The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-08-09
How Joan Took
the Country
BY BELLE MANDATES
Copyright, 1906, by P. C. Eastment

from the platform of the little station
near the farm where they intended t.
spend the summer, they at first saw M
one waiting for them.
Joan's quickly moving eyes covered
the whole scene in appreciation. Thl
colliding and jostling of incoming and
outgoing passengers. the frantic haste
Of belated travellers contrasting With
the eXaspesating leisure of the tickle:
agent, the jogging pace of the man be.
hind the baggage truck, the vociferous
voiced driver OF the bus. besieging pas.
sengers to ride to the Pullet House: the
passive mienel driver of the one shah,
by hack, formed a series of most real.
!stic pictures which made Joan touch
the button many times.
A peculiarly fashioned horse attached
to two seated democrat now drove
Up. Joan was somewhat in doubt at
first as to the genuineness of the ami.
NAL. which seemed to her. to have Il
homemade aspect. The driver was gaz.
ing into space, with no manifest inter.
est in the arrival Of the train.
Again she touched the button, while
Lucille, who had spent the summers of
two years in this vicinity, went quick.
~ up to the newcomer
why. how do you do, Mr.. Bates!
This is my friend, Miss Williams"
The girls occupied the back seat of
the vehicle. Mr. Bates uttered mild
"Geed-ap!" and the horse made for.
ward movement, tearing away in clum.
sy gallop across the long bridge, at tho
end Of which he settled down into q
nippy little gait.
"Old Hundred didn't omit his usual
bridge sprint" observed Lucille.
"Old Hundred! He doesn't deserve
such Il cognomen." observed JOAN
You will think so. He hasn't set.
tied down into his smallest pace yeti
"Geed-ap!" reiterated Mr.. Bates,
reused to effort by this insinuation
and smartly s!apping the reins across
the steed's ample back.
HE doesn't 'geed-ap' very fast"
commented Joan.
''Do you earn your own living. too?"
asked the old man, turning to her
quickly.
Il hope to-" she replied modes.ly. 81
take pictures. l expect to take your
whole country
II hope it brings you more than writ.
ing poetry" he said. with glance at
Lucille. The Hedgeton Gazette only
pays for it in subscriptions and trade"
Joan gave an ecstatic laugh.
But Lucille writes for big maya.
zines. She is paid by the word
You cont tell me! She must be
awful rich.'
"But sometimes sit for hours and
can't think of a word" confessed Luz
cile
Words are plenty enough" he de-
clared scornfully. You cam get them
out of Il dictionary"
Il never thought of that" she re-.
piled naively.
At nearly every farmhouse en- route
Mr.. Bates "whoaed" to deliver pur.
chases. Now 1t was the farmers wife
who came out to the wagon and again
it was a bashful boy or a gigglins
girl. In every instance Joan's camera
was active.
The last commission was not deliv-
cred at house or in person Mr.. Bates
stopped in front Of a barn near the
roadside and there deposited sus-
picious looking package. Farther on
they met a farmer who looked at them
!nquiringly.
Put 1t in the barn, Fred" said Mr..
Bates significantly.
"All right" Bestowing knowing
wink upon his purchasing agent, Fred
fastened forward.
How are the Locke girls?" asked
Lucille. "And do you all help them az
much as you did?"
Mr.. Bates then related a pathetic
story of the misfortunes of the Locke
girls" who had lived together for
seventy odd years in the little tumble
down house with it's sparse garden
patch. The mortgage had been fore
closed. Roxy's sight had failed her,
and she was unable to do the "p!ecing"
and quilting by which they had helped
exc out their living.
The poorhouse was looming up In
their horoscope, though the neighbors
We're preparing to give harvest ball
and bestow the proceeds therefrom to
the averting of this calamity.
/. Fly, the time this narrative was fin
ished they had reached the farmhouse
OF the Bates household, and Mrs. Bates
came out to greet the "city folks" who
were shown to their "bedroom of the
sitting ROOM"
1.-The live stock seem to be making a
grand entrance" said Joan presently,
parting the curtain. Through the hole
in the screen door some chickens are
entering. On the stairs are multi.
tude of cats, and a stray sheep-I think
it Is sheep-bleats OH the back steps.
Mrs. Bates is sending the dog for the
cows. Will he bring them into the
house?
Her thought was still Of menagerie
when she awoke the next morning, con-
scious of slight motion of the house,
accompanied by most peculiar sound.
She awoke Lucille, who sat up to listen
Its an earthquake" asserted Joan.