Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-12-31

NiiS W Ill i VI tiIC
trust, all the love. all the devotion of
the happy days of old.
CHAPTER XXI.
David's welcome home was quiet,
cordial and heartfelt. The Quaker life
Is calm; storms seldom appear on its
surface. ever though they must
times agitate it's depths: mind and
hear are brought under remarkable
control; sympathy n charity are ex-
tended to the erring: hospitality is a
duty and an instinct; domestic love Is
deep and powerful.
When David had frankly told his
story. he was permitted to resume his
place in the life of the old homestead
as If nothing had happened. He ex-
pressed to his brother and sister his
love for Pepeeta, and his determination
to make her his wife in lawful mar
ria &c.
They assented to his plans, and at
the earliest possible moment the min
listers and elders of the little congre-
cation of Friends were asked to meet,
in accordance with their CUSTOM, to
confer with him about a concern
which was on his mind"
They came, and heard his story and
his intention, told with straightforward
simplicity. They. too. touched with
sympathy and moved to confidence,
agreed that there was no obstacle to
the union. The date OF h wedding
was placed at the end of the month,
which. by their ecclesiastical law. must
elapse after this avowal. and an even
ing meeting was appointed for the
ceremony.
In the. meantime David remained
quietly at home, Inc too up his old
labors as nearly as possible here he
had laid them down. Such a life as
he had been leading induces a distaste
for manual labor. and sometimes he
chafed against 1t. Again and again he
felt his spirit faint within him when
he recalled the cen Of excitement
through which he had passed, and
looked forward to years Of this I'M
varied drudgery; but he never permit
ted his SOU to question his duty! He
had decided in the most solemn refec-
tons of his life that he would conquer
himself in h place where he had been
defeated, perform h tasks which he
had SO ignominiously abandoned, and
then. when he had demonstrated his
power to live a true life himself, de-
NSS0H ~ IA ~ OAYAu .
The charms Of this pastoral exist
ence gradually came to his support in
his heroic resolution. The unbroken
quiet OF the happy life which had ir-
ritated him at first, grew to be more
and more q balm to his wounded spir-
1t. The society Of the animal world
lent its gracious consolation; the great
horses, the ponderous oxen. the doves
f~luttering n cooling about the barn
yard, h sucking calves, the playful
colts. all came to him az to a friend,
and In giving him their confidence and
affection awakened his own.
Q all Pepeeta was eve near
him. 1t was no wonder that her beau
" threw its spell over David's spirit.
Il had been enhanced by sorrow, for
the human c~ountenance. like the land
scape. requires shadow as we'll as sun
shine to perfect its charms. But the
burst Of sunshine which had come with
Davtd's return had brought II q final,
contamination which transfigured even
he Quaker dress h had adopted. Her
bonnet would stay over her ace
but fell back on her shoulders. her ami
mated countenancc emerging from this
envelope like the bud OF q rose from
It's sheath. h was AZ a butterfly at
that critical instant when It Is ready
to leave it, chrysalis and take wing.
She was Q soul enmeshed In an ether
cal body. rather than q body which
sheathed . soul. Quietly and sedate-
" the lovers met ach other at the Ia
BILE. or at the spring. or at h milk
ing.
And when the labors Of the day had
ended. they sat beneath h spreading
Shp oGhAN tNaAA 49, -nlANAH AhRo,vOn