The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-02-21
JUST A
FARM
BY r ANK H. SWEET
Copyrdght. 1906. By Frank II. Saveet
BY Pr ANK H. WEET
Copy1dght, 1906. By Frank II. Saveet

wouldn't it, Sairy?' 49,. "
'Well, no. don't guess so today,
Lish," was the placid answer. "It's
ben my bakin' day, an now I've got to
black up the stove an wash the floor.
Yed have to wait too long for me to
git ready"
'Oh, 1 don't mean todayv' with a
grin. 'T mean move up for good an
all. Sell the farm an be town folks
like the best O. 'em. I'd go into bust
ness, an ye'd be so We could have COM
p'ny an see somebody most every day.
I guess we could stand up straight
with 'em, hey?"
His wife gazed at him blankly for a
moment, then dropped upon a chair,
her favorite mode Of expressing aston
ishment.
eye don't mean
Eyes, do mean jest that! I've been
thmkin' on It for considerable of a
spell, an that letter from Hiram Pot
ter out west sayin' he'd made $4,000
merchandisin' clinched the rivets close
up. I've been fool, Sairy."
II dunno, Lish. Folks round here
say we've done Well"
"Well,' he snorted, with profound
self disgust, "for farmin' round here,
mebbe. I've cleared off the mortgage
an put $1,000 in the bank an got to-
gether pretty good head O stock, but
I've been twenty years a-doin' it, Sairy,
twenty years, an I've worked like a
dog sixteen hours a day an more.
want goin' to miss anything for lack O.
hard work. No, stree. An now there's
Hiram, who want thought nigh so
smart as me at school, an Reuben
Smith, who keeps the hotel over to the
Corners, an Nathan Taylor, who sells
us groceries, an others. All of 'em
have been wearin' good clothes right
along an takin' money over their coun-
tiers in handfuls, an when there was
offices an honors- to-he given it was
them as was went to-"
He drew his cap little lower down
and his collar a little higher up and
peered@ at her through the narrow slit
as though expecting some comment.
"Suit ye to T, hey?" he repeated.
She nodded re1ectively.
II dunno but twill" she conceded.
"I1l miss the chickens an butter
maxim, but they be work, an, then, as
ye say, can see somebody most every
day. N-no. I guess I won't mind"
'tCourse We WON'T" he declared.
well be town folks an will have to
put on our best bibs an fuckers every
day. Yell set on a stuffed cheer talkin'
to comp'ny an takin' in money, an in the
evenin's there'u be lot gathered round
my store talkin' politics an things, an
they won't cost me cent for entertain
ment, like visitors gener'ly do, but will
be bringin' me in more money"
Eye don't suppose there'd be no hitch
'bout-bout ye dom it, Lish?" she in
CURED. a..
Glitch ?'-indignantly-"when Hiram
an Reuben an Nathan have all done
it an made money! Well, 1 guess not.
But I'll go an look round some Folks
in town are gener'ly pretty keen scent
ed on money, an if they git wind O.
my needin' a house to live in an
store to merchandise in they might
think rents ought to be little higher.
I'll look round sort O. casual But we're
sure We favor the idee, Sairy? I don't
want to go into nothin' that We couldn't
smooth down to-
"Oh, I'll like it all right she said
placidly. I'm sure to. Ye needn't
bother bout that, Lish. I've always
hankered to shop without climbin' in
an out a Vaughn. Iln too betty. An
say, Lish,'' raising her voice as he
opened the door and let in rush Of
air and whirling snow, "be sure an
beat 'em down some"
It was late in the evening when he
returned, but from the way the wagon
sarily loud "Whoa!' which came to her
when it reached the barn she felt that
something momentous had happened,
and this feeling was made a certainty
when Lish flung open the door and she
saw him trying to straighten his face
into an expression Of Indifference
Supper ready, Sairy?" he demanded
AMY. swan, L u uuOSt SLdEV0uI
aye know it's ready, Lish," she said
quietly. 1T always is at to a minute.
You know it's been gettin' cold jest an
hour an half. So we've hired a
placer?
Eye amt with a cent for news,
Sairy," he grumbled eye either scent
it out miles ahead or take it all for
granted. I'd as soon have, stick to
tell somethin' to. How'd We know I've
hired placer"
Goodness land" scornfully, cts
stickin' out all over ye, Lish! I knowed
it by the way the wheels went round
when We went by"
Don't suppose the wheels told We
what place I hired an how much I'm
to pay an when we're goin' to mover
he asked
mo" she confessed, "exceptin' they
said We was considerably set up, an
figgered from that ye'd got the old
drug store stand. That's the biggest
store in the best part o. the town, an
it Is the only one know on as bein'
empty just now"
Lish chuckled.
Wheels are mighty unreliable things
to go by" he declared, though / did
hint sort o. casual bout that very iden-