Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-10-13
L iction
HOPE OF THE HEAR 7,
BY BALDWIN SEARS.

the evening breeze her fair face, vel
low hair and delicate features made
her appear like some faint star just
glancing above the horizon.
A young man with Il scythe over his
shoulder crossing the lane below the
barn looked up toward the house. See
Ing the girl. he stopped. Strengthened
his shoulders as though he half ex-
pected her to speak and to speak him
self, then walked on with tagging
steps and disappeared below the or
chard where the brook flows into the
woods.
Mary leaned her arms on the edge of
the scuttle and looked out. The hot
air from the garnet blowing in gusts
past her face was like Il twitch ut her
sleeves reminding her of the household
she had left below.
She was the only one who had not
already gone to bed. 1t was harvest
time. They We're cutting the wheat
in the meadows. and all day the hum
of the reaper had come up from the
broad white fields where the men
were ut work. Since dawn the house
had been buzzing with lively toll. but
now the days work was ended.
In the front room off the porch the
farmer and his wife were asleep. They
had gone to bed Immediately after sup
per. and while Mary had sat ON the
porch she heard their low voices talk
ing over the potato crop and the grain.
their drowsy words growing fewer,
slower until Mt length they sank away
md ceased while yet the bobolinks
were skimming over the meadow and
| the red of the sunset fingered.
Across the gate her married brother
and n neighbor had talked politics.
Mary had heard their nasal voices al
ternatins like the wooden balls tossed
by n juggler. In the south chamber
| Just under the attic her siSter.in-law
had been putting her children to bed,
| the creak. crcak of the rocking chair
rs 1t swayed over an uneven board
dimly audible through the silent house.
In the attic under the roof slept her
little brother Bob. dreamess. tired and
contented ut the end of his long sum
mer day.
| Down In the kitchen yard the tur-
keys and chickens had gone to roost
In the apple trees and the grape arbor.
clucking and twittcring III sleepy pro-
test against the awkward ones as
they settled themselves together.
In few moments 1t had grown
very still and dark
The girl on the housetop drew Il
long breath and leaned her head back
against the edge of the roof. 1t was
only S o'clock. ard the faint yellow
twilight fingered on the border of the
summer night \ new moon hung low
over the crest of the woods. The west
wind brought up the hot smell OF
rlpening cornfelds. and hat darted
out of the orchard in swooping cir
4 Giles against the clear night
From her eyrie above the treetops
the farm buildings. the neighborins
houses. the fields and lanes even the
wide post road Looked quite small and
cheap. like Il toy village. The country
side in It's irregular chcckerboard o1
pasture. corn and woodland. pale vel
low With the wheat stubble. sombe,
green where half rlpened orchard.
spread. marked here and there by /,
cluster Of roofs. n spire that told ;
hamlet in the hills. became significan
only in the mystery of distance as i
mounted toward the hills and ended q
last In one vast. gray. senlEe leve
lgiinst the tracliless sky. Mary looked
Mt 1t all as one upon whose mind til,
meaning Of these familiar scenes i!at
lust begun to dawn-theSe fields. tn
!. chickens she must pluck. the breat
he must mike. the raspberries sh
. must preserve. all grouped themselve
before her in coherent scheme Of life
From dawn till dark. each day alike
cooking. washing. preserving. holdin
the bables-the burdens of each sid
: were hers. So far she had carrie'
them unthinkingly. unquestioningly.
was only the lot of every farmers life
Tonight she was unusually tired. Il
Escape Il feeling of restlessneSs she ha
determined to go to bed 1t was re
-reshing to lie in the cool darkness
But before she reached the top of ii,
+ attic stairs she felt the dry heat of til
SUI baked Roof. The great. timbere
space. dark with Its age blackene
beams and scantly Widowed twilight
held strange ndor of cedar shingle.
Of ancient leather trunks. of must
: papers. In the solemn dust the candl
lost its bold glare and dropped to
~avering spark. eyed by the gimmel
ing gray panes Of the gable window
high under the ridge.
The two chimncys. like huge ston
giants whom she had been feeding a
. day. stopped over her as they towere
+ toward the roof. reminding her of t.
t morrow's kitchen work
e AS Mary sat on the edge of her CO
thinking of these things. she looked u
. vaguely. 4 star. the first In the pal
night. shone through the window upo
< her. clear. unNinking. penSive. holy.
e a lock of hair loosencd by the win
o Coated softly across her cheek like th
kiss of unseen lips. For the first tim
L lVi INV SIIS It'lt tLe IeStlGSS lOIlplI1
for some good of which she was ignt
t rant. What was 1t her simple. swee
y existence lacked? Had she not every
thing that n girl could ask-fathe
l. mother. food ard shelter. place /
/, The world? What else had any one
The aged farmer and his wife-tLos
:, two good people fast asleep without
thought IN their nishtcaps beyond til,
potato crop-their lau@htrr-in-luw, til
!, men ut work In the fields. all those de
!. pendent on the great harvests, on tn,
bountiful farm--werp they not happy
contented. unuuestioning? Was sh
not happy too? Had she anything t,
complain Of. to regret. to wish for?
Suddenly out of the hush came tn,
cry Of the whippoorwill. that piercing
mournful voice of the vacant. vino
: blown fields, of meadows towering un
Irx~~ Il n.