The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1907-06-07
KenneWiCk Courier
Friday, June J, 1907

''lnOugnt you nIsnt want some
more. miss. tc clear your skirt with"
he said. ignoring the silence of the two
el,d the presence of the young man.
as soon ss ever could Kn v'd you'd
be Il pretty sight goin into town if J
didn't.
There he said ofliciously, crum-
ping up Il large page and thrusting it
toward the young man. ''you clean that
side. and I'll go at this. and We'll soon
have her in some sort of decent shape"
He squatted beside the girl and began
scrubbing the spots as though he were
polishing harness.
The man looked at the girl, the girl
looked at the river, and neither moved
a muscle. though the man looked
sheepish with his big wad of paper
and Il bit helpless and quite good deal
forlOrn.
Girls is strange critters" speculated
the old man, beginning on another spot
"Allus dom what they amt got no call
to do and jumpin' the traces when you
least expect it. Funniest part of it is
they don't allow as they ought to get
their cOme-uppances neither. If you
tell 'em not TO do Il thing they go
+ straight and dO it. and if they get into
trouble they expect some one to yank
em out. Here. yOu,' he called sudden
ly to the young man, ''set to and rub
fhn1r
Tim afraid it won't do much
good" he said, obviously eying the
, girl rather than the tar smears.
The old mans eyes cleaned mis-
chievOusly. Haven't you been intro
duced yet: Well, now, that's an over
sight! Young man, this is girl that
read that there sign about no trespass-
in on these premises and decided right
off to come in and make me a call
That there barb wire fence Is enough
to keep ordinary trash out, but you
can't never reckon on girl. Girls
mostly needs a keg O. tar, too, and she
got BOTH"
The old man backed off and squinted
his eyes. Mighty fine skirt to get
scratched up. But. then, girls is skit-
fish. I'd sooner break sixteen colts one
winter than try bringin' one girl to
time" And he grinned illuminatingly
up at the young man from the safety
of the back breadths Of the gray skirt
The girl shook herself impatiently.
THAT will do. thank you" she said,
moving quickly forward. ut is grow.
ing late. l must be going.''
But tho old man had a firm hold on
the skirt, and she stopped short. He
continued to rub away-he had never
| stopped.
Had little experience O. that my
SELF" he said reminiscently, when
was cOurtin' Mandy. Swore she
wouldn't ever have gol burned thing
to do with me-just cause held Tahi-
tina jumpers hand one sleighin' party
to see if Mandy cared. Tickled plum
crazy For the first time the old man
ceased to rub, and, half crouched, the
dirty paper crunched in his hand. he
sazed out across the river. Queer how
kind a-durned happy a fellow can be
just cause skittish girl shows him
she cares" he muttered.
"Who-OO-OO! WhO-Oo-OOw A shrill,
reckoning call foated across the wood
lot
The old man let the tarry paper fall
from his big hand.
Its Mandy" he said, springing up
Il guess you'll have to manage now
for yourselves. Supper's waitin'." With
quick sidelOng movement he was off
| through the low hawthorn
Both the man and the girl stood and
looked at the place where he had dis
appeared until the last leaf ceased to
flutter then slowly she turned to the
man before her. Their eyes met and
fingered for a long moment fraught
with questioning. What they answered
could not he told In words, so the man
fell on his knees and began-oh, so
gently!-to rub spot Of the precious
gray skirt. She stood looking down on
his broad shoulders, his big blond
head touched gold by the setting SUM-
Then her eyes wavered to the crude
Sign, mo Trespassing," directly in
front. With a quick movement she
reached down and ran her slender fin
gers through his hair. stopped and
touched his face caressingly with hers.
Beware OF the dogs" she said in n
'oice that chOked, but ended in a
laugh.
The Snow Flower.
A traveller in Siberia tells ls about