The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-03-13
BY FRANK H. WET

pny 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.
aye don't mean
Eyes, do mean jest that! I've been
thinkin' on t for considerable of q
spell, an that letter from Hiram Pot
ter out west sayin' he'd made $4,000
merchandising clinched the rivets close
up. I've been fool, Sairy."
II dunno, Lish. Folks round here
say we've done well.'
SWELL" 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-
eetheri pretty good head O stock. but
Eve been twenty years a-doin' it, Sairy,
twenty years, an I've worked like
dog sixteen hours day an more. I
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 be given it was
them as was went to-"
He drew his cap a little lower down
and his collar a little higher up and
peered. at her through the narrow slit
as though expecting some comment,
"Suit We to T, hey2" he repeated.
She nodded refectively.
Il dunno but twill" she conceded.
"T'n 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 won't mind"
course ye WON'T" he declared
swell be town folks an will have to
put on our best bibs an fuckers every
day. Yell set on stuffed cheer talkin'
to comp'ny an takin' in money, an in the
evenin's there'll 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 bringfn' me in more money"
I'VE don't suppose there'd be no hitch
'bout-'bout ye DOM 1t, Lish?' she in
quired.
glitch T-indignantly-"when Hiram
an Reuben an Nathan have all done
# an made money! Well, I 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 a
store to merchandise in they might
think rents ought to be little higher.
IN look round sort O. casual. But ye're
sure ye favor the idee, Sairy?~ don't
want to go into nothin' that ye couldn't
smooth down, to-"
'Oh, I'll like it all right she said
p1acidly "I'm sure to-. Ye, needn't
bother bout that, Lish. I've always
hankeredr to shop without cnmbin' in
an out Vaughn. I'm too betty. An
say, Lish," raising her voice as he
opened the door and let in rush Of
afr and whtrling snow, ''be sure an
beat 'em down some"
It was late In the evening when he
returned, but from the way the wagon
rattled by the house and the unneces-
sardly loud ''Whoaw which came to her
when It reached the barn she felt that
something momentous had happened,
and this feeling was made certainty
when Lish flung open the door and she
saw him trying to straighten his face
into an expression Of Indifference.
Supper ready, sairy?'' be demanded
airtly. Il swan, I'm most starvedv
I'VE know it's ready, Lish," she said
quietly. 1T always is at z to minute.
You know it's been gettin' cold jest an
hour an a half. So we've hired
placer -
Eye amt wuth cent for news,
sairy," he grumbled. Eye either scent
1t out miles ahead or take it all for
granted I'd as soon have a stick to
tell somethin' to. How'd ye know I've
hired a placer
Goodness land" scornfully, ats
sticktn' out all over ye, Lishl I knowed
It By the way the wheels went round
whan ye went by"
Don't suppose the wheels told We
what place I hired an how much I'm
to ray an when we're goin' to mover
he asked.
NO." she confessed, "exceptin' they
said ye was conslderb bly, Get up, an
fggered from that ye'd got the old
drug store stand. That's the biggest
store In the best part O the town, an
1t II the. only one I know on as bein'
empty just now
Lash chuckled.
wheels are mighty unreliable things
10 go by" he declared, though did
hint sort o. casual bout that very iden-
dcal store. But, law, they wanted $50
a month for It, much as ia think the
place could be wuth for whole year.
I test LATED. Then 1 found Wood &
Co.'S dry goods store would be empty
the 1st OF April, an I went an looked
that over. The drug store folks said
their place bein' on the corner made it
valuable, an AS Wood & Co. was right
IN the middle Of block fggered it
might be cheap enough to wait for till
April But didn't look round much
When they said $50 jest turned an
walked off,
He stretched himself more comforta-
n bH1S -