Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-03-12
CHAPTER III.
ROSE

Since Rose HartsWtck had come back
from her three years at the seminary.
the life OF the whole valley somehow
had been changed. In the old days she
had been simply one 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.
Their all in a m 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 gone away.
and she was glad TO get back, glad all
through and through: for the hills were
home, and she had been homesick, she
averred, every moment OF her stay. Her
~joyousness had overlooked until the
whole valley a 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 sentimentality. She a been for
tunate in inheriting 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. n
from her mother, her tender heart n
her sunny, laughing soul. She was a
girl with enthustaSmS, spontaneous n
magnetic: a girl who helped her moth
er because she liked to do #: a girl
who was busy all day n who had no
time for lovers. The anxious SWANS
who sighed and stammered filled her
with glee. They seemed to her mex
pressibly funny, and they aroused in
- k& - t~A e. 81 NlA--
sweat, to torment and startle and m
barrass them until they were at their
wits end. They were 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 IN n
long-geared mustang which had been
her chief crony since h was a girl of
IL. She was no timid rider. 1t was a
sight TO thrill n to see her plunge
| down a mountain road, or to have her
| sweep in mad career full upon one
around a sudden benz A CHEEKY hail,
a sunny ripple OF laughter that made
one feel for an hour afterwards that
| the world was good, a clatter OF hoofs.
and h was gone. Few there We're,
| young or Old, who would not turn at
the sight. and follow the trim figure,
| rising and falling In perfect harmony
| with her mount, until IL feded In the
distance.
Mercy on us!" they would chuckle,
that girl will break her neck gallop-
ing in that crazy way" But they
--..s -.-kI .%ftI..L a..1 ~ <nxv o-,n
how would seem brighter. 1t became
a saying in the valley that IL one
| wished 10 see Rose, the surest way was
10 sit beside the road for a few days
anywhere within 90 miles OF Hartswick
Hall.
This love of horses and OF the out
| of-door had come clearly from her
father, and he delighted in 1t. There
was not one OF all his trotters, not even
the vicious bay stallion, but what he
| allowed her TO drive alone whenever
she wished. Though h had never
driven in a public race. 1t vas the old
mans boast that there was no jockey
in the region that he would sooner
trust in a critical moment. She knew
horses almost by instinct. She loved to
break wild colts and vicious bakers
and halter-pullers. II vas a JOY to see
her In battle with q stubborn beast.
One who knows only the type of female
who drops the reins and screams when
the horse begins to back. knows little
of what Is possible. She was slight OF
figure. but she was m~arvelously strong
In her shoulders and arms. And be-
sides this she feared nothing In the
shape OF a horse. Nev once In her
life had she failed of her purpose, or
met with an accident or a setback.
II 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 he
had bid OF at a bankrupt sale,
There was good blood In the
colt, so the owner said The
mother had been good for 2.1S, and
the sire even better. With proper
handling she ought TO develop into a
wonder. and Jim had tried hard TO give
the proper handling. She had from the
first been the passion OF the young
fellows life. He had trained her early
in the sulky. n when she was three
he had won In handsome style q 2:26
heat. Then had come the removal "a
the mountains IND small chance for
training trotters. There "a a world Of
work to do: for the old farm was 9
| chaos: the little mare had had to flnd
her exercise on the c~ultsvator and thu