Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-03-01

btugh that kept Smith busy breaking a
way FOR his dainty but hardy and
seemingly tireless companion they
came Into the fr region. amid hoary
giants that shot sheer to such height
that they seemed to form pillars for
the canopy Of the heavens. Emma re-
garded the great trees with awe, but
Smith. laughed. He told her they
were as saplings compared with the
mighty trees of the west. He tried
to describe these and became filled
with the fever of immensity. The
long unfelt influence OF the borderlesa
pralries, the mammoth mountain
chains far flung through the prodigious
spaces Of the sunset lands that dimin-
ished their proportions. was upon him.
His soul strained to burst Its tethers
and soar upward into the infinite.
where 1t could expand unrestrained.
Turning words. never used. lnilnag-
ined before in his unlettered mind. ade-
quate to depict this liberated spiritual
", surged tumultuously to his lips
to die there.
For the source of their inspiration, Of
this tremendous flight into the divine
azure from his regulated role Of the
commonplace and cOldly practical, was
the woman ut his side, the one being
In the world who was dear to him and
ever had been, whom he held in little
less reverence than he did his Maker.
He broke of his description Of the
forest giants and vast freedoms Of
the west with a conclusion in his or
binary street surface language.
But there-it's no use me trying ia
do any lecture platform stunts. ]
wasn't born with the gift Of the CAB.
Emma, them things have got to be
seen to be appreciated. There's no
other way. You understand"
Yes. Emma understood.
She had listened toshis brief, unsus.
pected eloQuence and had read his
soul In the light Of the celestial flicker
thar had emanated from it; had seen
thu glory OF 1t In his face-a glory
transient as q beacon fash, that was
gone from it leaving only his habitual
noncom initial smile. as he turned to
her and said, You understand"
They continued the climb in silence.
Emma's bosom rising and falling rap.
idly upon the rush and swirl of the
torrent that ragged beneath 1t. almost
sweeping her self control before It.
Jimsy Indeed loved her! Why had
this chance revelation Of what her in.
tuition had OWNED long before torn
open the aoodgates Of her own emo.
lions? Because it had set vibrating
every chord Of her being, and every
chord Of that being. as she had come
to understand also. was attuned to
his. Together they had beheld the mir.
age Of heaven.
At the upper edge Of the forest laby.
rinth they emerged on to a rocky
plateau studded with dwarfed frs and
balsam pines. but covered thickly with
aromatic ferns and blueberry bushes.
Jinsy barred his head to the cool
breeze that swept the clearing and
watched Emma. who, with a little cry
OF delight had stopped among the
blueberry bushes and was gathering q
handful Of their ripe fruit. She was
glad OF the pretext to hide the up
heaval In her heart that she felt must
show In her eyes.
This upheava1. sudden and almost
overpoweringly violent though it was.
was not, of the mornings forming.
She had known the calm, sympathetic
westerner-as he had reminded Cap
tain Nflllams-ever since she was q
girl In short frocks. She had soon
come to look upon him as big broth
er. with whom she shared her girlish
troubles and in whom she confided
freely, naturally. us a matter Of course.
When she had become a woman and
he had sought her for his bride she
had not been able. with all her liking
for him. to bring herself to consider
him in the light Of a lover.
After the scales formed there by the
blandishments and personal pulchri-
tutie OF Brooks had fallen from her
eyes and she saw that she had bowed
down to an empty, painted Fetch Of
plaster instead of to God In the flesh
she had resigned herself to the lot
destiny had brought her and sought
to make the best OF It like the pure
woman she was. Household drudgery
and the stern verities Of her existence
Ind vanquished and put to flight all
her illusions. Love was a delusion.
It was not what she had conceived It
to be. III existed In perfect ideal
form only In the imaginings Of the
poets and iitterateurs. Had any one
suggested to her that Jimsy Smith
was the depository of 1t, that his heart
was the altar on which the sacred IRE
burned unquenchable, that under the
crust OF HIS Unconditional manner was
a quiescent volcano Of passion that
could he roused to stupendous erup-
ton. she would have laughed
Ito be continued.
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~Acr1DlA