The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-06-15
The Chivalry
Of SilaS
BY PHILIP VERRILL MICHELS
Copyright, By Joseph d. yowies.j

you don't s'pose you could norway
say yes, en- settle the whole shebang
this mornin', do your" said he.
The woman was reading a book. She
wet her thumb and turned a leaf, read
ing on slowly until a paragraph was
finished.
"Silas JUDI" said she, leaning an ell
bow on the volume TO keep it open.
you amt never yit read Sir Beverly,
the Knight of the Mystic Moor'?"
II ain't-neyer."
mo, l feared we hadn't Ye'd be
less pesterfyin' If we mad. How kin
we ruminate on matrimony with me,
an you doin' 40 chivalry deeds?"
81 made lilly a good husband"
"Y-e-s, put where's yer backbone
ooZed to since she went?"
He answered with a sort of whis-
pered whistle, that conveyed a skele-
ton idea of a tune.
why don't We buckle on yer ar
NOR, an fare forth with a chunk OF
my hair-ribbon in yer helmet, an
prove yer waller, if we want me so ter
rible?"
He did not answer, but walked away
That same question he had put to her
every week for three months.
Jud was a lorn and a silent man,
who lived apart from other men in
Deer Hollow, and looked indefinitely
forward to a small California farm on
the hillside for a home. He made
his living cutting wood, and even man
aged to save a trifie against the farm
of the future. For a year now, which
time had elapsed since the death of
his wife, he had spent a great many
of his hours in the cabin to which he
now repaired.
At the door he paused and listened.
No sound he heard, but when he had
tiptoed in, a curl-haloed head was
raised from a bunk, and one large, vio-
let-colored eye greeted MIN, its mate
being hidden by a chubby fist tina.
screwed vigorously around, rubbing
away the few remaining s~leep-webs.
Then a dear, red-lipped mouth
stretched itself into an o as large. as
q h%alf-dollar.
TUNED back, papa?" said the own.
er of the fist and eye and mouth and
golden hair, and she climbed to the
floor.
Yep, h~oney-bug," he answered.
cheerfully.
"Baby's dress tored," vouchsafed the
tot, bringing the garment for inspec-
ton.
Pore liz gel, It's, ha, hal" He took
1t up, jerked q needle as large as a
small sword out of the wall, waxed
his linen thread, and9at down to sew.
stabbing his fingers now and then.
but getting on, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. his
kind. The child sat near, her face
in her dimpled hands, looking very
"old-fashioned," and altogether wise.
Baby wants mamma" she said at
last, and the utter irrelevancy of this
observation seemed not at all apparent
to the man.
What would m do for baby"
Baby sit On her yap, and mamma
sing"
Having finished the dress and put
it on her, he took the child up on
his knee, holding her tenderly against
his rough coat, and rocked himself
back and forth as he sang.
The song, which, fortunately, the
little one preferred of all the vast
repertoire of the mother who was gone,
was the only one he knew. After half
a dozen verses of it, the child slippel
away.
Mamma Diet baby sumfin' to eat"
"Why, en- course, my popsy-wopsy
blossom" So he fetched a bowl of
milk, a can of brown sugar. n some
strange "mush" from a pail that hung
from a hook over the dying embers
In the fireplace, where he had put i.
to cook before going out. Taking her
once more on his knee, he satisfied
her hunger, Internationally fastening
matters not a little by using a spoon
that was large enough to dig potatoes
with.
"What else would mamma do TO.
baby?" he asked, after the wee appc-
tite was a%ppeased.
"Pay on floor wifi blocks" said she.
Down he got on "all fours," build
ing maSchless structures with the half
peeled cubes, and giving the most des-
perate descriptions of the animals rep
resented therein.
An %uneventful week went by. When
Wednesday was come. Silas "fared him
FORTH" to do his accustomed wooing.
AS he neared the cabin of the Widow
Harvey, he saw her leaning, as before.
on the garden gate, and reading. as
usual. in the famous book of Beverly.
He took the place that she left for
him, saying, after a moment:
t'You don't s'pose you could, anyhow.
say No. en- settle the whole shebany
this mornin'. dc you?"
She was taken on her guard COM
pletely; he had put 1t that way
before. Turning red and fumbling the
book till it shut ON her place." she