Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-06


or scattered cabins on the sides and
crests of the southern mountains do
not speak of engagements
1t is taken for granted that when a
"yOung feller' hangs around the
cabin of a mountaineer possessing a
marriageable daughter he has matri-
mony in view, and when the nearest
neighbors are called In TO see the
couple jump the broomstick or stand
up before .traveling preacher to be
made one there is no surprise and lit
tie comment.
The father of Linda Breen had no
questions to ask of Tom Salters. He
had known his father for years. Tom
had as yet no questions to ask of Lin
das sire. Neither Linda nor her moth
er had referred to the subject Many
times when Joe Breen and the young
man We're out hunting squirrels or
walking to the village together Tom
would suddenly say without preface:
Reckon men Linda better git
hitched."
And the father of Linda would throw
away the old quid, bite off another
and after chewing away for a couple
of minutes would reply:
Eyes, l reckon"
That evening the father would have
a few words to say to the mother in
private. and at later hour she would
casually remark to the daughter:
Tom Salters. wants you, and reck-
on you'll be goin' In few days"
Nineteen times out of twenty the
marriage would follow. There would
be a new squat of land taken up, Il
new pole cabin built, and Aanother fam
lily would go on making mountain his
tory. But in this case no marriage
followed. 1t was all on account of the
| arrival of Tom Salter's uncle from a
village in the lowlands. He was in
business down there and wanted help,
so he had come for Tom.
Tom had no education, but he had
native wit. He was known to be a
| right smart young man. The uncle
| talked of a broader field, chance for
education and a rise in the world Lin
| da must wait. At the end of YER or
| two Tom could come back and marry
| her and take her away.
And in the twilight of a summers
| evening Tom and Linda sat on a log in
| front of her fathers cabin, space of
a foot between them. Both looked into
| vacancy, and he told her of the plan.
He talked in a jerky. disjointed way,
but she understood as well as if he had
been a silver tongued orator. He had
asked for her hand. He meant to mar
~ her. He had no thought of disloy-
| atty. The road seemed straight and
| plain to him, and lie did not dream
| that there was knife at her heart as
she listened
| Men will never understand how far
reaching woman's intuition is. The
girl followed Toms words, and yet she
saw months and months and months
ahead of them.
Two or three times she instinctively
reached out her hand as if to detain
him, but drew it back without his hay
ing observed the action. Two or three
times there were tears in her eyes, but
she took care that he should not see
them.
We'll, what do you reckon?" he
asked as he had finished and the ST.
lence had lasted for a long minute.
Better go. reckon" was the reply.
What other answer could she have
made, tousled barefooted. ignorant
girl of the mountains. and yet would
her woman's pride seek to detain hin
when he had proposed the separation?
They sat together for five minutes
longer, and then they separated, she t,
enter the cabin and seek its darkes
corner to let her tears flow and he t.
shake hands with her father and moth
er and bid them goodby.
1t may be said of the lovers tina
both could write a scrawl or tw,
and both could read scrawl or two,
so scrawls passed between them
They We're weekly at first, and theI
there were longer intervals. If Ton
did not write, Linda could not answer
Then one day there came a neighbo
who had seen Tom in person in hi
new field.
The speaker did not mean to woun,
or bruise, but he had seen n new Ton
cditClS, oLc WHO WAS no IOuSeE "
l,those on the mountains. He had for
. gotten the crags and peaks for tn
streets of the town.
When the man had departed Linda
mother wanted to look her in the eyes
Linda wanted to do the same by he
r mother. Instead of so doing bot
turned their heads away. They sal
. nothing of Tom.
What happened was all simple an
natural. Tom Salters had entere
upon a new life. 1t offered number
o less attractions to the young man VIII
;, had never Travelled ten miles from tn
!. cabin in which he had been born, an
@ it was but natural that he should 500
n begin to forget the old life and all tina
Il he had left behind.
4 His scrawls were indited at longe
intervals and finally ceased altogethe
He came to almost ignore the fe'
d mountain men he had known In othe
days. They looked at his new clothes
noted his speech and walk and WEI
k away shaking their heads. In the
It opinion this was rank disloyalty to th
IS mountains.
8, By and by there came another me