The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1907-02-15

ha,r awkwardly. Read your letter.
Mebbe they don't want you to come 50
soon. / must 60 wash for supper"
r was true-they didn't want her 10
come SO soon. In fact, they didn't
want her to come at all. me dlrectol'
unkindly said satirical things about
her cows-a study from nature-and
suggested housework as a surer means
Of gaining renown.
II was a horrible shock. She did not
arv. she was too stunned and humiliat-
ed for that; she had only enough rea-
aon left to wonder douhly how she
could tell her parents that their sweet
confidence had been misplaced-that
their child always was and always
would be q nobody.
The stuffy little parlor, the hateful
aaubs. had grown i~ntolerable. Pulling
= shawl from its hook in the narrow
hall. she fed from the house and up
the narrow street redolent of beef
stoak. coffee and hot cakes-Mead-
ville's favorite supper. Every one left
the blinds up in Meadville, and there
was a panorama of warm interiors,
romping children. contented husbands
and active, happy wives. Ellen, hurry
inc along in the chill gloom, felt like q
nariah and passed quickly out OF the
din of dishwashing on to the country
road.
She was brought at last to q realiza-
tiop of her whereabouts by a startled
crv and Jumped back barely In time
to escape a horses hoofs that just
nrs~.d her sleeve as the horse was
,,,l,ad back on its launches. The star
light was sufficient to indicate her
close call. She uttered a belated but
frightened shrek.
"By George!' exclaimed the man
somewhere back of the horse. what
are you doing out here? Are you
drunk? .
"say, are you hurt?" he continued in
alarm, as there was no reply. He
sprang to the ground, CROPPED his way
forward and plucked ut her sleeve.
"Ellen"
She began to sob. She couldn't help
It, There had been too many shocks
in Meadville that day.
It did not take Elton long to get her
into the runabout and start up the
erstwhile spurned Fanny G. Ellen
continued to be SO distressed that El-
ton, ignoring the fact that she had
just refused him. slipped his arm
around her and was not repulsed. I'm
fortunately, so it seemed, his extreme
kindness and lack of curiosity about
her plight served only to increase her
discontinue until, as he helped her to
alight from the vehicle at her gate, she
caught him close about the neck and
told him the whole miserable story. "
'How can l tell father and mother?"
she cried,
"Leave that to me-" he whispered
jubilantly. land cheer up"
The old people jumped to their feet
as the door flew open, and a look of in
tense relief crossed their faces at the
sight Of Ellen and Elton.
"Oh, we didn't know what had be-
come of you the last night you We're
here" said her mother a little re-
proachfully, but she smiled i%ndulgently
at Elton, and he smiled back.
"And whom should she be with?' he
cried. "But l have good news for you.
She isn't going away. She's promised
to become u Meadville matron."
If Ellen had had fears, they were
Immediately dissipated by the warmth
of her mothers embrace and the happy
ejaculation of her father as he grasp
ed Elton's hand. 1t dawned upon her
at the instant that they were happier
to know she was to marry the most
promising young man in Meadville
than they would be If she could u
pass all the artists in history, and sud-
denly it appeared to her that she was
the happiest of all and that Meadville-
poor, cramped, despised Meadville-
was a garden of Eden. II