The Tupelo journal., 1905-09-01

1 Ut udlL dS lOuS 10 lut lAot OuCs tAS
crops are ruined. Almost every other
hill is either already damaged or de-
stroyed entirely"
Things are never quite SO bad as
they seem, dear. Perhaps 1t will not
rain at all--it may entirely blow over.
Come, supper's ready"
Il hope So" and Melissa and grand
mother sat down to the slender meal.
We'll not starve; therell be some
kind Of a crop" But, for all her faith,
Grandmother Noble little dreamed OF
the strange harvest the meadow patch
was to raise for them!
The next morning 1t rained with a
steady persistency that betokened a
long, wet spell.
II feared it." and Melissa smiled
grimly. as she came In from the barn.
Its a regular downpour and the winds
| directly east"
All that night it rained without any
let-up, and the next day, and the
next.
"Everything's ruined n~ow-there's no
need to hope any longer" exclaimed
Melissa, dismally, during the afternoon
of the second day. Its just as l
feared!"
Toward night, Phil Potter, going by
on his way home, stopped as he saw
Melissa struggling in from the shed
with a heavy armful of wood.
Beats all how's it's raining; the
rivers risen over a foot since yester-
day morning, and it's steadily rising.
BY tomorrow everything'll be covered
long the low land-pretty tough for
the crops; but there's nc help for ii"
"'Tisn't as bad, Melissa, as though
we lived on the meadow patch-well
still have a roof. dear"
Il know, grandmother; but
Its the Lords dolngs, child; It's
needed for some purpose, We may be
sure!"
For five days it rained constantly,
and when finally it cleared awey the
meadow patch was an inland sea.
Melissa abandoned herself to utter
disbursement. Her labor was vast
ed, her young plants ruined; it was
too late to plant again, had she the
strength to attempt it.
We'll have to sell now" and Grand
mother Noble silently accepted the in
evitable.
Melissa was getting ready to go
over to Thomas Peaco's; neither she
nor her grandmother made mention
of her errand-it was 90 painful for
the older woman. When Melissa re-
turned, her grandmother's home would
have been bargained for by another.
Suddenly there was a knock at the
kitchen door; Melissa laid down her
wraps.
mo, l can't come in-I'm on a mat
ter of business. How'll you sell your
crop down on the edge of the mea-
dow?' 1t was Nicholas Holman, the
owner of the big clapboard and shin
gle mill at Welchville.
"Our crop, We have none; l don't
understand you," and Melissa looked
vaguely into the face of the man be-
fore her.
Pardon me. should have ex-
planned. Perhaps you haven't been
out since the rain" and his genial
smile melted into a more serious ex-
preston.
"No. +"
Then you haven't seen what the
overflow of the river almost laid at
your very door. High AMI dry upon
the land along the meadow edge is
piled some of the handsomest cedar
timber it's been my good fortune to
see, and I've had considerable expert
ence from first to last in that sort of
thing!"
But tit isn't ours" exclaimed Me-
LISA; "grandmother's and mine!"
More yours than anybody else's,"
replied Mr.. Holman, convincingly. 1T
must have come for miles down the
river; no lumber of that kind in this
section anywhere! l judged the logs
must have been rolled on the ice of
some of the u%p-country lakes during
the winter. and later broke away from
the boom that held them"
But can't the owner be notified
where his property is?" pressed Me-
lissa, her strict sense of honesty man
ifesting itself.
at is doubtful; yet possibly it might
be done, could the owner be found. III
look up the lumber firms and see."
Wed better wait before IL go
to"
Grandmother understood and nodded,
Two days later Mr.. Holman called
with a lumber dealers address. you
might write to them; it's the only
clew I've been able to obtain"
The first of the next week Melissa re-
ceived the following reply:
Were too busy to hunt up stray logs.
Doubtless from your description, the mes
you refer to are ours. If they're Of any use
to you, you're welcome to them.
ct. S. HANSCOME & CO."
Then, if you've no objections, I'll
take them of your hands," and Nicho-
las Holman handed the astonished girl
a check for a sum vastly exceeding
what her corn and vegetables would
have brought at the highest possible
market prices.
Il was sure" said Grandmother No
BILE, thankfully, that the rain would
bring some kind of a crop"
"Ppt what a strange onei" unused Me.