Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1906-02-08
Make OF
Break
BY Harriet Prescott Spofford
Copyr sht. 1905. By Harriet Prescott SpoGofd

mon Of unrest. II posSeSSeu Ihdrlie
Harding In his shop in the village, the
mills, the depot, the meeting house, be
ing hard by, and all the gossip OF The
burg about his counter, u The word
outside grew tempting.
But it was thought that a rich find Of
silver had been made in the %neighbor-
hood. ana at once the price of every
old pasture that even the sheep them
selyes would have %disdained 10 crop
had gone soHrhng out Of sight, and the
staid old pari b that had followed the
way of its fOrDears for Zoo years and
over had gone wItl over il potentially
Of riches,
OF course Captain Harding Train
band captain OF militia WAS he-had
no been in the center of all the tax
without finding opportunity for bond
Ing ard buying and selling land, and
he had. as he phrased IL. melted down
a good pocket piece through the vari
Gus transactions. In the swinging Of
fate's pendulum. however, II was pres
emily found that the silver was not OF
a paving sort, and the boom in land tx
ploded like a bubble. But ii left Char
lie Harding fun of eagerness and the
wild spirit of adventure in money max
Ing.
"Why amt you contented where you
be-" asked his wife's grandfather.
ssThere's alters ben silver here n
afore you was born. Why should 1t
make sech a difference to We all on a
sudden now? Trouble Is We have TO
put II in to get II out. Costs more'n
il comes to. There's folks know has
silver spoons made OF it more'n 200
years ago. But. bless We, them spoons
cost more'n gold. There's gold too.
Didn't We know it? That Californy
Teller PANIED some gravel out, | heerd
say, an got what he called a color.
But longs spring pans out in the grass
an YARDS | do knows | keer for the
other color. AS long as the bloodroot
comes, an the marshmalier, an The
long leaf of the dock that makes a
most healin' salve, an burdocks for
bllsters. an crambries TO draw out
cancers. other folks may have their
silver. Ef you an Grace wants sill
yer, Jest keep to work. An the sooner
We git this silver maggot out'n yer
brain the better It'll be for you. You
got a CROWN business, you're poplar,
an II amt more'n a miles walk morn
ms over to our store when you can't
use yer wheel. My king, Here's spring
for sure, Here's a mournln' bride!"
And. all excitement, the old naturalist
forgot his stick, hurrying and hating
and slipping and stumbling. but max
Ing sure of the beautiful butterfly.
Captain Harding looked after him and
wondered how a reasonable being could
be contented with such a life-no bet
ter. he thought, than a mole's.
Grace Hardlng, through some I'M
known freak of descent. had developed
a great deal more worldly ambition
than any others OF her family. She had
insisted on going 10 school when her
sister Louisa preferred staying at home
and drudging with her mother. and she
had read novels and taken a fashion
paper. and on her marriage she had
gone to housekeeping in an old weather
beaten farmhouse only as a prelimina-
nv 70 something altogether finer. 1t
was a pretty place. under d green hill,
with great sycamores and a brook
whose banks were lined with blue for
getmenots. They had built a little
piazza where they could sit at night
looking down over the marshes, mystic
rious In shadow. enchanting In sun
hight. and OH some days he rode over
TO the store ON his big wheel, on which
he doomed a giant figure against the
sky-it was before the days of the safe
ty-and on some days he walked. and
the store thrived gently. and Grace had
her flower beds and her row Of sweet
peas and went to meeting In her myrtle
green silk gown. with pink roses In her
bonnet-looked upon by Louisa In her
brown delalne as very much the fine
lady.
Life then was flowing on serenely,
with now and then a tea party at the
village and every day a visit with her
mother and with Louisa, who was now
married herself and living at the top
OF the hill. when one night her hus-
band came home and threw down his
hat In . temper. "Well. I'm sick OF
thisr' he cried. 1--WE. ben dom some
little outside the store. you know. But
now the boom's gone up, and there's
pothin' more In land round here. I've
turned over quite a few properties
though. and made my penny every
Harno nuf tt.fx io the and NJ II Howsf