The Press., 1908-09-09
Humble ok
By C. B. LEWIS.
Copyrighted. 1908. by Associated
 Iftarary Prexs

| In way they had been engaged fol . year or more, Tom Salters and Lin da Green-in a way, 1 say, because the humble people living in the coves or scattered cabins on the sides and crests of the southern mountains dc not speak of engagements"
 It is taken for granted that when a young feller" hangs around the cabin of a mountaineer possessing 8 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 a travelling preacher to be made one there is no surprise and lit. tie comment. l The father of Linda Breen had no | questions to ask of Tom Sarters He had known his father for years. Tom had as yet no questions to ask of Lin da's sire. Neither Linda nor her moth CT had referred to the subject. Many times when Joe Breen and the young man were 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:
 'fYes. reckon"
 That evening the father would have 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 I reck- on you'll be goin' in a few days"
 Nineteen times out of twenty the marriage would follow. There would be a new squat of land taken up a new pole cabin built, and another fam fly would go on making mountain his tory. But in this case no marriage followed. It 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 broader field, chance for education and rise in the world. Lin da must wait. At the end of year 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 log in front of her fathers cabin. space of foot between them. Both looked into vacancy. and he told her of the plan.
 He. talked in jerky, disjointed way, but she understood as we'll 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 he 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 1t back without his hav- Ing observed the action. Two or three times there were tears in her eyes, but she took care that he should not see them.
 Well. what do you reckon?" he asked as he had finished and the si- lence had lasted for long minute.
 Better go, reckon" was the reply.
 What other answer could she have made, a tousled, barefooted, ignorant girl of the mountains, and yet would her woman's pride seek to detain him when he had proposed the separation?
 They sat together for five minutes longer, and then they separated, she to enter the cabin and seek its darkest corner to let her tears flow and he to shake hands with her father and moth CT and bid them goodby
 1t may be said of the lovers that both could write a scrawl or two and both could read a scrawl or two" ~so~. scrawls. passed between them. They were weekly at first, and then there were longer intervals. If Tom did not write. Linda could not answer Then one day there came a neighbor who had seen Tom in person in his new field
 The speaker did not mean to wound or bruise. but he had seen new Tom Salters. one who was no longer of those on the mountains He had for gotten the crags and peaks for the streets of the town.
 When the man had departed Linda's mother wanted to look her in the eyes. Linda wanted to do the same by her neither. Instead of so doing both turned their heads away They said nothing of Tom.
 What happened was all simple and natural. Tom Salters had entered upon a new life It offered number less attractions to, the young man who had never travelled ten miles from the cabin in which he had been born, and It was but natural that he should soon begin to forget the old life and all that he had left behind
 His scrawls were indited at longer intervals and finally ceased altogether. He came to almost ignore the few mountain men he had known in other days. They looked at his new clothes, noted his speech and walk and went away shaking their heads. In their opinion this was rank disloyalty to the mountains. By and by there came another mes- senger to the cabin in the cove where Linda waited. Again there was no de sire to wound or bruise, but simply to lmpart news. Tom Salters was 'shin- ing up' to a handsome young girl down there In the town.
 TT No matter how right smart he had been before leaving home, he had surely become right smarter after his life among townsfolk. He would nev- CT return. He would marry and settle down where he was.
 All this and much more Linda lis- tened to with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She sat thus after the caller had departed, and her mother dared not break the silence.