The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1909-03-11
CHAPTER III.
ROSE

Since Rose HartSWlck had cOne back
from her three years at the seminary,
the life of the whole valley somehow
had been changed. Iii the old days she
had been simply n of the valley girls,
a freckled, ~sunny-faced tomboy, the
leader in every prank and frolic, but
she had returned a full-blown woman,
so changed that her neighborS hardly
dared to speak to her. The little brown
chrySaliS had turned suddenly into a
magnificent butterfly.
Then all in a moment their surprise
and apprehension vanished, and they
awoke to a new delight. The change
was all in the outward. The squire's
daughter was still one Of them: she
was the same joyous, unspoiled coun-
try girl as when she had one away,
and she was glad to get back. glad all
through and through: for the hills were
averred. every moment of her stay. Her
joyousness had overlooked until the
whole valley had shared it, and the
young fellows had lost their heads like
dandelions on a lawn.
But Rose was not a girl for lovers.
There was about her no slightest trace
of s~entimentality. She had been for
tunate in tnhertting the best traits Of
both her father and her mother From
the old Squire had come her active,
| practical bent, her self-reliance, and
her instant readiness of resource, and
from her mother, her tender heart and
her sunny, laughing soul. She was a
girl with enthusiasms, spontaneous and
magnetic; a girl who helped her moth
err because she liked to do it; q girl
who was busy all day and who had no
time for lovers. The anxious SWANS
| who sighed and Stammered filed her
with glee. They seelned to her mex
pressibly funny, and they aroused In
her instantly a desire to make them
sweat, to torment and startle and en-
barrass them until they were at their
wits end. They We're ludicrously in
awe of her; never for a moment were
they sure of her next move. When
! they began to grow serious she would
laugh until they would blush like girls
and grow confused and even angry.
| Then, before they could collect them
selves or expostulate, she would be off
on another tack, and they could only
wonder il all girls were like that
One saw her oftenest in the after
noon, rafting helter-skelter by on a
long-geared mustang which had been
her chief crony since she was a girl Of
IL. She was no timid rider. 1t was a
sight to thrill one to see her plunge
sweep In mad career full upon one
around a sudden bend. A CHEEKY hail,
q sunny ripple Of laughter that made
one feel for an hour afterwards that
the world was good, q clatter Of hoofs,
and she was gone. Few there were,
L ~ oAo "a VIVIAN AtoI SOlIl at
the sight, and follow the trim figure,
rising and falling in perfect harmony
with her mount. until it faded in the
distance.
Mercy on us!" they would chuckle,
that girl will break her neck gallop-
ing in that crazy way" But they
would smile softly. and the day some
how would seem brighter. It became
q saying in the valley that II one
wished to see Rose, the surest way was
1 4 - 10 ~ooI A0rh~ eo--A5-.-
anywhere within 20 miles Of Hartswick
Hall.
This love Of horses and Of the out
of-doors q come clearly from her
father, n he delighted In it. Their
was not one Of all his trotters, not even
allowed her to drive alone whenever
she wished. Though she a never
driven in q public race, it was III old
mans boast hat there was no Jockey
In the region that he would ooner
trust In a critical moment. She knew
horses almost by instinct. She loved to
break wild colts and vicious bakers
and halter-pullers. It was a JOY to see
her In battle with a stubborn beast
One who knows only the type OF female
the horse begins to back, knows little
Of what is possible. h was slight OF
figure, but h was marvelously strong
In her shoulders n arms. And be-
! SlueS this she feared nothing In the
shape OF q horse. Never once in her
life had she failed OF her purpose. OF
met with an accident or a setback.
1t was about this time that young
Jim Farthing began to take a new In
terest in horses. Five years before
his father had given him a colt, a won
derfully dainty little creature that hs
had bid of at a bankrupt sale
There was good blood in the
colt. 80 the said. The
mother had been good for 2:1s. and
the sire even better. With proper
handling she ought to develop into
wonder. and Jim had tried hard to give
1.-The proper handling. She had from thu
first been the passion OF the young
fellows life. He had trained her earl,
in h sulky. and when h was three
he had won in handsome style a 2:2l
heat. Then had come the removal tt
the mountains and small chance FOL
training trotters. There was q world o
work to do: for the old farm was {
y chaos; the little mare had had to fint
! her exercise on the cultivator and the
, horse rake. with occasional trips t