The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-21
THE EVENING STORY
Virginia's Vegetable Garden.
Ry Temple Bailey.)

v
digging in her vegetable garden.
Il don't see," her aunt said, why you
like to dig in the dirt
Virginia flushed. IF you would let
Il never could fuss with MOVERS"
Miss Cornelia grumbled. They amt
useful. and I believe in people being
useful and things being useful"
In fact Virginia did not argue anything
She was still fair, shrinking child, in
spite Of her twenty-one years. She had
come to live with her aunt when she
was little girl, and it had not taken
her long to find out that argument with
that strong. stern personality was like
beating her head against a stone wall.
The one compensation for the lack OF
sympathy which she found in her home
was the beauty of the country sur
rounding it. virginia's childhood had
| been spent in the city, and her aunt's
rambling white house, with the orchard
to the right of it, and with the garden
to the left of it. and the stretch Of
| wooded land behind it, filed her soul
| with delight 1t was in the spring that
| she liked it best.
| Miss Cornelia's ideas as to the duties
| OF young women were old-fashioned-
She liked to see Virginia performing
| domestic tasks in the kitchen or in the
| living room, where they sewed together.
| But Virginia loved the out of doors.
She had begged the privilege of taking
1
found that she could not have flowers.
| OF late, too, there had been a deeper
reason for Virginia's joy in her out-of-
| door work. Across the fence was an
| other garden, and in this garden some
one worked whose whistle was as clear
| as the call of the blackbird on the
| fence. Now and then the whistle would
| stop and voice would give a CHEEKY
| greeting to Virginia
| Virginia always sent back timid an
swers. Miss Cornelia had no use for
| the neighbors on the other side of the
| fence. She called them shiftless and re-
| fused to recognize that the son of the
| family was different from the others.
She would not admit that his industry
was redeeming the scrubby farm that
his father had let run to waste. In
deed. Mark Graham's garden promised
| to be superior to Virginia's. Virginia
| had spoken of it that morning in a shy
conversation over the fence.
| "I don't see how you make your let
tuce and radishes grow so fast" she
had murmured. Mine are just begin
yours will be ready to eat before many
days.
| ''Well, a man knows more about
such things" Mark had said. with
| glance at the slender hands on the
fence rail. 1T doesn't seem as If a
woman ought to dig"
| "Oh, I'd die if 1 didn't. Aunt Cor
nelia would keep me sewing lin the
house, and love to be out of doors"
Its a shame" Mark muttered,
"that you can not do as you please.
If l. He stopped suddenly.
Virginia knew what he wanted to
say to her. She knew that he loved
lher, and she knew, too, that he would
never tell her as long as he was a
poor and struggling farmer She knew
that even if he did ask Miss Cornelia
would never consent to their mar
riage.
| Sba S;oIad and ,o cow ber shad l.
owed eyes.
IT wish I could tell you all that is
in my heart, Virginia" Mark said.
Virginia smiled bravely and said,
But you mustn't. Mark, and tnen
she had run away from him into the
house.
Miss Cornelia had seen the two by
the fence and had resolved to keep
Virginia, if possible. out of the gar
den. Miss Cornelia had her own ideas
about matrimonv for her niece. The
young doctor in town who called now
| and then. and whose admiration OF
Virginia was obvious, had money. po-
sition and a good practice. Therefore
| Miss Cornelil argued, If Virginia mar
ried, why not marry the doctor?
Virginia liked the doctor. but when
she rode with him. or walked with
him, or talked with him on the wide
| front porch there came to her no such
moments of ecstacy as she felt in these
brief meetings with Mark at the df-
| vision line of the two gardens. Some
how in her mind Mark seemed asso-
) ciated with the woods. the blue sky
and the sunshine. She knew If she
, married the doctor she would have tC
live in town shut up IN the big house
that had come to him from his grand
| father. On the other hand, however, Il
| she married the doctor he would give
her pretty things her soul craved, fol
even as Virginia loved the pink anC
white of the orchard and the blue o.
5 the sky, so she loved the daintiness OF
l silken gowns and the sparkle OF
> jewels.
( Therefore that night when the doc
tor asked her to marry him, Virgins
put him off with timid half promise
| 81 must think about it, she said
and went to bed to lie awake and won
der If she could live the rest of hel
life in the dim old house in town, with
man she did not love.
In the morning she went out early
r to work in the garden. She could heal
{ Marks whistle, but even when he
! called "Good morning" she did not &C
to the fence. Her broad hat hid hel
: burning cheeks and her hands trem-
e bled as she dug around her radishes
Presently Mark came closer and called
"Come here, Virginia.
e There was a masterfu1 note in ht
voice which she had never heard be-
I fore. She rose and went to him.
1 Virginia" he said abruptly, "theS
1 say in the village that you are going to
r marry the DOCTOR.
: Virginia's face famed. "But I an
f not" she cried, and in moment she
s was transformed. Like flash it haC
= come to her what it would mean t.
= put Mark out Of her life; what it would
s mean to have the spring go and the
!, summer come without these moments
= l.of happy meeting.
at am not, Mark" she said again
srWhy. you-" Then her voice die6
away. She could not tell him whaf
she thought of him. That was the
at know what you want to say, Vir'
: ginia," he told her gently, "and 1 wisl
you would say it. 1t seems as If L hat
t no right to ask you to love me and t.
marry me. But you won't be happ.
with anybody but me, Virginia"
| tbo serana assertion of the