Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1907-12-12

Tor this she was born She did not
rebel-there was no violence in her
but she regretted exceedingly In spite
or her slenderness ii was wide
mother lap in which her hands rested.
an obvious cradle for little children.
And instinctivelv IL would come 10 you
as You looked ar her that there could
be no more comfortable place for n
tired man 20 come home To than a
household presided over by this slow
moving. gentle woman.
There was nothing old maidish about
Miss Matte hut the tale of her years.
She had had offers. such as Fairfield
and vicinity could boast, and declined
them with tact and the utmost graft.
tude to the sutton for the compliment.
but her mo-" though mild. was firm.
for there lay within her certain quiet
valiant spirit which would rather en-
dure the fatigue and loneliness of old
age In her little house than to take a
larger life from any but the man who
was ALA commonplace In fiction, in
real life sometimes quite a strain.
The sun distorted himself into Rug
by football and hurried down as though
to be through with Fairfield as soon
as possible. 1t was a most magnificent
sunset, flaming. gorgeous, wild-be-
yond the management of the women of
Falrfield-and Miss Matte stared into
the heart of it with longing for some
thing to happen. Then the thought
came, What could happen?' She
sighed again, and, with eyes blinded
by heaven shine, glanced down the vii
lage street.
she thought she saw-she rubbed her
eyes and looked again she.did see, and
surely never a stranger sight was be-
neld on Fairfeld's street. Had a Roy
al Bengal tiger come slouching through
the dust il could not have been more
unusual. The spectacle was a man: a
very large and mighty shouIdered man,
who looked about him with bold, i'm
perious, keep the change regard. There
was something in the swing OF him
that suggested the Bengal tiger He
wore high heeled boots outside OF his
trousers, flannel shirt with yellow
silk kerchief around his neck, and on
his head sat a white hat which seemed
TO Miss Matte to be at least yard in
diameter. Under the hat was a re-
markable head of hair. 1t hung below
the mans shoulders in a silky mass of
dark scarlet flecked with brown gold.
Miss Matte had seen red hair, but she
remembered no such color as this, nor
could she recall ever having seen hair
foot and half long on man. That
hair would have made fortune on the
head of an actress, but Miss Matte
was ignorant Of the possibilities of tho
profession.
The face of the man was a fine tan,
against which eyes, teeth and mus
tache came out In brisk relief. The
mustache avoided the tropical tint of
the upper hair and was content with
modest brown. The owner came
right along, walking with a stiff,
strong, straddling gait, like a man
not used to that way of travelling.
Miss Matte eyed him In some fear.
he would be by her house directly,
and 1t was hardly modest to sit ag-
excessively on ones front porch while
a strange man went by, particularly
such very strange man as this. Yet
a thrill of curiosity held her for the
moment, and then II was too late, for
the man stopped and asked little Ed
die Newell, who was playing placidly
In the dust-all the children played
placidly In Fairfield-asked Eddie IN
voice which reached Miss Matte
plainly, although the owner evidently
made no attempt to raise 1t, II he knew
where Miss Matte Saunders lived?
Eddie had not noticed the large
mans approach and nearly fell over
in a fright, but seeing, with child's
intuition, that there was no danger
in this fierce looking person he piped
up instantly.
"Y-y-yessir, l kin tell yer where she
/ lives-yessir! She lives right down
there In that little house. | kin go
down with you jes' swell s not! Why,
there she is now, on the stoopr'
"Thankee. sonny" said the big voice.
"Here's for miggles," and Miss Matte
caught the sparkle of coin as ii
flew into the grimy fists of Eddie.
"Much obligedv' yelled Eddie and
vanished up the street