The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-19

I over, we'll pitch the load back on again, ] she said decisively; and before Stout could | quite realize it he was reeling with per | spiration and tossing up forksful to the amazon in boots, who could stack load as we'll as he could himself. Whats your name?' she asked, when | the last wisp was on the wagon. Stout
 "Oh' The tone implied that she knew all about him-his fame as sucker had
 already spread, he thought | He waited expectantly for her to tell him, but she was examining the wagon ] tention.
 | Say" looking at him from the top of l the load of hay to which she had climbed
 with an agility which had made his jaw | drop, If you are going to live in that shack over wonder, and use this road, let's 1 get together and put up a bridge. This is | a mean crossing when it rains'' l Sure" replied Stout amiably. He had
 a very clearly defined desire to stand well in the estimation of this capable person. "I'll furnish the team and you get out : the timber She added, I'll help you I lay the poles.''
 Sure" replied Stout again. a. little be- 1 wildered by the vision which came to | him of himself and this buxom lady 1 building bridge
 | As he drove into town next day his | curiosity as to the identity of his extra 1 ordinary neighbor increased until he de- 1 termined to make few adroit in | quiries.
 1 In town the first person who nailed him 1 was the editor of the Paint River Rec 1 ord. He shook hands with Stout as vigor- | ously as though Stout had just returned l from perlious trip to the Klondyke and asked him If he couldn't give the paper l an item from Paint River We're going to build a bridge over the crick," said Stout "Who is 'we'?" inquired the. editor briskly, his pad making a prompt ap- peraance.
 "Well-me and neighbor lady" replied | Stout hesita tingly.
 "Oh-Bates," said the editor, writing l rapidly IS. B.?' asked Stout with a sudden l inspiration.
 The editor nodded. 'Tell her thanks l for that cabbage she left on our desk; we'll mention it in our next issue. Better 1, let me put your name down, stout, tor | the Record You get the Housmaids' l Own for 50 cents extra if you subscribe now" [ But Stout was walking rapidly away, pondering over the remarkable coincidence which made s. B. Bates, whom he de- tested and the self-sufficient lady whom he admired one and the same person. And so it came about that s. B. Bates and W. Stout, ''the hustling young rancher from Paint River, owned joint ly the bridge over that conspicuous gash in the earth's surface which gave the locality its name.
 During the construction of the bridge , good friends She called him Stout and he called her IS. B,,' as they sawed and hammered. He would have called her Miss" but as she swung her trusty ax and moved the logs which would have taxed his own strength the words seemed to die on his tongue. The only feminine trick Stout observed in his fellow worker was her propensity for holding nails in her mouth.
 ''Why don't you go in for sheep?' in quired s. B. Bates when the bridge was completed. ..Get a permit and range them in the forest reserve. There Is noth- ing in cattle, and wool Is going up. You can't raise anything without water, and when the Smyth ditch is far enough along to irrigate syour land you and I will be dead of old age. Have whirl at sheep, Stout
 So sincere had become his belief in the judgment of s. B. Bates that Stout accordingly had "a whirl at sheep He
 bought 800 head and thereafter his appear