The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-06-12
CHAPTER xx.-continued.

w Gays ldleT, bdyii6hI oIooo 800
ing outside the little Glen Ellen hotel.
The ceremony was over, and he had
left Dede to go inside and change
into her riding-habit while he brought
the horses. He held them now, o
and Nab, and in the shadow OF the
watering.trough Wolf lay and looked
on. Already two days Of ardent Call
fornia sun and touched with new fires
the ancient bronze in Daylights face.
But warmer still was the glow that
came into his cheeks and burned In
his eyes as he saw Dede coming out
the door. riding-whip in hand, clad IN
the familiar corduroy skirt and leg
gings Of the old Piedmont days. There
was warmth and glow In her W face
as she answered his gaze and glanced
on past him to the horses. Then she
saw Nab. But her gaze leaped back
to the mar
-Oh, Elam!" she breathed.
.
Many persons, themselves city-bred.
and city reared. have fed to the
soil and succeeded in winning great
happiness. In such cases they
have succeeded only by. going
through a process Of savage disil-
lusionment. But with Dede and Day
light It was different. They had both
been born on the soil, and they knew
its naked simplicities and rawer ways.
They ere like two persons. after far
wandering, who had merely come
home again. There was less Of the
unexpected In their dealings with ma
ture. while theirs was all the delight
Of Renaissance. What might appear
sordid and squalid to the f~astidiously
reared, was to them eminently whole
some and natural. The commerce OF
nature was to them no unknown and
untried trade. They made fewer mis-
takes. They already knew. and 1t was
a Joy to remember what they had for
gotten.
And another thing they learned was
that 1t was easier for one who has
gorged at the fesh-pots to content
himself with the m~eagreness of a
crust, than for n who has known
only the crust. Not that their life
was meagre. It vas that they found
keener delights and deeper satisfac-
tions in little things. Daylight, who
had played the game in its biggest
and most fantastic aspects. found
that here. on the slopes OF Sonoma
Mountain, 1t was still the same old
game. Man had still work to perform,
forces to combat. obstacles to over
come. When he experimental in a
small way at raising a few pigeons
for market, he found no less zest in
calculating in squads than formerly
when he had calculated in millions.
Achievement vas no less achieve
ment, while the process Of 1t seemed
more rational and received the sane.
ticn Of his reason.
The domestic cat that had gone
wild and that preyed on his pigeons,
he found, by the comparative stand
ard, to be Of no less paramount men,
ace than a Charles Klinkner in the
field Of finance. trying to raid him for
several millions. The hawks and
weasels and 'coons were so many
Dowsetts, Lotions, and ~Guggenham-
mers that struck at him secretly. The
sea Of wild vegetation that tossed its
surf against the boundaries of all his
clearings and that sometimes crept in
and flooded in a single week was no
mean enemy to contend with and sub
due. His fat-soiled vegetable-garden
in the nook of hills that failed Of its
best was a problem of engrossing i'm
%portance. and when he had solved it by
putting in %draintile, the joy of the
achievement was ever with him. He
never worked in it and found the soil
unpacked and tractable without ex-
p%eriencing the thrill Of accomplish.
ment.
There was the matter Of the plumb
ing. He was enabled to purchase the
materials through a lucky sale Of a
number of his hair brides. The work
he did himself, though more than once
he was forced to call in Dede to hold
tight with a pipe-wrench. And In the
end, when the bath-tub and the sta
tionary tubs were installed and In
working order, he could scarcely tear
himself away from the contemplation