The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1905-08-27
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~ the doorway shifted his posi-
ton impatiently. He was .. tail and
braWny Years Of labor on the farm had
developed his limbs and toughened his
muscles. Later in life he would be stopped
and shamblng, as are those who follow
the plow and guide the harrow after the
days of youthful manhood have passed.
Now he was straight and stately and the
colossal symmetry OF his frame was good
to look upon. His cotton shirt. falling
loose at the neck. revealed a triangle of
sunburnt skin. His low-browed. strong
featured face was coppered also. The
jaw was heavy-the chin square. The
blue eyes he turned on the woman had the
sullenness of one who expects opposition.
Yes. I'm a-goin'.'
In the new buggy?'
He nodded. There. was a silence which
she waited wistfully for him TO break.
As he said nothing. she picked up the
sewing which lay in her lap.
4 was hoping L could get to 60" she
said, speaking in the plaintive monotone
produced by colorless years of self-repres-
sion and self-denial: i've been every
time when I could take or leave the chill
dren- It's a year since I've been to town"
afar over the boundless expanse of prairie
with weary eyes. My father and brother
are buried on the hill there Little Ruby
she's there, too. She died when she
wasn't but eight. She was the greatest
child for flowers, The weeds even were
flowers to her. 1 guess she'd know if
there were some put on her grave
Again there was silence, she sending him
eager furtive glances; he staring out
where an ocean Of oats tossed turbu-
lently in the glazing sunshine
Ihere's so many folks in town. Il
sociable like. There hasn't been soul
10 this house since Christmas. Then it
was only some campers whose wagon
broke down. But ii seemed good TO see
them, even
Look here mother" he broke out, 81
know you amt got much pleasure. I'd
like you could Ak to go. But as for me
drivin you in-well, l promised to take
Chastina Marks
She said nothing. but the look that
quivered out on her face made him set
his teeth hard for an instant Then, With
a scarlet blotch burning on either thin
cheek, she took up her sewing again, and
went on MISUNDERSTANDING.
The home of the Carneys was a for
lorn place. There was no timber in that
region. The small. shabby house perched
upon the bluff was exposed TO the bitter
winds Of winter and to the almost malig-
nant furnace blasts of summer. 1t was
nineteen years since Oliver Carney had
married for the second time. Then he
and his two sturdy boys had sadly needed
the ministrations of a woman. The girl
he married was young and romantic. she
pitied him. She mistook her exquisite
sympathy for the divine passion itself
When he traded his business in the East
Tor rocky Nebraska farm and went to
live where his lack Of experience and
the capricious climatic conditions togeth-
er conspired against him the outcome
was dependency and futile regret He
not only failed 10 DO one thing well; he
succeeded in doing many things i'll. He
credited Fate with peculiar perversity
toward himself-with an almost personal
antagonism. Dyspepsia, that grim demon
evoked by farmhouse viands, became a
constant torment. Insomnia duly fol-
lowed. Pessimism, the prompt handmade
Of these. waited upon them. So he be-
came gloomy and unreasonable, except
when his depression was temporarily
merged in the maudlin amiability Of
liquor.
that the burdens OF failure pressed
most heavily. She had been brave
and gallant young creature but the
cowardice and Sinking selfishness of
the man she married ate into the core
of her being like an acid.
>srom long before light on winter morns
and from the first streak of pearl in
summer skies was hard. She knew that
poverty was rabid, relentless thing.
She knew that it made petty those who
would be great and generous; that it
fettered hands which would fain be eK-
tended in royal. generosity; that none
might scale its ramparts which barred
out possible ambitions-pleasures
joysi But these she accepted-the pow
erty and the toll AT the melancholy
OF inertia surrounding her she rebelled.
-She dreaded its contagion. She refused
10 have her heritage of hope wrested
from her She would not live in an
atmosphere of rayless foreboding. She
denied the right of one man to conoemnS
her TO profound and enduring discomfort 3
She was not one of those who succumb z
10 advereity willingly. So she made a &
hard fight. Occasionally she conquered-<
less frequently as the years went by. e
The struggle told on her. She lost ex- [.
pectancy of expression and elasticity of /,
step. Collaborating and collaborating
were part of her handicapped existence
Now a fresh fear had arisen. What if J
Dan were 10 marry-Dan, upon whom
they all depended, rather than upon the {
moping, misanthropic father!
"Dani" Her voice sounded strange to
herself. and she waited until she could
sneak as usual Dan, what would we
all do without you?"
She had been a school teacher In her
youth. and she spoke with a correctness
and a precision which, although marred
by occasional idioms, still distinguished \
her speech from the lingual slovenliness
Of the Western farm woman.
"Oh, guess you'd git along. A dull,
slow color had crept into his face. ITS
goin' TO be a good year. Dick could take
my place.
Dick-take-his place. He vas thinking,
then-he was going to
We've can't depend on Dicki" she
nurmured. vision OF Dick rose before
her-gay, pleasure-loving, inconsiderate
DICK She smiled-a sad smile. i didn't
think Chistina was the kind of girl you
take a fancy to, Dan"
He swung around.
What" he demanded, have. you got
agin hcT?'
Her work fell on her lap She clasped J
her thin. knobby-jointed hands upon 1t
and looked up at her stepson. She was