The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-25
The EVENING STORY
won Throupb a Drea,n.
(By Grace Rowen.N

A man great in his strength and
| mightier IN his love, had asked her
surrender-had almost demanded it
when he passionately tore aside con-
venuoEal conversation and barred his
| heart and his hopes.
That she mad sent him away with
out an answer was not a negative re-
| ply to his wooing. She had begged for
| Tune to think, a space in which to
| breast.
Moreover. she half thought she
loved him, and because she was
product of the city and had dug deep
in the printed philosophy of life, she
| wanted her brain to sit in Judgment
on her heart.
ST know what you would say" i'm
petuously declared Jim, the lover. II
am nearer the animal than you: when
| fatigue follows a satiated joy of work.
! ing my recreation is rest-physical
grip me in books written by men
whose lives have been cramped and
narrow, by men with water in their
| veins instead of strong, red blood"
mo, no, Jim; it is not that inter-
| rupted Edith.
''But it is. 1t is just that. You
4 k(w I am college man. Not from
one of your famous eastern institu-
| lions, true, but fancy our North Da-
kota brand of education will be found
! the equal of its older relations of New
/ England. went to please father. He
was poor man, and felt that he had
| missed much because his school days
| had been few. That his son need not
suffer this handicap in life, he made
many sacrifices.
81 am grateful to him for the love
| that prompted this self denial, and I
am glad that have what learning l
| brought back with me, but resign all
| interest in morbid, heshly decadence
| for Coos good out of doors"
And Stuart looked at the girl before
| him wonderingly, with his eyes glow
| ing with love of her.
Leave me alone, Jim. No, not an
other word. must think; I must
think Coed 100, night, Jim H. And And she she
across the prairie.
| Years before palmist had told the
girl that her head would rule her
! heart. He had called attention to the
peculiar formation of the lines of her
left hand. and had pointed out the
head line that ran straight across the
palm, obscurlng and dominating the
lesser line that represented the heart.
In a measure she believed it; all her
life she had been intensely mental,
and had plunged far into the writings
of men and women whose apostolic
missions are of discomfort
When she collapsed physically u1I-
der the strain of her labors as teach
er in city school the physician had
iimperatively ordered her to get to the
lopen country if she longed to live.
Alone in the world, she could not in
tdulge in idleness, and being exiled
from the schoolroom, she was at a
loss which path to take. A. friend Sug-
gested that she enter homestead in
the west, and it had appealed to her.
Her savings were sufficient to pay
for necessary labor in clearing and
breaking the land until the crops were
ready for harvest, and she had con-
fident assurance that her work would
some day repay her. AS an investment,
both financial and physical, it delight
ed her.
Stuart met her in the office of the
locator in the little town which was
the railroad station nearest to her
destination. One learns to read men
and woman at first sight in the big,
pulsing west, and no half-trust is Civ
en-.
She was in need of guidance, and
her new-found acquaintance became
her counselor and friend. When she
spoke of getting men to help her build
the two-room frame house that was to
be her home he came himself.
When she offered him the current
wage he accepted it, because he I'M
derstood how impossible it was to do
err men. and contented himself with
suggestions that in reality amounted
to superintendent.
Il Thus two years had slipped away.
Her health had returned, the glow in
her cheeks told that, and the life in
the open had reinforced her for her
old vocation-if she cared for it.
She believed it was her career, though
heart of nature held a charm she could
not deny, and there was conflict in her
mind as to the better choice.
Then came Stuart's love. She had
| grown to like him much, but with a
reservation that he did not measure up
to the ideal she had cherished. She be-
lieved she demanded mental sympathy
no less than physical caresses.
To make a perfect union the man
must appreciate with her the books
that held her, and they would penetrate
together the mysterious paths of learn
ing to wisdom. Therein was Stuart
lacking.
Slumber would not come at bidding
the night Stuart told his love. She
tossed fretfully as she tried to evade
the problem before her Like memories
of pain it refused Punishment.
: do I love him? Is he necessary to
me? He is dear as friend, know,
but beyond that-what?' she said to
herself.
When sleep came it was troubled;
dreams intruded and she thought she
) saw herself and Stuart galloping side
, by side over the prairies to the west
ward Behind them was an ocean of
fire. the cracking of flames sounded in
her ears, she could feel the hot wind,
| born in the heart of the burning grass,
blister her neck.
On and on, with the margin of safety
growing narrower until within a dozen
jumps of the furrow that would balk
the fire. Her horse stumbled in a
gopher mole. reSdlH0Q his pOlSep DUH
dered again and she was thrown to the
prairie.
"Jimr" she cried.
The flames were upon her now. He
slid from his horse, gathered her in
his arms. holding her face closer to
his breast to shield her from suffoca-
ton. and staggered across the safety
line, with the angry flames turning to
: a slllen dead red, as if crying out
maledictions on her rescuer for de-
priving them of their prey.
Jim, my God. Jim!" she shrieked
. in her delirium. Suppose I had lost