Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-07-16

m DEL HART folded the letter and placed it
in his inside pocket It read simply: va, ,.
- at Morris, to talk things over with you"
But to him those words meant much: for
secret that he i had ever kept from his mother.
He stopped a moment at the barn door to look k
across the and wheat fields, whitening beneath
the fierce heat of the July then he saddled Pinto
and started on the ten-Inile race to MOTIFS. ~.
year that he was seventeen one the death OF his
father and the other change within his own heart
time it did that he might have strength to bear the
other for Joel loved his father and the loss that had
y T5u eHs shouders heavy load Of Responsibility
It was chiefly for Ephraim Harris health that the
air OF the plains, which had done little for the
crops had given added months of life to the hopeful
hearts during those first two years Of drought when
hundreds of settlers had given and gone back
1T doesn't matter" Mrs, Hart would say, so
long as father keeps well and happy
said
well maybe the Harris stick it out. They've
But only joel and his mother knew how
ger were those eastern resources. or how heavily
Then came their year Of plenty, with its generous
s rams w co9d I oo Across n to an abund
ant harvest and, in a voice gSYhich grew each day
eon1inp Tyben he should once more be we'll and
strong; the years Of drought had plainly been ex-
prosperity had to stay; and Joel and his
mother Who saw only too clearly the end that
coming quickly now. encouraged him IN all his
The autumns rich harvest had been gathered in,
winter had passed and then had come exactly such
a spring as they had known tfose first two years.
Dry winds swept for days the prairles there
was scant rain in May and almost none in June.
When July came they could see that nothing but
speedy and abundant rain could save even fraction
Wen be ruined If /. doesn't rain" Joel said to
old DR.. Cameron. TO whom he had gone for advice
and comfort. 1--WE couldn't sell for the cost OF our
bui isn't n1Vs
and can living anywhere; but mother hasn't
teve s she Tss9 can't tG work and It can't be that
they TO lose all that their father saved for them
NE ss bstter o a ers there doz
ems, yes. hundreds who will suffer more than we
"TIave you ever read of the men who cultivat
Ing parts of the Sahara?" said pr Cameron, sud
oas te up at the been to- be
they be beat adapted to crops that you have not
TITS all 50 new" answered Joel. mo
looked at it that way before II-Ill have to think
S like the aa ut TIED bs shs bot S e up
somewhere the foods have come and the winds
69% OF Sc yhou S.d has got TO stpnd so a
DR.. Cameron had had hurry call to the. next
town'to patient, and Joel walked with him to
the station, shook hands with him and stood watch
ing the train pulled slowly out On the rear plat
form two men, apparently tourists, were standing,
and as they were whired past scrap of their con-
simply depends whether dry farming
and the rest lost in the rumble of the train.
But the half dozen words stuck in his memory
and all the way home. whenever he not ponder
ing what DR.. Cameron had said he wondering
what dry farming" might mean.
Mother" asked JOEL he sat down n
ing at the breakfast table, whats dry farming?"
=! don't know, she answered "What makes you
ask don't think I ever heard of it before
Il heard two people talking about it yesterday,
snd thought maybe It was something that would
help US"
Il think it's chickens announced Sadie
Joel and his mother laughed for it was family
joke that the poultry always paid, no matter what
the season, but the answer did not satisfy Joel.