or thus it
seemed to the stranger within their
gate. ----.-.
Mrs. Rodney retired within the flap
of her sunbonnet after the evening
meal, settling herself in the rocking
chair as if it were some sort Of con-
veyance. Warren Rodney took down
gun from the wall and began to
clean it. His industry with the gun
was Of q part with the impotent daw-
ding in the garden. His eyes would
seek for the rag and the bottle of oil
in dull, glazed way, and, having
found them, he would forget the rea-
son of his quest. Not once that even
ing had they rested on his wife or any
member of his family. He had shown
no interest In any of the small hap
penings Of home the frank rivalry Of
Eudora's suitors, the chickering's of the
girls and boys over the division Of
household labor
! From one of the rooms that opened
to the world like stage to the au-
dience Mrs. Rodney kept her evening
vigil The last faint amethystine haze
on the mountains was deepening. They
lowered about the valley where the
house lay with challenging immen-
sity, hooking the pitiful grasp Of these
pygmies on the thousand hills.
Eudora now came to her mother with