Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-02-23
Make or
Break
By Harriet Prescott Spofford
Copynshi. 1905. BY iian,ei Preseou Spo6od

vi IN" meiaryal days were fall of
demons with which one rcrkoncd,
today has many of them conren-
Z tratr,i Ia single nslect-th" de
mon uf unrest. Il possessed Charlie
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. And the world
outside grew tempting.
But it was thought that rich find Of
silver had been made in the neighbor-
hood, and at once the price Of every
old pasture that even the sheep them
selves would have disdained to crop
hnd gone soaring out of sight. and the
staid old parish that had followed the
way of its forbears for POD years and
over had gone wild over Its potentlality
of riches.
OF course Captain Harding-a train
band captain of militia was he-had
not been In the center of all the talk
without finding opportunity for bond
Ing and buying and selling land, and
he had, as he phrased 1t, melted down
good pocket piece through the vari-
Gus transactions. In the swinging OF
llte's pendulum. however. 1t was pres
emily found that the silver was not Of
a paying sort, and the boom in land ex
ploded like bubble. But 1t left Char
lie Harding full Of eagerncss and the
wild spirit Of adventure In money max
ing.
"Why amt you contented where you
be-" asked his wife's grandfather.
There's alters ben silver here sence
afore you was born. Why should 1t
make sech n difference to ye all on a
sudden now? Trouble Is ye have to
put it in to get it out. Costs more'n
silver spoons made Of 1t more'n 200
years ago. But, bless ye, them spoons
cost more'n gold. There's gold too.
Didn't ye know It? That CalifOrny
Teller panned some gravel out, heerd
say. an got what he called a color.
But longs spring pans out In the grass
an YARDS I do knows l keer for the
other color. AS long as the bloodroot
comes, an the matchmaker, an the
long leaf of the dock that makes q
most healin' salve, an burdOcks for
blisters, an crambries to draw out
cancers. other folks may have their
silver. Ell you an Grace wants sill
yer, Jest keep to work. An the sooner
ye git this silver maggot Out'n yer
brain the better it'll be for you. You
got a CROWN business, you're poplar
an 1t amt more'n q miles walk morn
ms over to your store WI en- you can't
use yer wheel. My king! Heres spring
for sure! Here's a mOurnin' 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 Harding, through some I'm.
known freak Of descent, had developed
q great deal more worldly ambition
than any others of her family. She had
insisted on going to school when heI
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 q prelimtna.
ry to something altogether finer. 1t
was a pretty place. under a green bill,
with great sycamoreS and q 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
light, and on some days he rode over
to the store on his big wheel, ON which
he loomed 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 hez
bonnet-looked upon by Louisa In heI
brown delaine as very much the fine
lady.
Life then was flowing on serenely
with now and then q tea party at the
village and every day a visit with bel
mother and with Louisa, who was now
married herself and living at the tor
Of the hill, when one night her hus
band came home and threw down his
hat in a temper. "Well, I'm sick OF
this!' he cried. i've ben doin' some
little outside the store. you know. But
now the boom's gone up. and there's
VathlnS In, Ia nd hnNo Itxr<
turned over quite a few properties
though. and made my penny every
time. But this Is the end Of it. How'd
you like to 60 to ColoradoT'
"Colorador'
Eyes. I'm Ike the wild beast that's
tasted blood. Say, could Just shut the
store as 1t stands-I took p'r'aps mos
dollar today-turn the key an put II
In my pocket an git out there in thu
thick Of things, an If I didn't stake
out claims an strike pay dirt I'd put
out what was worth foatin'. An I've
an idee I could make my innings.
learned a lot fun them fellers that wal
here lookin' over the lay Of the land.
see EN- tryin' out the silver buttons"-
You saw" said Grace calmly.
II saw them. An now I've a little
suthin' to the good suppose we Just
turn the two keys an try It. The worst
we can do Is to come back again"
And they did. Captain Harding will
a fierce but gay determination, and bill
wife with beating heart and huster
ed face. but with q sort Of eager curl
osfty.
ITS Jest tomfoolery." said her moth
Or. with a weary sigh. rs she twisted
her sparse and hay coiored hair out Of
the way. ''Why amt they satisfied
with things as they are-the store an
the place an all? I don't b'lieve Charlie
Harding II ever grow up-Cap'n Hard
ing! What's he cap'n Of, exceptin' it's
Grace"
"Grace is cap'n, then" said her
grandfather.
Il can't tell where Grace got her am
bilious sperrit," said her mother.
"Oh, do know" said her husband.
Il was mos crazy to 60 to sea, fust
v'y'ge. But one good wreck cured me.
an p'raps twill them"